eweitzman64

I have a Shimano Tiagra 9 speed shifter going to a Shimano 105 rear derailleur and am on a tight budget. I have a Shimano 11-22 cassette on it but live in a very hilly area and want to upgrade to an 11-30. I have a Sram MTB 11-34 cassette that I'm not using and was wondering if
I could steal some of the larger cogs off of that and make a combined Shimano-Sram cassette. Would this work with my setup??? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

unterhausen

Moved here from General

CliffordK

It probably will work depending on the cassette model. Ultegra, and I think 105 cassettes use common carriers for the larger sprockets. Lower level cassettes tend to have the sprockets pinned together. You can remove the pins to gain access to the loose sprockets on the cassette, and don't need to put the pins back in.

I assume SRAM would be similar.

One of the issues you will have is that all the modern cassettes are designed with a specific arrangement of shift gates. Mixing cassettes, and the gates may not line up as the manufacturer intended.

The result is that your mixed sprockets may not shift very well. Not a huge problem, but it could be an annoyance.

Double check the specs on your derailleur that it will clear a 30T rear sprocket.

NoBrakeNate

It will work, just not very well.
Sram and Shimano cassettes teeth are in different locations so shifting will be chunky.
I think 105 9 speed derailleurs are spec'ed to work with max of 28T but I've seen them work on 30T.
Make sure that the cage and chain are long enough to get into all the gears.
Try it, and if it doesn't work well the just buy an 11-30 cassette (and maybe a new chain).

Edit: Clifford, you beat me to it.

Bill Kapaun

Was the 11-22 you mentioned a misprint?

IF you interchange brands, I'd keep the same brand spacer with the same brand cog.
The cog thickness MIGHT vary. The corresponding spacer would compensate.
Probably insignificant, but.....

trailangel

9 speed SRAM cogs and spacers are different width than Shimano
Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Glossary Sp - Ss

eweitzman64

Thanks a bunch guys! The derailleur does clear the 30t sprocket. It looks like I will be able to remove cogs as necessary from the cassettes so I'll give it a go (keeping in mind to use the corresponding spacer to cog brand) and see how it works. And yes by the way it was actually an 11-23 cassette. If it's unbearably bad I'll buy a new cassette I guess. Thanks again.

dprayvd

You can align the ramps somewhat and file the one (perhaps two) misaligned groove/s to fit the sprocket to the freehub. You can also re-profile the teeth. The shifting can be finessed via technique.

headasunder

never heard of that, I would be interested in to know how its done successfully. Make a video

Dave Mayer

I tend to wear out 17 and 19 tooth cogs. So instead of replacing the entire cassette, I crack it apart, and just replace the cogs that wear down.

Don't overthink this stuff. Buy some replacement cogs from your local bike Co-op (mine charges at most $1 per cog), drop them in, and see what happens. Of course you need the correct spacers, which should be your originals. Cog to cog spacing is critical, the shape and branding of the cogs not as much.

Frankly, I have done all kinds of mix and matching with cassette cogs, including cogs from different brands and even mixing Hyperglide and Uniglide loose cogs. The Uniglide cogs result in somewhat clunky shifting, but I cannot tell much difference in the shifting performance in mixing up newer generation cogs.

Of course you bike shop will tell you that mixing cogs will result in a global Armageddon, but actual experience is otherwise.

eweitzman64

No need to file or buy any cogs, it all seems to work fine with just a little clunkiness on the transition from the Sram to Shimano gear. It's good enough for me so I guess that works. Thanks for the help.

headasunder

[QUOTE=Dave Mayer;18561538]I tend to wear out 17 and 19 tooth cogs. So instead of replacing the entire cassette, I crack it apart, and just replace the cogs that wear down.


I've not had such luck I usually find shifting is compromised, shifting ramp location and profile has a big part to play I assume

headasunder

Thamks for the pm I cant reply that way yet ... I will give it a try, I have a box of individual cassette cogs from various beaters I have fixed up and get frustrated that I cant swap out the one or two cogs that the chain skips on and achieve smoothish shifting. I volunteer my spare time to a crowd that fixes up beaters and donates them to the unemployed and working poor so I have plenty to practise on.

regards Pepe

CliffordK

If you do it, I would encourage you to do 1/2 Shimano, and 1/2 SRAM, splitting somewhere in the middle, rather than mixing in a few Shimano, then a few SRAM, then a few more Shimano, and a few more SRAM.

New 9s Cassettes are typically cheap enough, or I sometimes find good used ones at my local Co-op.