How good are Sunrace Cassettes?
 

Hello! I wanna change the gearing on my Gravelbike next month. Chainrings will be changed from my current 34-46 to 36-48 for more topspeed and an as small jump as possible between chainrings. I also gonna change the cassette from an 11-34 to an 11-36 so that I can keep the 1:1 ratio for rough climbs. And while I'm at it I'll also change the rear derailleur to a GRX RD-RX400 for that clutch mechanism. It's all based on a 10 speed Tiagra 4700 with hydraulic brakes, btw.

So, originally I wanted to go with a Shimano XT CS-M771-10 cassette but then I layed eyes upon that beautiful black and red SunRace MX0 cassette. It's also a bit cheaper. Is that thing worth a try or will shifting performance worsen in any way? Has anyone tried one of those?

I see absolutely no reason to change the crank.
A 34/36 is so close to a 34/34 for a bailout gear you might as well stay with the slightly lower (6%) ratio.

Are you really SPINNING OUT a 46/11? if you aren't for more than a few seconds at a time, a 48T is a step in the wrong direction.

Yes, I do spin out every once in a while, even on flats. Although I mostly ride on dirt and gravel, I also often ride with a local group of roadies. I'm even thinking about buying another wheelset just to equip it with a set of road tires so that I can switch quickly between road and gravel. It's definitely a learning experience, tho - the 50T on the original Tiagra was definitely too big for any kind of riding I do - that's why I tried the 46er which I rode for almost a year now and it's okay but a tat bit too slow on some occasions.
Edit: The 34/34 right now is definitely not a bailout gear but an absolute necessity when I ride the local mountainous woods - just last sunday a stony 16° climb gave me a real workout!
Also: I'd appreciate it if you could at least give *some* useful information in regards to my actual question.

Unless you're spinning 90+ RPM, work on your cadence.
Spinning out briefly, on occasion, hardly justifies a gear increase. I'd say you're near perfect.
When it comes to gearing, anytime you gain in one place, you lose in another.

Dude, did you read what I just wrote?
Edit: This upgrade is not up for discussion - I made up my mind about that months ago! The SunRace cassette is!

I love to see people waste money. Enjoy!
I don't why you're concerned about the price difference between cassette when you want to spend that much money up front.
Ignore list made.

Lol, dude, I want it because it's black and looks cool! The lower price is just a bonus!

I recently put a Sunrace cassette on my MTB. Pleasantly surprised at weight, fit and finish and clean crisp shifting. I feel good about recommending them.

...pretty good. I can't find Shimano replacements for 7 speed in the range I use, and Sunrace works fine.

I find the shifting on Sunrace cassettes to be at least as good as on Shimano or SRAM cassettes. I'd buy one without hesitation.

I'm with Speedldew here. Spending a little money to fine tune gearing to exactly what you want is, in my opinion, money well spent. I've done one and two tooth chainring changes forever. I also rebuild cassettes for different rides. 12, 13 and 14 smallest cogs and 23, 25 and 28 largest cogs.

I am however, not a fan of double cranksets for myself unless I were to move to a very flat location or I could have my dreams answered and the legs I had 40 years ago returned. I ride the double crankset gearing that gives me a fine selection of options plus a tiny inner ring to make hill climbs a joy. (That's where my heart really lives.) My two current geared bikes have 52-42-24 X 13-28 7-speed (or 12-21 7-speed if I want to ride faster) and 50-38-24 X 12-23 to 12-28 9-speed. (I've had to accept that the old 52-42-28 X whatever no longer gets my up everything. I guess it might if I let that "whatever" grow to huge cogs but I set the limit at 28 to keep spacing down and gear choices up.)

Ben

Best reason ever.

The Sunrace stuff is surprisingly good. I installed a lot of the 10 speed 11-42 cassettes and 11 speed 11-46 cassettes before Shimano came out with equivalents, and even then I do a fair amount of the Sunrace stuff due to price point. It shifts well, looks nice, and typically has pretty reasonable weights.

If you like the way it looks, I'd recommend it, it's always shifted well in my experience.

4700 shifters use 11 speed Shimano road RD pull ratio and only are compatible with 4700 RD

https://www.celebrazio.net/bicycling...html#chartrear

I am currently using a Sunrace cassette (12-32). I had no problems whatsoever.

Good to hear. I have a 7 speed Sunrace freewheel coming from Amazon today, and thinking of picking up a Sunrace crankset.

Not sure which Sunrace cassettes you are looking at, but I have two of their 11-speed cassettes and they seem to work great.

I wouldn't be surprised if "Dimension", "SunRace", "SunRun", or some of these other makers had contracts to make Shimano's down-market cassettes and freewheels, and Shimano is slowly handing over the market to them. I have absolutely no evidence to support that theory, but they are definitely stepping up to fill the void now that Shimano has stopped making HG50 cassettes in 7-speed. Too bad they're not making more of the tight "road" configurations, though...

Could be, but I'd guess not--Shimano has a ton of manufacturing capacity even at the low end. Interestingly, they openly admit which chains they have made by KMC, which is pretty much their very lowest end, like HG-40.

I think 3rd party manufacturers have just gotten much at either copying or designing shift features. This even includes stuff like FSA cranks--they now shift very well, but 5 years ago they worked OK, but distinctly less well than Shimano.