pp09o

Hi

Can this cassette still be used or should a new one be sought? I have added a couple photos in my gallery.

Thanks!

DaveSSS 

The way to tell if a cassette is worn out is to install a new chain. If the chain skips while pedaling with a high torque on the most-worn sprockets, it's worn out. If there's no new-chain skip, the it will last for the life of the new chain.

Iride01 

This cassette?...............


Hard to tell, could you have left any more gunk on it? <grin>

But no, I doesn't look worn out to me. You can find pics of the new cassette on Shimano's site and compare if you need reassurance.

Bigbus

Hard to tell with all the crap on it, but if you cleaned it and the chain and probably the DR too, the whole bike might work like new. I can only imagine how gunked up the little pulleys on the rear DR are if the cassette looks like that.

trailangel

Who would know if it's usable? Dirty low res pixelated photo. Thanks.

pp09o

I tried to find more gunk to pile on but I couldn’t find any

Is a general degreaser the way to clean these things? Or is there a recommended way of cleaning them?

Iride01 

I use one or two of those pre-moistened towelettes to clean my bike every so often. I roll up them up after I'm done using them on everything else and pull it between the cogs while on the bike.

Otherwise I'd just take a old rag soaked in light lube and use that to clean it. Or maybe mineral spirits or WD-40 or similar solvent lube. I wouldn't waste money keeping a bike specific chain or cassette cleaner. But if doing so makes you happy, who am I to object. Unless you also tell me I have to do the same.

pp09o

It’s all about the WD40, I’ll be giving that a go tonight. Thanks

Crankycrank

This. Almost impossible to spot a worn cassette from a photo, especially a bad photo, unless it's severely worn or has missing, bent or chipped teeth. To clean make up a flossing string from rags or a shoelace dipped in solvent and floss between the teeth while it's mounted on the wheel. Pull the floss forward to clean and on the backward stroke it will rotate the cassette to get the next section. Easy.

pp09o

I never left thought about that and you’re right, the DR is filthy

Camilo

I put some mineral spirits on a rag and floss the cassette on the wheel sprocket by sprocket, turning the rag as it gets dirty. Then i follow doing the same thing with a clean rag.

Moisture

How can you tell if a cassette is worn just by looking at it?

pp09o

Do the cogs not change shape if they are worn?

Bigbus

The top of the teeth are actually the last thing to wear down so don't even look at that. If they're so worn that they're just little tits, you've gotten more than your monies worth out of that cassette (freewheel). It's in the dip ( I call it the bowl) where the chain rides. It wears away at the back of the teeth until there isn't much of an angle left to hold the chain down against the force you put on it with the forward motion of the pedal. Eventually it reaches a point of wear where the chain literally rides up and out of the 'bowl' which is noticed as skipping. Check the bowl of the cog that you ride in the most against one on the same cassette (freewheel) that you don't use very often and you'll see a difference in the shape. That's wear. This is how I judge wear, others may differ in opinion, but it works for me. HTH

Bigbus

YES-they change shape.

SoSmellyAir

Flossing the cassette sounds quite involved. I just remove the cassette from the wheel and then wash it piece by piece in the kitchen sink under running water with Dawn Platinum detergent and an old dish scrubbing pad.

Moisture

If we are talking about extreme wear- yes.

Otherwise, no. A cassette can be worn enough to start wearing down your front chainrings as well as chain evenly without looking visibly worn.

You can't just tell if a cassette is worn by inspecting the teeth.

rm -rf

It's hard to see the tooth wear, since modern cassettes have radically shaped teeth. Better to put on a new chain and see if it skips. The new chain's roller spacing will ride up toward the tips of worn teeth, then the chain jumps to a different cog under load.

From an old BF thread on supposed worn cassettes:

The left cog is around 12,000 to 15,000 miles of wear. The right side is from a new cassette. (It's for a different toothed cassette, so it's a "18C" design, to match up better with the tooth geometry for it's different adjacent cogs. It's interesting just how different these are!)

Remember, the chain is pulling in a clockwise direction. The back sides of the teeth are radically shaped to help with shifting speed.

Iride01 

Visual inspection may not tell if a cog is wearing, but if you compare it to pictures of the same cog, cassette or freewheel when new, then you can tell when it is worn and way past due for a change. We've had a few pic's here on BF. Most were the chain rings, but a few of the cassette. And they were way, way past the time to change them.

More often by a big margin, people ask about their cogs or chain rings being worn, usually it's when they first decide to actually look at their gears closely after they've only ridden a paltry amount of distance and they see the shaping and sculpting on the teeth and think it's wear.

In that case comparing to a pic of the exact same new component is useful to rest their fear.

Camilo

I did a poor job of describing it, but having done both, I can guarantee that flossing is quicker and easier. It takes about 5 minutes including taking the wheel off and on. I do, on occasion, go nuts and remove it to scrub it in the utility sink, but really the flossing is the normal way I clean it.

What I do is shown in this video. I just do the rag part, not the pipe cleaner part - I wasn't aware of that touch. I might try it.

KLiNCK

I use mop head refills to floss cassettes. Cut the mop head into individual strands. Cheap, absorbent, perfect diameter.