jur

How can I tell the quality level of a Shimano cassette? I have a new 8 sp cassette, it looks satin nickel plated and has some numbers punched on the cogs and Hyperglide C (?) on the lock ring. It looks a lot better than the Alivio cassette on my comfort bike but less precise than an XT cassette I looked at.

mikejavo

The magnet test never lies. Usually cassettes with small, weight saving holes punched around and thin spiders are considered better quality. Some of the larger XTR cogs are made of Titanium, and others are Aluminum. There should be some kind of alpha numeric marking on the cassette itself, and not just the lock ring. You can look it up online.

My guess from your description is that it is an LX cassette.

Svr

Hyperglide C means "compact", or it has an 11 tooth small cog.

Shimano cassettes are marked like CS-HGxx or CS-IGxx. The last two digits will determine the quality. The higher the better.

Brian

There should be a model number on the backside. LX and lower grades are flat stampings. XT gets an aluminium spider. XTR gets a titanium spider (I think) with the larger cogs being titanium as well. And the bigger cogs are usually drilled a bit for weight savings.

Michel Gagnon

All the above is right. But to come to the original poster's question, there is absolutely no difference in precision between a "low end" and a "high end" cassette. The Alivio derailleur may be less precise than the LX or XT derailleur, though.

And just to compound issues a bit more, nothing prevents one to use an Alivio derailleur onto a XT or Dura Ace cassette and vice versa.

For more details, see here.

jur

I'm aware of all this, it's just that this cassette is surplus to my needs and I want to put it under the hammer, but want to make sure I am not ripping myself or someone else off by incorrect description.

Brian

Look for a numerical designation on the back, or insidethe splined area. There should be one somewhere.