Mixing and matching rear sprockets

[Andrew Webster]

I have an HG50 "Deore" 11-32 cassette of which the 16 and 18 srpokets are badly worn. As I now log
these things, I can say that I have covered 5600 miles with this cassette in 8 months.

The rest of the sprockets are fine -in fact, excellent.

Can I expect any problems if I buy a "Tiagra" HG50 13-25 and use the 15&17 sprockets to replace
my 16 and 18. That way I will be able to save the 16 and 19 from the new cassette as spares when
(as I anticipate) these replacements wear also. (I chose this cassette as it is available locally
and cheaply).

I will also be able to change the 11-12 smallest sprockets for the 12-13 from the Tiagra set.

Can I expect any significant impact on STI shifting (I am a commuter/tourer, not a racer, so slick
changes under load are not required)? I know that I will be using mis-matched sprockets, which will
affect shifting, but I don't know if it will end up, say, the same as on my bikes with plain
freewheel sprockets (i.e. quite acceptable) or disastrous.

Any thoughts?

Andrew Webster

 

[Dan Daniel]

On 29 Feb 2004 09:14:15 -0800, [email protected] (Andrew
Webster) wrote:

>
>Can I expect any significant impact on STI shifting (I am a commuter/tourer, not a racer, so slick
>changes under load are not required)? I know that I will be using mis-matched sprockets, which will
>affect shifting, but I don't know if it will end up, say, the same as on my bikes with plain
>freewheel sprockets (i.e. quite acceptable) or disastrous.
>
>Any thoughts?
>
>Andrew Webster

Nothing scientific here, but I have mixed individual cogs from an LX level cassette, an XT level
cassette, and a Sunrace cassette. I didn't notice any shifting problems. Like you, I am not racing.

Harris Cyclery sells individual sprockets. I imagine that other stores are also capable of
doing this.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/k7.html#sprockets

 

[Paul Kopit]

On 29 Feb 2004 09:14:15 -0800, [email protected] (Andrew
Webster) wrote:

>Can I expect any problems if I buy a "Tiagra" HG50 13-25 and use the 15&17 sprockets to replace my
>16 and 18. That way I will be able to save the 16 and 19 from the new cassette as spares when (as I
>anticipate) these replacements wear also. (I chose this cassette as it is available locally and
>cheaply).
>
>I will also be able to change the 11-12 smallest sprockets for the 12-13 from the Tiagra set.

Why use so many cogs are close to their end. Buy a 12/27. Take out the 14. Use the 32 that you have
and have a 12,13,15,17,19,21,25,27,32 Cassette.

I don't consider 5600 miles a reasonable lifetime for a cassette. Better chain maintenance
might help.

 

[Qui si parla Ca]

awebster-<< I have an HG50 "Deore" 11-32 cassette of which the 16 and 18 srpokets are badly worn.
>><BR><BR> << Can I expect any problems if I buy a "Tiagra" HG50 13-25 and use the 15&17 sprockets
to replace my 16 and 18 >><BR><BR>

Nope-it will work fine. Once upon a time, even in the days after index shifting started, many bike
shops had 'cog boards' to do exactly what you are doing.

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535 http://www.vecchios.com "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

 

[Andrew Webster]

Paul Kopit <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> On 29 Feb 2004 09:14:15 -0800, [email protected] (Andrew Webster) wrote:
>
> >Can I expect any problems if I buy a "Tiagra" HG50 13-25 and use the 15&17 sprockets to replace
> >my 16 and 18. That way I will be able to save the 16 and 19 from the new cassette as spares when
> >(as I anticipate) these replacements wear also. (I chose this cassette as it is available locally
> >and cheaply).
> >
> >I will also be able to change the 11-12 smallest sprockets for the 12-13 from the Tiagra set.
>
> Why use so many cogs are close to their end. Buy a 12/27. Take out the 14. Use the 32 that you
> have and have a 12,13,15,17,19,21,25,27,32 Cassette.
>

That's certainly another possibility, but my idea gives two lots of replacements for the sprockets I
most commonly use, thus potentially tripling the life of the cassette.

> I don't consider 5600 miles a reasonable lifetime for a cassette. Better chain maintenance
> might help.

I don't think much of it either, but then, the cassette is only 2/9 worn out, the other sprockets
are in good condition - 15000 miles WOULD be more like it.

As for chain maintenance, yes, better chain maintenance would help. I do it as often as I can face
it - when chain gets cruddy enough to affect shifting or squeaky after rain (usually every 500 miles
or so). Routine weekly chain cleaning isn't a route I really want to go down.

Andrew Webster

 

[Andrew Webster]

Thanks for this. I have helped me decide to go down the route outlined.

I will go ahead with this plan and report back on how it works out.

[email protected] (Qui si parla Campagnolo ) wrote in message news:<20040301090346.20451.00000784@mb-
m28.aol.com>...
> awebster-<< I have an HG50 "Deore" 11-32 cassette of which the 16 and 18 srpokets are badly worn.
> >><BR><BR> << Can I expect any problems if I buy a "Tiagra" HG50 13-25 and use the 15&17 sprockets
> to replace my 16 and 18 >><BR><BR>
>
> Nope-it will work fine. Once upon a time, even in the days after index shifting started, many bike
> shops had 'cog boards' to do exactly what you are doing.
>
> Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
> (303)440-3535 http://www.vecchios.com "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

 

[Russell Seaton]

I had a different experience than the other responders. I mixed some cogs between Campagnolo 9 speed
loose cassettes. A 13-23 steel/titanium and 13-26 steel cassette. The shifting was noticeably not as
quick and precise where the wrong cogs were mixed in. I wanted the 13-26 but with the titanium cogs
in the 19-21-23 spots. The 17 to 19 shift suffered.

The cassettes you are looking at can be purchased for $20 or less from many mail order places.

[email protected] (Andrew Webster) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> I have an HG50 "Deore" 11-32 cassette of which the 16 and 18 srpokets are badly worn. As I now log
> these things, I can say that I have covered 5600 miles with this cassette in 8 months.
>
> The rest of the sprockets are fine -in fact, excellent.
>
> Can I expect any problems if I buy a "Tiagra" HG50 13-25 and use the 15&17 sprockets to replace my
> 16 and 18. That way I will be able to save the 16 and 19 from the new cassette as spares when (as
> I anticipate) these replacements wear also. (I chose this cassette as it is available locally and
> cheaply).
>
> I will also be able to change the 11-12 smallest sprockets for the 12-13 from the Tiagra set.
>
> Can I expect any significant impact on STI shifting (I am a commuter/tourer, not a racer, so slick
> changes under load are not required)? I know that I will be using mis-matched sprockets, which
> will affect shifting, but I don't know if it will end up, say, the same as on my bikes with plain
> freewheel sprockets (i.e. quite acceptable) or disastrous.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> Andrew Webster

 

[Chris Zacho "Th]

If their hypeglide, their will be a reduction in shifting performance if the cogs aren't compatible.
The handicap ramps have to line up properly with the broken teeth.

How bad, I don't know. I havent tried mixing HG yet (still have a good stock of UniGlide
left :-3) ).

"May you have the wind at your back. And a really low gear for the hills!"

Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

Chris'Z Corner http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

 

[Chris Zacho "Th]

From: [email protected] (Qui=A0si=A0parla=A0Campagnolo)

>Nope-it will work fine. Once upon a time, even in the days after index shifting started, many bike
>shops had 'cog boards' to do exactly what you are doing. Peter Chisholm

And many of the bike shops I dealt with acted like using that board was a mortal sin. That was how I
knew a shop was worth dealing with, I didn't get the "why do you want to waste your time customising
cogsets?" spiel. They seemed to feel that the customer shouldn't mess with what the manufacturer's
wanted us to have.

Which is still, IMO, the true reason behind HypeGlide.

<me, getting off my soapbox>

"May you have the wind at your back. And a really low gear for the hills!"

Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

Chris'Z Corner http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

 

[Andrew Webster]

[email protected] (Chris Zacho "The Wheelman") wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> If their hypeglide, their will be a reduction in shifting
> performance if the cogs aren't compatible. The handicap
> ramps have to line up properly with the broken teeth.
>
> How bad, I don't know. I havent tried mixing HG yet (still
> have a good stock of UniGlide left :-3) ).
>
>
> Chris'Z Corner http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

Report back.

The shifting varies a LOT depending on individual pairings.

Starting with a 12-25 and my old 11-32 I began by replacing
the smallest 6 from the old cassette with roughly even size
steps in sprockets from the new set, missing out the ones I
didn't need.

The shifting was problematic - very difficult to adjust to
anything like consistent across the cassette, requiring
double shifting when moving to larger sprockets.

[aside...] I believe this is partly due to wear and tear in
the derailleur/cable/shifter as there is an appreciable
amount of play at the parallelogram pivots, with shifting
not as crisp as when new even on a stock cassette - not very
high mileage though, ~15,000 miles. I am sure that on a
friction shifting bike, you would have no problems with any
sprocket combinations, just feeling out the required change,
overchaning a bit where needed, in the usual way (evidenced
by my Suntour cyclone and Vx equipped bikes which shift
perfectly 25 years later - no computers in those days so
hard to guess at mileage - in spite of much worse wear). In
many ways this is the weakness of STI - it is really good at
first, but can't compensate for sticky cables, sloppy pivots
etc in the way that the rider can with old style levers
- not significant for racers or those who like to replace
equipment regularly. Not so good for those prefering to
stick with trusted friends into a venerable old age - both
theirs and mine). [end of aside]

After some experimenting I settled on replacing the smallest
6 sprockets on the 11-32 with the smallest 6 on the 12-25,
this gave excellent shifting across the range - even at the
junction between new and old.

I conclude that mixing sprockets is certainly a possibility,
but (short of a rigorous analysis of ramps at profiles),
some trial and error is needed to get a satisfactory setup.

I have since realised (thanks to Sheldon Brown's site
again), that greater economy could have been achieved by
using sprockets from an 8 speed cassette as they are
practically the same thickness as 9-speed - maybe next time.

Andrew Webster

 

[Sheldon Brown]

Chris Zacho The Wheelman wrote:

> If their hypeglide, their will be a reduction in shifting
> performance if the cogs aren't compatible. The handicap
> ramps have to line up properly with the broken teeth.
>
> How bad, I don't know. I havent tried mixing HG yet (still
> have a good stock of UniGlide left :-3) ).

That's a red herring. The "degradation" won't make them
shift any less well than Uniglide, and most likely still
better...and Uniglide was pretty damn good!

Sheldon "Custom Cassettes" Brown +---------------------------------------------
+
| People who like this sort of thing will | find this the
| sort of thing they like | --Abraham Lincoln |
+---------------------------------------------+ Harris
Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts Phone 617-244-9772 FAX
617-244-1041 http://harriscyclery.com Hard-to-find parts
shipped Worldwide http://captainbike.com
http://sheldonbrown.com