New cassette, advice needed

dalkener

Hey,

Just looking for some advice, I have a Specialized Tarmac since January. Have had constant trouble with gears slipping since day 1. I've done about 2,000 km since getting the bike in January.

Was inspecting the cassette yesterday and noticed that teeth have snapped off 3/4 different gears, I believe the bike was fitted with a poor Shimano group set.

Any advice on what sort of cassette I should purchase?? Where I can get it fitted etc... looking to spend a max of 150-200 euro

Any advice greatly appreciated

gman2k

What groupset is on the machine?
Advice - get a new chain also when replacing your cassette.

blorg

Are you 100% sure it is not a SRAM cassette. They have missing teeth by design (to help shifting.) They are 100% Shimano compatible (e.g. the rest of your group could be Shimano) but are often specced for various reasons (they have had wider ranges than Shimano historically and tend to have a low weight for the money.)



Teeth actually coming off a cassette sounds very improbable, they tend to just wear.

If you actually need a new cassette, 150-200 is far more than you need to spend, probably would even get Dura Ace cheaper, you will get a 10 speed Ultegra (one below DA) for €60-70 in many local bike shops (I got one recently in Joe Daly's at €60- that was the component price, I fitted it myself, not difficult if you have a chainwhip and cassette tool.)

sean_d

Are you sure its not just the teeth being profiled to aid shifting? Not every tooth looks the same, some are cut lower to help the chain jump up onto the sprocket. (As blorg said)

It sounds like the gears were out of tune due to cable stretch - this is perfectly normal on a new bike and is very easily fixed with a turn of the barrel adjuster. I'd look at doing that before splashing out on a new cassette.
The fact that you've ridden it like this for 2000km probably hasnt done the chain any favours...
Even the lowest spec Tarmac comes with Shimano 105 - not a bad groupset by any stretch.

bcmf

While we are on the subject of cassettes:
Are the BBB ones totally crap.
Was also looking at Ambrosio one.
Do they all basically play second fiddle performance wise to the main palyers?

Greyspoke

As said above, it's unlikely you've lost teeth off the cassette (but is possible) - a cassette will last an awful lot longer than 2000kms and the fact that you said the gears were slipping from the start would suggest that it's almost certainly a case of adjusting the cable to correct the indexing of the gears. It's easy enough to do yourself - you'll figure it out with a little trial and error or just take it back to where you got it and they should be able to do it on the spot.