Dura-Ace vs Ultegra cassettes - an experiment...

Setup: New 50/34 Ultegra crankset (10 sp) with new 12/27 Ultegra
Cassette

1. Tried with a new 10 speed DA chain - sounded and felt terrible
(noisy and not smooth at all)

2. Based on feedback from several of you, switched to a new 9 speed
shimano chain - there was an improvement for sure - quieter and
smoother.

3. Took a slightly used 12/23 DA cassette and tried that with the 9
speed chain. Best result! MUCH smoother and quierter!

4. Took the same slightly used 12/23 DA cassette and tried that with
the 10 speed chain - not as good as the 9 speed chain. Kind of what I
expected.

This all seems to jive with what a shop mechanic told me, "It is not
unusual to get noisy shimano cassettes. When we do, we throw on a KMC
chain." KMC huh? Hmmmmm.

I've been riding shimano for 16 years and I've never had a noise or
smoothness issue until I got this Ultegra cassette. Heck, I even have
another 12/23 Ultegra cassette that I got several years ago and I
didn't have this problem. Has anybody else had a similar experience
with Ultegra cassettes? If so, did it break in, quiet down, and
smooth out?

Thanks.
--
Marty

I’ve noticed roughness after installing a new Shimano cassette and/or
chain before (9 speed stuff), but it went away after a few hundred
miles. Nothing to worry about although it’s not a good sign about the
quality of the parts.

On May 28, 3:03*pm, wrote:
I’ve noticed roughness after installing a new Shimano cassette and/or
chain before (9 speed stuff), but it went away after a few hundred
miles. *Nothing to worry about although it’s not a good sign about the
quality of the parts.

Thanks. That is what I was hoping. Just never had this much noise
with new Shimano parts in the past.
--
Marty

On 28 May, 23:32, Marty wrote:
On May 28, 3:03*pm, wrote:

I’ve noticed roughness after installing a new Shimano cassette and/or
chain before (9 speed stuff), but it went away after a few hundred
miles. *Nothing to worry about although it’s not a good sign about the
quality of the parts.

Thanks. *That is what I was hoping. *Just never had this much noise
with new Shimano parts in the past.
--
Marty

What did you expect. Outprice the opposition, (Suntour, Regina etc)
then economise on production to profit more. The one-upmanship keeps
you buying.

On May 29, 4:18*pm, someone wrote:
The one-upmanship keeps you buying.

Past experience, which has been very good with all Shimano parts,
keeps me buying. But now, I have a new data point to consider for
future purchases. It's Dura-Ace all the way from now on! ;-)
--
Marty