Assembled a custom 9sp cassette

It's my first attempt, and it was easy. I'd been riding a stock
Shimano 14-25, and wanted to move to a 13-28. I was only using the 14T
for downhills, so I thought I may as well have an even higher top gear
for that. And I wanted a slightly lower low– back when I started
riding all gear clusters seemed to be 14-28 (with 5 cogs).

I bought a stock Shimano 13-25 and a single 28T Miche cog from the
LBS. I tossed the 14T from the cassette to include the 28T. Now it's
13-15-16-17-19-21-23-25-28. Cogs 15 through 25 were bolted together,
and I did not have to separate them.

While I had the cassette off I repacked the hub bearings and lubed the
freehub body. With a new (longer) chain, it feels like a new bike. Big
fun for cheap.

BC
geared up

nice !

and if there's a sweat spot gear for the fav ride, two of em maay be better than one, or if a critical turn needs a shift from gear one to gear 6 and this repeats several times why niot try mounting the two adjacent maybe even adding aan extra of ? in case yalw miss one ?

BTW is the Miche steel or aluminum ?

On Apr 7, 8:53*am, BCDrums wrote:
It's my first attempt, and it was easy. I'd been riding a stock
Shimano 14-25, and wanted to move to a 13-28. I was only using the 14T
for downhills, so I thought I may as well have an even higher top gear
for that. And I wanted a slightly lower low– back when I started
riding all gear clusters seemed to be 14-28 (with 5 cogs).

I bought a stock Shimano 13-25 and a single 28T Miche cog from the
LBS. I tossed the 14T from the cassette to include the 28T. Now it's
13-15-16-17-19-21-23-25-28. Cogs 15 through 25 were bolted together,
and I did not have to separate them.

While I had the cassette off I repacked the hub bearings and lubed the
freehub body. With a new (longer) chain, it feels like a new bike. Big
fun for cheap.

BC
geared up

there is a maximum range that your derailer will allow, exceed that
and the chain tension bends your derailer permanently damaging it-
instructions for your derailer will provide info on the specifics

On Apr 7, 11:41*am, raamman wrote:


there is a maximum range that your derailer will allow, exceed that
and the chain tension bends your derailer permanently damaging it-
instructions for your derailer will provide info on the specifics

True! My rear der, an Ultegra GS, specifies that it will work with a
28T, and that is likely conservative. I sized the chain using the big
cog-big chainring method, and I am safe, even if I accidentally land
in the big-big combo.

BC

On Apr 7, 10:21*am, datakoll wrote:
nice !

and if there's a sweat spot gear for the fav ride, two of em maay be better than one, or if a critical turn needs a shift from gear one to gear 6 and this repeats several times why niot try mounting the two adjacent maybe even adding aan extra of ? in case yalw miss one ?

BTW is the Miche steel or aluminum ?

The Miche looks like steel, and seems less precisely-made than the
Shimano cogs. Shifts fine, though.

My next custom cassette will be a 15-16-17-17-17-25-25-25-28. That
oughta do it.

BC
BC

BCDrums wrote:
On Apr 7, 10:21 am, datakoll wrote:
nice !

and if there's a sweat spot gear for the fav ride, two of em maay be
better than one, or if a critical turn needs a shift from gear one to
gear 6 and this repeats several times why niot try mounting the two
adjacent maybe even adding aan extra of ? in case yalw miss one ?

BTW is the Miche steel or aluminum ?

The Miche looks like steel, and seems less precisely-made than the
Shimano cogs. Shifts fine, though.

My next custom cassette will be a 15-16-17-17-17-25-25-25-28. That
oughta do it.

BC
BC

You should really consider going 10 speed with that proposed gearing :-)

On 04/07/2012 07:21 AM, datakoll wrote:
nice !

and if there's a sweat spot gear for the fav ride, two of em maay be better than one, or if a critical turn needs a shift from gear one to gear 6 and this repeats several times why niot try mounting the two adjacent maybe even adding aan extra of ? in case yalw miss one ?

BTW is the Miche steel or aluminum ?

Miche cogs are steel, but all their cogs are incredibly flexy; the
larger they are the more noticeable this is. This leads to
"interesting" chain behavior under load such as auto-shifting.

Interestingly enough, on the other side of the spectrum, Miche's (1st
position) 12T is brittle and prone to snapping in half.

So if you plan on going the same way as the OP you should carefully
(re)consider using the large Miche cogs. Shimano makes a stock 9 speed
12-27 (yes, not quite the same thing and certainly more expensive than
one Miche cog, but it's definitely a better value and safer than
anything Miche.)

or find a magnet