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SRAM Powerglide II PG-970 9-Speed Cassette

Average Rating 3.15/5
# of Reviews 20
MSRP $
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Description:Tested on the pro circuit. Proven on the podium. SRAM PowerGlide II 9-speed cassettes meet the demands of mtbers everywhere from elite racers to weekend trail riders. Satin Chrome Finish. 11-32T or 11-34T.
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    Submitted by Jim a Cross Country Rider from So. Cal
    Date Reviewed: June 2, 2008
    Favoriate Trail:Daley Ranch
    Duration Product Used:6 months
    Price Paid: $39.00
    Purchased At:LBS
    Strengths:Shifts ok, looks nice
    Weaknesses:Seems to be made of very soft metal; wears quickly
    Similar Products Used:Shimano LX, XT
    Bike Setup:Much loved Turner Burner with lots of miles on it.
    Bottom Line:The drive face of the rings flattened and widened from chain pressure. Cassete was installed with new chain and crankset, but was still badly worn after about 800 miles. I replaced it with Shimano LX for almost the same price. The LX is lighter, and so far has lasted more than 3 times as long. The SRAM is probably worth it's price, but the LX is a better value.
    Value Rating:3Overall Rating:2

    Submitted by ridethe bike a Weekend Warrior from NJ
    Date Reviewed: May 10, 2008
    Duration Product Used:6 months
    Price Paid: $60.00
    Strengths:none
    Weaknesses:No spyder/carrier for the larger rings
    Similar Products Used:LX XT XTR
    Bike Setup:Turner 5spot
    Bottom Line:What a total piece of junk Each ring is seperate and had dug in to my riding bud's King hub so deep it was necessary to drill out the guide pin in order to remove the rings one at a time. Even cheap Lx has alloy carrier. This thing belongs on a kid's bike from Walfart.
    Value Rating:1Overall Rating:1

    Submitted by Matt a Weekend Warrior from NY, NY
    Date Reviewed: November 29, 2007
    Duration Product Used:Less than 1 month
    Price Paid: $60.00
    Purchased At:LBS
    Strengths:Sorry, but really nothing good to say about it.
    Weaknesses:I experienced exactly the same thing as several other reviewers - a nasty clunking in one gear. I took the cassette off and reinstalled, checking the lock ring with a quality torque wrench. Unfortunately nothing worked. Eventually I scrapped it and went back to an XT cassette. In installing the XT cassette I noticed that the XT has its main body rivited together much more securely than the Sram. I don't know if this played a factor, but the Sram just felt cheaper and flimsier. Also the Sram lock ring was not as substantial as the XT.
    Similar Products Used:XT
    Bike Setup:Mostly XT
    Bottom Line:I have to give this a don't buy recommendation. I don't want to completely trash this cassette because it remains a possibility that mixing a Sram cassette with an otherwise all Shimano setup made for some problems. However, Sram markets it as Shimano compatible, so it should be. My advice: stay away.
    Value Rating:2Overall Rating:1

    Submitted by Chucko a Weekend Warrior from Silicon Valley, CA, USA
    Date Reviewed: July 18, 2007
    Favoriate Trail:Saratoga Gap
    Duration Product Used:Less than 1 month
    Purchased At:Came with bike
    Strengths:Inexpensive. Robust. Wide gear range.
    Weaknesses:Heavy. Play in some cogs.
    Similar Products Used:Shimano XTR, STX-RC
    Bike Setup:Chumba XCL, Fox TALAS RLC fork, Fox DHX Air 5.0 shock, Shimano/SRAM drivetrain mix, Truvativ Team OS bar & stem, Thomson Elite post, Specialized Avatar Gel saddle, Avid Juicy 7 brakes, unidentified wheels, Maxxis Minion tires
    Bottom Line:The 11-34 version of this cassette came with the standard Chumba build kit. It's a stack of individual steel cogs with the 7 largest held together with pins and a screw. The cogs seem to be well made.

    It shifts OK with the SRAM X.9 derailleur and shifters. But on every ride, I experienced some play in a couple of cogs that felt like "clunks" while pedaling, even after double-checking the lock ring torque. This behavior isn't in keeping with a $3K bike build, IMHO.

    The play and the 400+g weight turned me off of this piece, so I got a Shimano XT M760 cassette on sale to replace it. I'll keep the PG-970 as a spare.
    Value Rating:4Overall Rating:3

    Submitted by Paul a Cross Country Rider from Atlanta
    Date Reviewed: June 29, 2007
    Favoriate Trail:Pinhotti
    Duration Product Used:2 Years
    Price Paid: $35.00
    Purchased At:E-tailer
    Strengths:Shifts well, good price, fairly long lasting
    Weaknesses:tiny allen bolt in the back comes out on its own.
    Similar Products Used:xt
    Bike Setup:saltamontes
    Bottom Line:I would buy this over the XT's every time. Allthough it is not perfect, I can get 1500 miles out of it before it begins to skip, bend or cause the chain to slip. They dont develop play on the freehub like the XT did either. That being said, cassett, chain and chain rings are spares I always keep around. Drive chains wear.
    Value Rating:5Overall Rating:4

    Submitted by Mark Redwood a Cross Country Rider from Hampshire, UK
    Date Reviewed: April 12, 2007
    Duration Product Used:6 months
    Purchased At:Internet retailer
    Strengths:shifts well, looks good, reasonably light
    Weaknesses:wears fast
    Bike Setup:11-32 970 cassette, sram 971 chain, x-7 rear mech, x-gen front mech
    Bottom Line:really smooth shifting cassette - shifting to larger cogs is particularly nice - shifts nicely under power, which is a big bonus when climbing.

    haven't had any of the problems with bending cogs - but the 970 cassette has bigger cutouts than the 950 cassette (saves about 30g). might be too weak - always assuming that people are doing the lockrings up to the correct torque (",)

    downer is the fact that this cassette has worn fast - it's only lasted 9 months and one chain (the chain and the cassette gave up around the same time) - my chain started skipping on cogs 4,5,6 (which are the ones I use most) and had just reached 0.75% stretch - no point changing just the chain that would make it skip worse.

    I noticed that the cassette doesn't rust - wondering whether they're made from stainless? If they were then it would explain the wear pattern - the edges of the teeth are all flared outwards on the badly worn cogs - unfortunately stainless while it is very hard, is actually more malleable than carbon steel - it's harder to drill or cut, but is easier to bend or stretch - which might explain the problems with bending cogs, and the wear pattern on my cassette.

    have replaced it with a 950 cassette instead. If it's going to get fried in 9 months at least it will cost me less - and on my steel rig I can get a 30g weight saving cleaning out my belly button fluff.

    gets 3 chilli's for wearing out quick and a 4 overall coz it's nice while it's nice
    Value Rating:3Overall Rating:4

    Submitted by Tom a Cross Country Rider from Portland
    Date Reviewed: March 14, 2007
    Duration Product Used:1 Year
    Price Paid: $50.00
    Purchased At:ebay and installed on new trike
    Strengths:Nice gear range
    Good shifts
    Easy install
    Easy cleaning
    Weaknesses:None found... Bike factory didn't tighten fully so the screw/pin came loose. No harm; no foul. Just reinstalled the screw and all was good.
    Similar Products Used:Note sure what Specialized uses... but whatever it was, it wore out quickly.
    Bike Setup:Actionbent Tadpole Trike; 26" drive wheel.
    Bottom Line:I upgraded the trike with a SRAM DualDrive and chose the same cassette that was on the original wheel (11-34). The price was right and the performance was good for a road trike. Never skipped a cog and always shifted smooth up and down. At 240# and climbing 12+% grades, this thing is hanging in fine under my masher feet. I'm running a KMC Z9000 9 speed chain over the cassette. Took the original PG-970 cassette apart to clean it when I put the DualDrive on and it cleaned up good as new with over 500 miles on it.
    Value Rating:5Overall Rating:5

    Submitted by Marvin a Cross Country Rider from Lakeland, FL, Polk
    Date Reviewed: February 7, 2007
    Duration Product Used:6 months
    Strengths:Fairly light and less expensive than Shimano
    Weaknesses:Large cogs bend
    Similar Products Used:Many different cassettes
    Bike Setup:Scalpel, Fox F100 rlc fork, Sram grip shift
    Bottom Line:This is the third Sram 11 x 34 cassette that I've bent the 2 largest cogs teeth on. They bent after between 3 and 15 rides. This with fresh chains and proper adjustment. I'm an older 165 pound rider with moderate power so these cassettes were not stressed. I'll be going to cheaper, heavier cassettes when I need a 34, otherwise I'll run 11 x 27 ultegra which should solve the problem.
    Value Rating:2Overall Rating:1

    Submitted by vandal a Cross Country Rider from Canada
    Date Reviewed: February 6, 2007
    Duration Product Used:3 months
    Price Paid: $30.00
    Purchased At:ebay
    Strengths:Looks good, medium weight, shifts well
    Weaknesses:none really...or at least none yet
    Similar Products Used:LX
    Bottom Line:for $30 if it fell apart at the end of the season, i'd still be happy, but like i said i only had it for that one season
    Value Rating:5Overall Rating:4

    Submitted by Waterat Pat a Cross Country Rider from Morgan Hill, CA
    Date Reviewed: October 11, 2006
    Favoriate Trail:One I am riding
    Duration Product Used:1 Year
    Price Paid: $40.00
    Purchased At:Internet
    Strengths:Shifts good and cogs seem to last longer than XT.
    Weaknesses:Cassette binding pins came loose and deflected the big cog damaging my drive side spokes.
    Similar Products Used:XT
    Bike Setup:Yeti 575
    Bottom Line:I run the large 34 tooth model as my local park has many steep climbs. Probably too much torque for this design caused it to fail. That doesn't bother me as much as damaging my wheel. Get the smaller 32 tooth version or something else.
    Value Rating:4Overall Rating:2

    Submitted by ray a Racer from toledo,ohio
    Date Reviewed: July 21, 2006
    Duration Product Used:2 Years
    Price Paid: $38.00
    Purchased At:ebay
    Strengths:very attractive design, chrome cogs, orange spacer, shimano compat. ( need a sloght adjustment in cable tension from a DA cassette to the sram. I dont know what you off roaders do to this cassette.. maybe it isnt for a dirt bike. but on a steet bike its better than a Dura ace cassette. this is easy to clean also just dip a rag in some orange clean and floss the spaces. (to clean the da properly it requires removal from the hub.)
    Weaknesses:none after 2 years (7600 miles) very little wear on a road bike.
    Similar Products Used:after 30 years you name it,,, ive probably used it...(not the exotics.. never seen any real cost/penefit factor
    Bike Setup:cannondale cadd 5 full DA (except for the freewheel)
    specialized alez pro ( full 105)
    Tsunami Compact (campagnolo record groupo)
    Bottom Line:cant say anything about off road biking but for road racing its the sh*t. Ive put over 7000 miles on the first one i bought and after clean up looks close to new.
    Value Rating:5Overall Rating:5

    Submitted by Tim a Racer from Council Bluffs IA
    Date Reviewed: May 18, 2006
    Duration Product Used:3 months
    Strengths:shifted well
    cheap
    Weaknesses:wore out at about 400miles
    Similar Products Used:shimano
    Bike Setup:paragon
    Bottom Line:this chain ring needed replaced at a little over 400 miles. I keep it clean and my chain lubed. Weak component on a great bike.
    Value Rating:2Overall Rating:2

    Submitted by John a Weekend Warrior from Indy,IN,USA
    Date Reviewed: April 14, 2006
    Duration Product Used:1 Year
    Price Paid: $38.00
    Purchased At:LBS
    Strengths:Smooth shifting, durable, reliable
    Weaknesses:None I can tell
    Similar Products Used:Shimano, generic no-name
    Bike Setup:Iron Horse Hollowpoint XT, RS Duke fork, Manitou shock
    Bottom Line:Good piece of gear. It just works & works through everything. Lasts as long as any cassette I've tried.
    Value Rating:5Overall Rating:5

    Submitted by John a from Bromley, KY
    Date Reviewed: March 16, 2006
    Favoriate Trail:Idlewild
    Duration Product Used:6 months
    Price Paid: $34.00
    Purchased At:LBS
    Strengths:shifted well, low price, looks nice
    Weaknesses:Worn out after 6 months of use.
    Similar Products Used:Sunrace JuJu 11-34
    Bike Setup:Ironhorse Warrior, Raceface Evolve X-Type Cranks, XT FD and RD, LX rapidfire shifters, CN-7701 chain.
    Bottom Line:This thing shifted well, but in my opinion wore out too fast. I am pretty much a clean freak when it comes to my dirvetrain, so I am sure that the quick wear is not a result of dirt and grit build-up. It was better than the SurRace JuJu that came with the bike, which I managed to wear out in about 3 months. I suppose that I am a little on the large size, weighing in at 190, and I do put quite a few miles on my bike, so those may be extenuating circumstances. I am replacing with an XT 760 cassette, which is roughly twice as expensive. Shall see how the XT lasts in comparison.
    Value Rating:3Overall Rating:2

    Submitted by Elvis a Cross Country Rider from NC
    Date Reviewed: January 12, 2006
    Favoriate Trail:The really dirty one!
    Duration Product Used:3 months
    Purchased At:some webstore?!?
    Strengths:Love those shifts, i have abused this cassette still no probs
    Weaknesses:its really cool looking, makes my buds jealous
    Similar Products Used:the dreaded shimano crapola
    Bike Setup:Trek 6500, Juciy 7's, Sram X9 rear der and shiftys, Sram X gen front der, Crank Bros mallet c's, Wtb Dual duty Rims,ect...
    Bottom Line:Ok so i got sold on cassette after using a 990 on a buds bike, wanted one like that saw the 970 said yep thats for me... I am very very hard on my drivetrain Im heavy(220 lbs) and i abuse the teeth on my stuff all the time but i can say i love this cassette! Get one!
    Value Rating:5Overall Rating:5

    Submitted by N.B.GAS a Cross Country Rider from LAS VEGAS, NV.
    Date Reviewed: November 24, 2005
    Favoriate Trail:EMPTY ONES
    Duration Product Used:6 months
    Price Paid: $34.00
    Purchased At:PRICE POINT .com
    Strengths:FLAWLESS,FAST SHIFTING!!!
    NO FLEX!!!
    SATIN FINISH!!!
    PLAYS WELL WITH ALL OF MY DRIVE TRAIN!!!
    PRICE!!!
    Weaknesses:NOT!!!
    Similar Products Used:XT,LX,DEORE, ALL ARE GHOST-SHIFTING CHAIN EATING PsOS!!!
    Bike Setup:05'IBEX HT: MANITOU...SRAM...RACE-FACE...AVID...CANE CREEK.
    SELLE ITALIA...PLANET-X...IRC...OURY...
    Bottom Line:SRAM HAS FINALLY CAME INTO THEIR OWN! AND WITH A BIG BANG!

    LIVING IN VEGAS HAS GIVEN ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO ATTEND ALL
    THE INTERBIKE SHOWS...THIS YEAR I NOTICE ALL MOST ALL OF THE
    06' BIKES HAD SRAM DRIVE TRAINS...ILL ADMIT SOME STILL
    HAD shimano FDs...

    Iam A RECOVERING shimano JUNKIE! STILL HAVE ENOUGH WORKING
    shimano PARTS BOXED UP TO BUILD 3 BIKES...BUT I REALLY DONT
    SEE THAT HAPPENING!

    WHEN shimano STARTED WITH THE DUAL CONTROL $HIT I DECIDED
    IT WAS TIME TO STEP OUT OF THE big-s BUBBLE...MY LAST BUILDS
    ARE BOTH shimano FREE...I GUESS Iam GETTING BETTER, I KNOW
    MY BIKES ARE!

    .......SRAMS X-SERIES COMPONENTS ARE TRUE WORKS OF ART......
    .................TRY AN ALL SRAM DRIVE TRAIN................
    ........................TAKE THE CURE.......................
    ................YOU'LL RIDE MORE AND TUNE LESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    ............ASK MY WORK-STAND..........PEACE................
    Value Rating:5Overall Rating:5

    Submitted by Ted Welsh a Cross Country Rider from Westland, MI
    Date Reviewed: August 6, 2005
    Favoriate Trail:Tree Farm
    Duration Product Used:3 months
    Price Paid: $50.00
    Purchased At:LocaL Bike Shop
    Strengths:Cheap
    Weaknesses:Wore out fast. Shifting not as smooth as Shimano.
    Similar Products Used:Shimano Deore & LX
    Bike Setup:XC. SRAM cassette, Shimano XT cranks, SRAM PC69 chain. LX/XT derailleurs.
    Bottom Line:Opted for SRAM over Shimano when my cassette needed replacing as the mechanic thought the SRAM had harder, tempered metal. Apparently he was wrong as I'm starting to get slippage after 2 months and 300 miles. I can't say Shimano is any better as my Shimano crankset is wearing fast as well but I will be switching back to Shimano.
    Value Rating:1Overall Rating:1

    Submitted by Eric Parent a Cross Country Rider from Rimouski, Québec, Canada
    Date Reviewed: July 26, 2005
    Duration Product Used:Less than 1 month
    Price Paid: $40.00
    Purchased At:Vélo Plein Air
    Strengths:Shift Realy Well !
    Light for the price !
    Satin Chrome finish...
    Weaknesses:I used it for arround 100km and i did'nt dicovered any weakness...
    Similar Products Used:Deore Cassette, Deore LX Cassette
    Bike Setup:Devinci Cameleon, FD16 FrontWheel (XT Hubs), XM117 RearWheel (Deore Hubs), LX Rear Derailleur, Marzocchi EXR PRO 120mm Fork...
    Bottom Line:This cassette is a little bit lighter then the deore lx cassette that cost way more... And the Pg-970 work way nicer, even with a chain (HG-53), This cassette is the one you should get if you don't want to buy an XT cassette because its to expansive.

    People that said that the shimano HG chain are not compatible just don't know how to adjust their derailleur...
    Value Rating:5Overall Rating:5

    Submitted by Tyler Levine a from Somerville
    Date Reviewed: June 12, 2005
    Favoriate Trail:Hunter to Prichet (Moab)
    Duration Product Used:2 Years
    Strengths:Good price, looks good, I'm had good duribility with them.
    Weaknesses:Works a lot better with the SRAM chains.
    Similar Products Used:XT XTR
    Bike Setup:Ibis Hakalugi, Seven Duo and Sola
    Bottom Line:I"ll have to disagree. I"ve used SRAM casettes for a long time now and I"m always amazed that people don't like them. I've worked as a mechanic for 12+ years and I have used Saches/SRAM cahins forever. I have had nothing but bad luck wiht Shim. chains. My point is that the chain is going to determine how fast the cassette wears out. The sram chains don't streach as quickly and thus the cassette's last longer. Honestly I can't beleive Shimano sells any chains at all. I could gush about SRAM chains forever.
    Value Rating:5Overall Rating:4

    Submitted by Steve McCaughan a Weekend Warrior from Christchurch
    Date Reviewed: September 1, 2004
    Duration Product Used:6 months
    Price Paid: $50.00
    Strengths:Looks good
    Price ????
    Weaknesses:Wore real fast. 5 months or 1500km in distance.
    Does not shift as well as XT and thats a fact.
    IS NOT CAMPATIBLE WITH SHIMANO HG 93 CHAIN.
    Similar Products Used:LX, XT
    Bike Setup:Giant VT2
    Bottom Line:This cluster came with my Giant VT2 new with a Shimano HG50 chain..
    I replaced chain with HG93 and immeadiately developed chain slip. I bought a new PG 950 Sram cluster still slipped. Bought XT cluster and problem fixed with better shifting. XT better but will see how long it lasts.
    Value Rating:3Overall Rating:2






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