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SRAM
9.0™ Powerglide II™ Cassette
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Average Rating
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2.96/5
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# of Reviews
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25
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MSRP
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$
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Weight
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More Products from SRAM
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Description:Simple design: lightweight, efficient, stiff componentry
Durable construction: composite spider, high-quality steel cogs, durable heat treatment
Optimized performance: excellent SRAM Power Chain™ match, great performance on many other chains
9-speed, 11-32 & 11-34 options
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Submitted by
Chris
a Weekend Warrior
from Helena, MT
Date Reviewed: August 15, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | Ridge Trail | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Bottom Line: | I used this cog for a long time with no issues riding around town and doing relatively flat more technical riding. As soon as I started doing riding with hard climbs I destroyed the teeth in about 2 weeks. At this point I can no longer use my bike until I replace the set. I am definetly shopping around for a different product. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Ryan Simmons
a Downhiller
from Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Date Reviewed: April 14, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | Right now-anything that's dry. | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$35.00 | | Purchased At: | BTI | | Strengths: | It's SRAM and not Shimano. Relatively light. | | Weaknesses: | I have to say that I had high hopes for this cassette. I dropped Shimano with the introduction of their dual-control junk and upgrading all my bikes to SRAM 9.0. I just built up a new Titus and had one XC ride on the cassette and have already managed to bend the second from the largest cog. I have no idea how this could have happened as I was riding in Fruita and there are really no hard climbs down there. It looks as if perhaps the plastic center somehow failed. Fortunately I have an older X-7 cassette and was able to swap it out. | | Similar Products Used: | SRAM X-7 on a down hill bike with absolutely no problems. Shimano XT. | | Bike Setup: | '06 Titus Moto-Lite with Sun SUV's. | | Bottom Line: | After reading some of the other posts on here about this cassette I guess I'm not the only one having problems. All the other X-9 components I've run have worked really well so I'm not certain why SRAM released this cassette on the public. I'm still not going back to Shimano as of yet, so SRAM better have stepped it up with the new aluminum body cassette this year. Although SRAM needs to refund my $$$$ for this POC. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Tom
a Weekend Warrior
from Westchester
Date Reviewed: September 11, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | Shifts smoothly | | Weaknesses: | none yet | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano LX and XT | | Bike Setup: | Kona Dawg, BETD linkage, Crossmax XLs, RP3, Sherman Firefly, FSA DH pro headset, HFX mags with BONZ one finger triggers, Hutchinson Bulldogs UST tires, XT drivetrain | | Bottom Line: | I usually have used Shimano cassettes on my bikes. This is my main bike, which I try to ride about three limes a week. Whenever I put a new (Shimano) cassette on, it shifts pretty well for a while, and eventually gets kind of crappy. Last time I tried to resolve the situation by replacing the shifters (which were about two years old, the rear derailleur (same), and the shifter cables with those fancy chrome looking ones from Germany (can't remember name). Bike shifted well for awhile. I had a crappy old hardtail that I had upgraded from top to bottom. It has all SRAM drivetrain and always shifts beautifully. I installed everything myself without difficulty.
I was getting this weird knocking noise from the rear wheel on the Kona after I put on the Crossmax XLs. I figured that I needed a spacer to go next to the XT cassette I had on the bike. When I took the cassette to put on the spacer, the cassette fell apart all over the floor. I was in a hurry to get out and ride, so I took the cassette off my hardtail.
My Kona has never shifted so well. This cassette is already a year old. I don't expect any problems. I think it was more expensive than LX but cheaper than XT. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
G-child
a Weekend Warrior
from Butte, MT USA
Date Reviewed: July 19, 2004 | | Favorite Trail: | Slab Ride | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$50.00 | | Purchased At: | LBS and Greenfish Sports | | Strengths: | 34 tooth cog helps you get up steep hills with ease. The 9.0 looks sharp. | | Weaknesses: | DURABILITY! Two 9.0 cassettes have broken on me in the past year. I do not ride that much either. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano cassettes | | Bike Setup: | Homegrown HT, with Sram X.0, XT cranks, SID, Mavic, Raceface Deus Stem, etc. | | Bottom Line: | Never buy a 9.0 cassette. I have broken two in the past year under normal pedaling up a hill. The first time, my 34 and 28t rings bent going up a routine hill. I thought that hey, maybe it was my fault and the cassette got dinged up during transport and this caused them to bend. So I replaced it with another 9.0 34t from the LBS. 4 months later, the 28t ring cracked and half broke off duing another routine climb. Sram is going to hear about this. I will go back to running Shimano cassettes from now on. I have been extremely happy with the X.0 derailer and shifters, however. Their cassettes just suck. If I could give 0 chillis, I would. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
MrXC
a Cross Country Rider
from Washington, DC, USA
Date Reviewed: June 14, 2004 | | Favorite Trail: | GWNF, VA | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Strengths: | Shifts well. Gear rations | | Weaknesses: | Big cog not durable, bends easily. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano XT | | Bike Setup: | 2000 Voodoo Bizango | | Bottom Line: | After a few years on XT cassettes and SRAM chains I decided to give the SRAM 9.0 cassette a shot. I was pleased with the shifting and actually liked having the 8 smaller cogs closely spaced with a big jump to a largest cog. However, like some other reviewers have experienced, my big cog bent this past weekend after not much use. A very small twig got caught in my derailleur, I pedalled 2 more strokes and by the time I stopped the big cog was bent big time. I had to finish the ride with the equivelent of a 7 spd road cassette! I bent it back so I could ride the next day and it worked ok, but still skipped a little in the 2 largest cogs.
Long story short: If a tiny twig can bend the big cog easily this isn't a part I'd trust during an epic ride. I guess SRAM can't win them all. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Scott
a Cross Country Rider
from Oregon
Date Reviewed: March 21, 2004 | | Favorite Trail: | McKenzie | | Duration Product Used: | Tested or demo'ed only | | Strengths: | Light, fairly durable | | Weaknesses: | Poor QC from factory | | Similar Products Used: | XT/XTR cassettes, Campy Chourus (gold standard!) | | Bottom Line: | I was building up a new C-dale Cross 1000 last night, and out of the box I noticed the rear cassette slipping on the freehub. It turned out that the SRAM PG-970's lockring had stripped (very light and cheap-feeling alloy) and therefore the cassette wasn't tight on the freehub. I am not knocking the quality of this cassette (I have had quality shifts with another mounted on a C-dale Scalpel) but if you buy a bike with this cassette installed, have the shop check the tightness of the lockring for you-if it works loose on the trail, you may be walking home! Most cassettes have a more substantial lockring than this one-not sure why they went with such a lightweight alloy on a part that is designed to be torqued to 40 N*m, which is alot of force (for comparison, the average high-performance stem's HB clamp is only designed to be tightened to 8-10 N*m). | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Freddie
a Cross Country Rider
from Harbor City, CA USA
Date Reviewed: January 24, 2004 | | Favorite Trail: | Sullivan Canyon/ Backbone loop | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$44.00 | | Strengths: | Clean, crisp shifting and quiet running. The backside of the cassette (closest to the spokes) is smooth so if by chance your chain overshifts off of the biggest cog, it won't get wedged between the cassette and spokes, ala XTR or XT. | | Weaknesses: | None for the 11-32 cassette, haven't tried the 11-34. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano LX and XT | | Bike Setup: | 2001 Trek Fuel with XT shift pods, XTR rear derailleur, and SRAM PC 99 chain. | | Bottom Line: | Works great! Definitely quicker shifting than the LX cassette that came with the bike and just plain better than XT cassettes I've used. For some reason I've had issues with the two XT cassettes I've used on my Fuel (eg. noisy on some cogs, skipping problems, even a "rough feel" felt through the pedals on the second to biggest cog on one of 'em). And yes I DO know how to tune my derailleurs and always use a new chain when replacing a cassette.
I started out with an XTR chain and most recently switched to a SRAM PC 99 chain (I replace my chains when my Park chain checker reads .75 of stretch) and both work just fine. I expect to get at least one to two more chains on this cassette. Go for it! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Loehr Young
a Cross Country Rider
from Athens, GA. USA
Date Reviewed: June 17, 2003 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$40.00 | | Purchased At: | Greenfish Sports | | Strengths: | Looks to be a solid cassette, it is SRAM! | | Weaknesses: | None so far. | | Similar Products Used: | XT, XTR. | | Bike Setup: | GT I-Drive 1.0, Psylo SL, X-Max, All SRAM, Stylo Team. | | Bottom Line: | After reading up on this I got the 11-32. So far it works great, just as good as the simano stuff I've always used. Don't know about durability yet but I'm sure it will be o.k. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Neil
a
from Vermont
Date Reviewed: May 22, 2003 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Strengths: | Smooth shifting, light, pretty | | Weaknesses: | I guess it is weak - at least this one. | | Bottom Line: | I've owned two of these now, this being my second, and I've had it <12 rides. The big (34T) ring on this literally expoded on me yesterday, necessitating a trip back to the car for pliers, brute surgery to continue ride (in a max. 28T ring on hills no less), and now, $50 for a new cluster. I think the 34 sticks up too high w/out reinforcement from teh spider, and is not able to withstand the forces on it. The old one was a 32T...much more stable - and it lasted the drivetrain. Oh well. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
John
a Cross Country Rider
from Bristol
Date Reviewed: May 17, 2003 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$45.00 | | Strengths: | Bah | | Weaknesses: | Bent rings right out of box. SRAM chain (PC-99) rubbbed like mad in 1,2,3 big gears, ghost shift, dropping up/down in the three big rings, IN THE STAND. Checked it out before first test ride and BENT RINGS!! 2nd biggest ring was WORST. Bent with pliers as good as I could. Well, it seems ok now, don't know about durabilty yet.
Most likely will NOT buy SRAM cassette again. BUT I love the PC-99 chains, makes drivetrain maintenance SO EASY with the gold pwer-link. SRAM chains work FINE with Shimano cassettes. | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano XT. LX | | Bottom Line: | Avoid this cassette, and probably the whole SRAM line of cassettes Spend a little more get XT. XTR is too expensive with almost NO weight advantage anyway. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
james campbell
a
from encino
Date Reviewed: May 1, 2003 | | Favorite Trail: | So many trials..so little time | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Purchased At: | 45 | | Strengths: | good quality, shifts nicely | | Weaknesses: | Too large of gear change between 1st & 2nd gear | | Similar Products Used: | Shimino | | Bike Setup: | Litespeed obed setup to pull BOB trailer | | Bottom Line: | The MAJOR problem with this cassette is that the largest cog is a 34 (something I wanted because I pull a trailer) but the next cog down is a 28! For my application, many times, a 28 is too little and a 34 is too big. I can't imange what SRAM was thinking by skipping 6 teeth between cogs. Shimino uses a 34, 30, 28 ...etc. This makes so much more sence. Although I like SRAM products I gona have to sell this and upgrade to a Shimino 9 speed. Any takers? It's got less than 30 miles on it. You can have it for $35.00.
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Andrew
a Downhiller
from metropolis
Date Reviewed: April 8, 2003 | | Favorite Trail: | devils cliff | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$44.00 | | Purchased At: | JensonUsa | | Strengths: | swift shifting, easy maintenence, dont skip, i say its durable | | Weaknesses: | nuttin | | Similar Products Used: | xtr, deore | | Bike Setup: | schwinn moab s30 special edition, boxxer, xtr/9.0, raceface, azonic, T.H.E. | | Bottom Line: | this is a tight cassette, put it this way, i had an xtr cassette for about 7 months and had problems like every 2 weeks it either was the lock ring or the dented rings. i had this 9.0 cassette for about 5,4 weeks now and not one single problem at all, i keep it well cleaned check for any dents or summtin stupid like that and so far the thing is 100% perfect. This is the s**t i aint gonna go for 9.0 shifters but i am gonna buy 9.0 sl derailleur. 4 on the overall cuz it was kinda expensive. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Joe
a Cross Country Rider
from Buckley, Wa usa
Date Reviewed: February 13, 2003 | | Favorite Trail: | Below Her navel. | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Purchased At: | online | | Strengths: | Crisp gear changes throughout cogs. | | Weaknesses: | Wears quickly. The biggest 4 cogs develop chain skip. These were where I did alot of my riding using these cogs. | | Similar Products Used: | 7.0 more durable. 5.0 8 speed more durable. Lx more durable. | | Bike Setup: | Weyless noodle 67, Specialized HT Expert, Specialized Expedition with many upgrades to make it on the trail regularly. | | Bottom Line: | It works great for awhile but really is less durable than the other cassettes I mentioned above. I had to replace it at the 6 month mark. I won't bother getting another due to this. 7.0 is my favorite. I use them exclusively. Last twice as long. I see Rob the previous reviewer experienced the same thing I did. I'm not a racer but I ride often and on trails that are technical as well as have alot of climbing. I'm also 220 and push them gears pretty hard. Maybe if you are a light weight, light push'n biker you'll be fine. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Rob
a Racer
from Orlando FL
Date Reviewed: October 31, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | Razorback | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$60.00 | | Purchased At: | online | | Strengths: | Light thanks to partial use of alloy spider. Inexpensive compared to Shimano's top of the line equivilent. | | Weaknesses: | Wears quickly. | | Similar Products Used: | LX, XT | | Bike Setup: | Ti hardtail, XTR rear, XT crank, Mavic Crossride | | Bottom Line: | I have been using this for the fall race season and it has performed well through the first 5 races. I clean the drive train after every event or practice to ensure clean shifts. Though now, I am starting to notice wear in the 3 biggest cogs. If I stand and hammer on a climb, I can produce a skip in those 3. This is a less expensive and light alternative to the offering by Shimano, but be warned; it will wear fast. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Rob Fraser
a Cross Country Rider
from Toronto, ON, Canada
Date Reviewed: October 13, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | Don Valley, North Shore | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$64.00 | | Strengths: | Solid durable lightweight product that is available way cheaper than xt at the same weight. Sram did 11-34 first. | | Similar Products Used: | Sram 7.0 | | Bike Setup: | Racky Mountain Elevation, Marzocchi, Hayes, SRAM, Raceface, Cane Creek, Mavic, Maxxis, Selle Italia & Swiss DT. | | Bottom Line: | This cassette is way lighter than 7.0. Shimano doesn't even compare. When I change my cassette and chain I have to go spend $100, plus $100 for the chain rings. I got an 11-34 9.o cassette with a PC-99 chain. They rock. I tried them last night to realize that my Race Rings were worn out too. Well, when I added it all up I put in 2 years on my 7.o cassette and rings. My knees are feeling better already. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Frank
a Racer
from Quebec, Qc, Canada
Date Reviewed: September 27, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$50.00 | | Purchased At: | Vie Sportive | | Strengths: | Lightweight, improved shifthing over LX ou even XT | | Weaknesses: | is there any??? | | Similar Products Used: | XTR, XT, LX | | Bike Setup: | Giant NRS, personnal set-up | | Bottom Line: | It made a sigificant difference over shimano's top products... Wnat can I say... It worked for my and my gost-shifting problem is now solved!!! XT and LX didn't last but this one is as good as new after what I've put it trought! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
sam
a
from nj
Date Reviewed: September 1, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | dunno about strrengths. It is not Shimano | | Weaknesses: | The 34T cog bent on me. Never had that happen before | | Similar Products Used: | XT several, xtr one | | Bottom Line: | I did get about a season out of this thing (about 750 miles with 6-8 races - spent a bit more time on the road bike this year). Understand, the 34T ring did not bend over onto the 28t but it is visibly bent none the less. I don't understand why the ring bent.
I bought it to try something other than Shimano when my XTR cassette wore out. XT could be found for $10 to 20 cheaper on the web but I wanted to try something else.
Well, there you have it. About a season of trouble free performance then I notice the ring is bent (after throwing my chain into the spokes - it is set up right - I don't know if the bent ring is related to the chain going in - I cannot force the chain into the spokes on the stand - I don't know why it did it - twice). There did seem to be a little break in time in the beginning. The chain would skip a bit. I don't know if I adjusted it out or it wore itself into working. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jon
a Weekend Warrior
from Connecticut
Date Reviewed: July 16, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | Case mountain | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Purchased At: | stock on bike | | Strengths: | Has held up fairly | | Weaknesses: | Very heavy, bent so I cannot shift into the biggest cog | | Similar Products Used: | XT | | Bottom Line: | It's an ok cassette. I'm going to switch to an xt to save some weight and have some stronger cogs | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Lau Enrique
a Downhiller
from Macau, China
Date Reviewed: June 20, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | any but learning some | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$40.00 | | Purchased At: | Wing Lei ($^$%)Bicycles Macau | | Strengths: | Cheap, light, lighter than XT, nice design | | Weaknesses: | heavier than XTR (haha), ratio unbalanced (34-28-24...)
hard to clean | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano XT 9-speed, STX-RC 8-speed, Alivio 7-speed, XTR 8-speed | | Bike Setup: | SBC Enhanced Rockhopper, Bomber Z3, Deore/Sram 9.0 mechs, Truvativ Firex/UN72, Sun Rhyno Lite/XT disc/DT Champion/9.0 cassette, 02' Deore hydraulic discs, Tioga, Kore/selle Italia Kits | | Bottom Line: | The Cassette is not very fit with Sram mech, and the main is, don't use Taiwan-made (Z brand)chain to the Sram.....terrible, Shimano HG is better | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Bean
a Weekend Warrior
from Vancouver, BC
Date Reviewed: May 22, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | Upper Oilcan | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | Lightweight, clean shifting | | Weaknesses: | Weak and bendy cogs | | Similar Products Used: | XT | | Bike Setup: | Santa Cruz Bullit w/ Psylo XC, SRAM 9.0, etc. | | Bottom Line: | I've never had a cogset which bent before, and I'm only 160 lbs. A few months back I bent one of my middle cogs, and last weekend I bent the two largest cogs. OK, I wasn't shifting under the smoothest conditions, but still, this is absurd. I'm hoping that this was just a manufacturing flaw, but it could be a design flaw. They may have just built this cogset to be too light. SRAM products generally work well and are a good alternative to the other stuff out there; I'm hoping that this is just an anomoly. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Derek Mattice
a Cross Country Rider
from Brighton, MI
Date Reviewed: May 20, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$41.00 | | Purchased At: | JensonUSA.com | | Strengths: | Finish is nicer than XT, not nearly as cool as XTR, price | | Weaknesses: | @8 tooth to 34 tooth gap, skips on 28 tooth cog, heavy | | Similar Products Used: | XT, XTR | | Bike Setup: | Cannondale CAAD5, Mavic crossmax disc tubeless, hayes disc brakes, SRAM X.0. | | Bottom Line: | I had hoped this would work good since it is alot cheaper than XTR, but this product sucks. The gap from 28 tooth to 34 tooth is VERY noticeable. SRAM is merely trying to save manufacturing costs "If we take an 11-32 cassette and take off the 32 and put on a 34, we have a functional 11-34 cassette". Sorry, also the 28 tooth cog skips under power and unbelievably my shifting performance deteriorated further with the addition of an X.0 rear derailleur. I put back on an XTR cassette and the shifting problems were cured. And I was using a SRAM PC-99 chain. SRAM's nex X.0 shifter and rear derailleur are great, but if you don't run them with a Shimano grouppo otherwise, you are asking for trouble. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Aliasfox
a Cross Country Rider
from NJ, USA
Date Reviewed: April 24, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | Mercer County Park | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$41.00 | | Purchased At: | www.jensonusa.com | | Strengths: | Lighter than LX, works awesome with ESP derailleur and chain, stiff, quick, crisp shifts, especially when dry, nice looking finish | | Weaknesses: | a little heavier than XT, a few ghost shifts after a lot of mud | | Similar Products Used: | LX 9 speed, tested XT 9 speed | | Bike Setup: | 1999 Giant ATX 890 (Taiwan import), Manitou SX-E (need cash to get rid of this), Magura HS-33, LX front/crank, ESP 9.0 shifters/rear, Mavic 221/LX | | Bottom Line: | It's a good cassette, shifts seem a bit crisper than the LX. I almost purchased an OEM XT, but it was an 11-34, so I declined and got this instead. After going through a lot of mud, I might get a few ghost shifts if I stand, but spinning it out for about 30 secs gets rid of this small annoyance. Works perfectly, seamlessly, transparently with my setup. I practically always get a solid kerchunk sound when I shift, that's gotta be good.
If I saw it again at that price, I would buy another one. I have nothing against Shimano, but when the competition is putting out equally good stuff, I see no reason to not buy from them. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jeremey
a Racer
from Kenosha WI
Date Reviewed: April 6, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | anything that goes up | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$20.00 | | Purchased At: | Sram | | Strengths: | Shifts are flawless as long as you know how to tune your bike correctly. | | Weaknesses: | HUH | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano XT | | Bike Setup: | Trek Elite 9.8, all Sram 9.0 drivetrain, bontrager racelight wheels, eggbeaters | | Bottom Line: | I ride the 11-32 version of this cassette. With the Sram chain this product shifts so smoothly, even under heavy climbing loads. I train hard everyday and race hard and have never had any issues with this setup. I have also ridden this cassette with a Shimano deraulluer and it worked very well then also. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Marcel Frenk
a Cross Country Rider
from Nijmegen
Date Reviewed: February 7, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | Rijk van Nijmegen | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$60.00 | | Purchased At: | Bruinewoud Nijmegen | | Strengths: | Something else than Shimano? | | Weaknesses: | Heavyer than Shimano XT (9.0: 300 grams, Y2K XT: 260 grams)
Does not work well with new chains (SRAM`s own PC-99)
Wears out twice as fast as Shimano`s XT cassette
The rivets that hold the plastic spider and the metal cogs together have damaged my tune freewheel! | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano XT | | Bike Setup: | Specialized S-Works FSR-XC 2000, SRAM 9.0SL derailleur, 9.0SL Halfpipe shifters, PC99 chains etc. | | Bottom Line: | I bought this cassette because I wanted to try something else than the Shimano XT casette. The SRAM 9.0 cassette had received some favorible reviews, was said to lighter than Shimano`s XT, and was said to shift just as well.
I put it on my bike, together with a new PC-99 chain, in August 2001 after my old XT cassette (in service from june 2000) was ripe for replacement. The first thing that I noticed was that the chain jumped from the 28 tooth to the 32 tooth cog. Slackening the cabletension on the derailleur caused the derailleur to fail shifts on the smaller cogs. With the cabletension somehow adjusted in the middle of things, there was still a tendency to ghostshift upwards on brisk (not necessarily big) suspension movements. This disappeared after a few hours of service. Apparantly chain and cassette had to wear in on each other. Shifting performance was indeed fine. But again the second time I put a new chain on, the ghostshifts reappeared until the chain had broken in. I had never had this experience with any Shimano XT cassette. After 6 month`s it was time for it`s third chain, but now the bike was totally unrideable. The usual ghostshifting, but with the ugly bonus of chainjumping as well!! Cog`s (from big to small) number 2, 4, 5 and 6 were useless, even though the cassette did not appear to be worn out. I gave up on the 9.0 cassette, and went back to a good old XT. So far I think that Shimano has a better understanding and control of tolerances (at least on cassette`s) than SRAM has.
One final dissappointment: when I removed the cassette I noticed that the rivets in the spider had cracked the outer aluminium ring (in which an o-ring seal is embedded) of my freewheel mechanism on several places. It`s too early to know whether this effects the o-rings sealing properties or not, but if so, SRAM`s thoughtless constructing costs me an expensive tune freehub.
In my opinium, SRAM needs to to go back to the drawing board, and maybe re-evaluate it`s quality control.
By the way, in practice there is virtually no price difference between a Shimano XT cassette, and a SRAM 9.0 cassette.
So as a true bottom line: SRAM`s 9.0 cassette does not save you any money, but instead offers you less quality. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Henk
a Cross Country Rider
from Hoofddorp, The Netherlands
Date Reviewed: November 28, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$50.00 | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | Light, smooth shifting, good looking: matt silver | | Weaknesses: | Seems to wear out faster than the previous used XT set | | Similar Products Used: | XT | | Bike Setup: | Kinesis frame, XT drive train, Magura HS33 brakes, Rond Quake C fork | | Bottom Line: | Cheaper as Shimano, but works just as good. Seems to wear out a bit faster though, but at 2/3 the price might still be worth the money | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
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