I am looking into buying an aluminum cassette and it's now between the Recon cassette and a ceramic coated Token cassette. The Token weighs 12g more and costs $50 more but it is coated in ceramic whilst the Recon is simply anodized. Will the ceramic coating extend the life of the cassette enough for it to be worth it? It's a large difference in price and a slight weight penalty but I don't know how much the ceramic coating really adds in durability. Anyone have any ideas on the matter?
Ceramic Coatings
IM31408
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I am looking into buying an aluminum cassette and it's now between the Recon cassette and a ceramic coated Token cassette. The Token weighs 12g more and costs $50 more but it is coated in ceramic whilst the Recon is simply anodized. Will the ceramic coating extend the life of the cassette enough for it to be worth it? It's a large difference in price and a slight weight penalty but I don't know how much the ceramic coating really adds in durability. Anyone have any ideas on the matter?
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Newer Recon also have a "ceramic" coating. There's no magic behind but rather trying to make people believe things are more durable...IM31408 said:
But my experience is while coatings help "some" aluminium cassettes still wear (too) fast.
Shown below latest generation Recon aluminium 11-32.They are beautifully made and bring a smile to almost anyone who holds it in his hands.The machining is really awesome.The 11t is out of steel so fitting a 11t out of titanium saves even more.
I personally don't give all that much on those coatings.If the material underneath is soft it won't do much since the pressure from chains is on very narrow areas so it has to withstand hard abuse. The coating may help reduce friction but it won't make a cassette harder when the load is applied on a minimal section only.
@jeffscott:
With those chainrings you tried i believe it has more to do with the material used. Maybe one was soft,cheap alloy while the other one was a much harder alloy. And then there is also important that your chain and cogs are new as well otherwise aluminium parts get eaten rather fast anyway.
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A lot will depend on what type of anodize is on
the cassette. If it is just a type 2 anodize than it
isn't that good. However if it is a type 3 hard anodize
than you have a very tuff coating. I'm not sure if the
type 3 anodize is tuffer than a ceramic coating.
Best, John
the cassette. If it is just a type 2 anodize than it
isn't that good. However if it is a type 3 hard anodize
than you have a very tuff coating. I'm not sure if the
type 3 anodize is tuffer than a ceramic coating.
Best, John
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215 Posts
From what I've seen of these cassettes(no personal experience) they structurally fail, they don't wear through getting thinner and thinner till they fail. The failure is one of teeth breaking before they get a change to wear thin. If that is indeed the case then the coating will not help in any way solve the problem at hand. If I am mistaken and they do indeed fail from wearing thin too fast then you could get some benefit from the coating.
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Likely less about wearing thin and more about having the teeth wear into shark teeth much quicker than a steel or Ti cog.
Unless the coating is flexible enough to cope with the deformation of wear surfaces it's not going to give you much. I have not seen any coatings suitable on this type of wear surface that make a lot of difference and put any differences to the base metal and finishing methods.
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I have been applying ceramic coatings to biker drive-train components, crank-arms, rings, chains, and cassette's for several years and can attest to the benefits of it's use.
The question in this thread, does it provide durability when applied to a aluminum cassette. I've coated more than a hundred Token 129A 11/32 units in the past 2 yrs. Yes the ceramic will extend the wear life of the cassette, but no it does not make the aluminum substrate stronger. I've only had 2 cassette's that have been returned due to failure, (broken teeth). This wasn't a fault of the coating but due to gear changes under full power. The aluminum just isn't strong enough for this and will eventually catch wrong and break a tooth. Ceramic only extends the mechanical wear of the softer material and does this very well along with being a non-stick surface. This means less abrasive contaminants grinding away at your drive-train. IMHO
The question in this thread, does it provide durability when applied to a aluminum cassette. I've coated more than a hundred Token 129A 11/32 units in the past 2 yrs. Yes the ceramic will extend the wear life of the cassette, but no it does not make the aluminum substrate stronger. I've only had 2 cassette's that have been returned due to failure, (broken teeth). This wasn't a fault of the coating but due to gear changes under full power. The aluminum just isn't strong enough for this and will eventually catch wrong and break a tooth. Ceramic only extends the mechanical wear of the softer material and does this very well along with being a non-stick surface. This means less abrasive contaminants grinding away at your drive-train. IMHO
Prove it. None of the surface finishes have much of an affect on wear in this type of use. High load friction points on a "soft" base metal. What's the hardness of the finishes you apply, thickness? How brittle are they? Electron microscope shots after XX run time to show the finish is not cracked through and worn out? What independent testing has been done?crazy8 said:
It's REALLY easy for this to be shown yet I have not seen any scientific testing. A lot of "oh yea, take our word for it" but no facts.
"Non-stick" means little to nothing in this use. It makes no measurable difference.
In THIS use, metal to metal high load environment coatings give you little to nothing over the base metal and for only as long as it takes to wear through OR crack. Once it's cracking you have added an abrasive to the equation which WILL shorten life
For those of us more interested in facts the following URL give some information which is helpful in understanding the subject. "Our" environment and load conditions are not as "easy" as the ones in this testing so not all of it will translate over. We can't use "hard" finishes as an example.
http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/ETD/image/etd1765.pdf
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