# New Force Group chain/cassette advice



## UnitedWeRide (Nov 21, 2004)

I know there are threads all over the place, and most go off in the other direction from the thread. But with that said, SRAM cassette and chain or Shimano cassette and chain? I have seen mention of KMC chains and Wiperman chains as well. I am going to run a 50/34 with 11-28.


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## cantride55 (Sep 19, 2008)

What are you interested in wear, noise, shifting or (D) all of the above


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## cantride55 (Sep 19, 2008)

Oh ya, personal opinion.....I'm content with Ultegra casette's.. I can pick 3 up on ebay for the price of one 1090 (red) from time to time.


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## UnitedWeRide (Nov 21, 2004)

cantride55 said:


> What are you interested in wear, noise, shifting or (D) all of the above


all of the above and weight


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## Mark H (Dec 12, 2007)

I run a KMC chain on my Red and Force groups without any problems. I think they are quieter, but the biggest advantage for me is the reusable link to allow you to remove the chain for service.


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## 800lbgorilla (Aug 1, 2005)

+1 for KMC and shimano cassettes. The new SRAM cassettes without the gap in the teeth may be pretty good, but I haven't tried them.


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## shop rat (Jan 11, 2010)

The new non-gap-tooth SRAM cassettes are pretty solid. I have a 1070 with a 1070 chain. It does the job.


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## Devastator (May 11, 2009)

Im running a Force cassette, I think its the 1070, 11-25 with a 1090R chain, its is very quiet. Ive had no issuse with noise, the durability seems pretty good too. I run these witha DA7800 rear derailer, Ultegra 6600 front and Cannondale chainrings. I am very pleased with my Sram components.


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## ddhartzell (Feb 25, 2009)

do you all see any problem for my shifting set up if I am running 2 different cassettes on my 2 sets of road wheels? 

I just bought a force groupset and set of Carbone SL's. I have a new set of Easton EA90 Aero's that I wanna run an ultegra rear on so I dont have to change the hub body and run the SRAM cassette on my Carbone SL's.

Is that asking for issues or should it be a non factor

Thanks


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## Devastator (May 11, 2009)

As far as I know Sram should run on the same hub. My wheel set use to have a Ultegra cassette, I switched to a Force cassette, and recently switch a different wheel set from a Duraace cassette to my Force cassette. I had to adjust my derailleur slightly, but Im not 100% sure if that was due to the DA being 11-23 and my Force 11-25. Im almost sure it had to do with the two cassettes being different thicknesses. Was a spacer on when I had DA, took it off to fit my Force on it. So I think youll have to adjust the derailleur if you switch between Sram and Shimano. But you should be able to put a Sram cassette on the wheel.


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## ddhartzell (Feb 25, 2009)

The easton's have a proprietary design from what I have found out. something about the depth of the splines. If I run sram on their shimano hub it will mess up the splines. There is some pics on here about it. I guess the SRAM fits on the hub fine but when u pull it off later to swap a cassette out it looks like it has 50,000 miles on it. 

At least that is what I have heard and read....I dont have any hands on experience


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## asad137 (Jul 29, 2009)

ddhartzell said:


> The easton's have a proprietary design from what I have found out. something about the depth of the splines. If I run sram on their shimano hub it will mess up the splines. There is some pics on here about it.


Wasn't that just for SRAM RED cassettes (the 1090)? And you just have to use either a Shimano 9-speed freehub body or the RED-specific body?

Asad


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## ddhartzell (Feb 25, 2009)

I dont know if it was only for the Red cassette. I was just trying to figure out a way to get out of buying another freehub. Went a little parts crazy this xmas.

I have just seen the SRAM hub online so started researching and asking questions. Racer at LBS was the one telling me and he runs Red.


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## alaris (Nov 8, 2008)

*SRAM chains...*

Do the SRAM chains have a quick disconnect or do you need a special tool? If I'm not mistaken, the KMC chains have the quick disconnect. What about the Wipperman chains?


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## shop rat (Jan 11, 2010)

SRAM chains do have a quick link, but it's recommended as a one-time-use thing. That said, I took mine apart, cleaned it and then used it pretty heavily with no problems.


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## Coolhand (Jul 28, 2002)

The Red cassette is my favorite of all the SRAM stuff. I prefer the KMCSL 10 speed chain with it.

If you need a cheep cassette- the 6700 Ultegra's are nice. Don't buy the D/A cassettes- not worth it: either get the Red or the Ultegra 6700.

Running one of the newer mid-level SRAM chains as an experiment- it is so much cheaper I wanted to see how it works.


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## Metric Man (Nov 11, 2009)

Devastator said:


> As far as I know Sram should run on the same hub. My wheel set use to have a Ultegra cassette, I switched to a Force cassette, and recently switch a different wheel set from a Duraace cassette to my Force cassette. I had to adjust my derailleur slightly, but Im not 100% sure if that was due to the DA being 11-23 and my Force 11-25. Im almost sure it had to do with the two cassettes being different thicknesses. Was a spacer on when I had DA, took it off to fit my Force on it. So I think youll have to adjust the derailleur if you switch between Sram and Shimano. But you should be able to put a Sram cassette on the wheel.


I just tried to put a Red 1090 cassette on my Easton EA90 Aero hub and it was a no go. The DA and Ultegra cassettes will fit and that's the way I'm going. I don't know about the 1070 cassettes.


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## frdfandc (Nov 27, 2007)

The Red cassette requires a specific freehub. You can use a 1070 Sram cassette on the same hub as a DA or Ultegra cassette.


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## XR4Ti (Jul 8, 2008)

frdfandc said:


> The Red cassette requires a specific freehub. You can use a 1070 Sram cassette on the same hub as a DA or Ultegra cassette.


Can you elaborate? Is this something new? All Sram (Red/Force/Rival) fit the Shimano 9/10 freehub but will not fit the Shimano 10 freehub (well, ok, I know this is at least true for Red, not sure about Force/Rival).

To the OP, if your Easton wheels are new, you can do a free freehub exchange with them to trade-in your Shimano 10 for a 9/10 (if that is the problem you're having).


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## Metric Man (Nov 11, 2009)

XR4Ti said:


> To the OP, if your Easton wheels are new, you can do a free freehub exchange with them to trade-in your Shimano 10 for a 9/10 (if that is the problem you're having).


I think I would rather have a hub that accepts ALL cassettes except the Red rather than being limited to only the Red cassette. I'm running the Ultegra 12-27 on my Easton EA90 Aero wheels and couldn't be happier...but that's just me.


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## XR4Ti (Jul 8, 2008)

Metric Man said:


> I think I would rather have a hub that accepts ALL cassettes except the Red rather than being limited to only the Red cassette. I'm running the Ultegra 12-27 on my Easton EA90 Aero wheels and couldn't be happier...but that's just me.


Just to clarify, I meant that you can run Red/Force/Rival on a Shimano 9/10 hub. I know Red won't fit the Shimano 10 hub. I don't know whether Force/Rival will work on the Shimano 10 hub, but they do fit the 9/10 hub.


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## MarvinK (Feb 12, 2002)

I lean towards Ultegra cassettes and KMC chains. No real downside... there are better ways to spend $100 to save 50g than on a cassette that will wear out.


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## cosmo333 (Oct 5, 2005)

frdfandc said:


> The Red cassette requires a specific freehub. You can use a 1070 Sram cassette on the same hub as a DA or Ultegra cassette.


All SRAM (Red (1090) and both 1070 versions) cassettes fit the standard Shimano 8/9/10 style freehub. They don't fit the now discontinued Shimano 10 only freehub. There have been some hubs made which are "Red only" with no splines in the middle of the body but pretty rare.


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## Metric Man (Nov 11, 2009)

cosmo333 said:


> All SRAM (Red (1090) and both 1070 versions) cassettes fit the standard Shimano 8/9/10 style freehub. They don't fit the now discontinued Shimano 10 only freehub. There have been some hubs made which are "Red only" with no splines in the middle of the body but pretty rare.


I tried to put a RED 1090 cassette on my Easton EA 90 Aero wheel with a standard Shimano 10 speed hub...it does not fit. I ended up running with an Ultegra cassette and I'm very pleased with it.


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## MarvinK (Feb 12, 2002)

Ya, its a more common problem than it seems like it should be. Shimano has discontinued the practice, but a lot of wheels are still doing it (and the newest Shimano cassettes still support it). The compatibility problem is going to be around for a while.


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## stpacronym (Dec 29, 2009)

*Easton Wheel Cassette Hub Compatibility*

For those with questions specific to Easton Wheels and cassette compatability (At least for the 2010 line), Easton has specific hub bodies for specific cassettes. I ran into this problem with their Shimano hub body. I thought it would be more universal, however it only accepts Dura Ace 7800 or 7900. Here is the link to there compatibility chart:

http://www.eastonbike.com/downloadable_files_unprotected/wheels/Cass Body Compatibility Chart.pdf


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