# steel, alloy and titanium cassette durability



## pRoto (Jun 17, 2007)

Good day,

I have a question,

Do alloy and ti cassettes durable compare to steel cassettes?

I saw some lightweight cassettes on the market from ti and alloy, but do they are durable??


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## marathon marke (Nov 14, 2011)

I believe steel is going to be the longest lasting, with titanium next and aluminum having the fastest wear.


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## gamara (May 20, 2002)

They also come in all carbon as well but none of those materials are as durable as steel though. In terms of wear though carbon will wear the fastest followed by aluminum then titanium & finally steel. The intended use of lighter materials are for special, one off events where weight is of concern. 

There are hybrid cassettes where only the larger cogs are a lighter material & the smaller, faster wearing cogs are steel for better durability. Think dura ace, super record & the new red. The reasoning behind this is two fold: The bail out gears are not used as frequently as the middle cogs & also the larger cogs don't wear as fast as the smaller ones so that a lighter material can be used to save weight over steel. These hybrid cassettes will be much longer wearing than one of those trick all ti or aluminum cassettes but not as durable as an all steel one though. 

The key to getting max. mileage out of any cassette though is proper maintenance. Poor maintenance will shorten your drive train's life span. So if you have the $$$, then any one of the listed hybrid cassettes above is worth a look. However if you value performance over weight, than stick with an all steel cassette.


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## jmoryl (Sep 5, 2004)

Unless you are sponsored by a team which will give you free replacements every couple months, stick to all steel cassettes. I suspect this applies to 99.99% of us.


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## Kontact (Apr 1, 2011)

Titanium is much closer to aluminum for wear - neither can be hardened remotely as much as steel. Just a bad idea all around. SRAM has made several all steel cassettes that are super light, so there is no reason to use compromise materials.


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

I tried a Ti-steel campy cassette once when I lived in pancake flat VA Beach. I never would have bought one but a mail order place screwed up my order and sent it as an apology. It was an 11-23 Record 10 and the 17,19,21,23 were titanium. Going into a corner, I would flip onto the 17 to accelerate out in a pack and over a very short period wore out the 17. Every cassette after that was all steel. My current cassette of choice are chorus for 11 and centaur for 10.


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## FBinNY (Jan 24, 2009)

gamara said:


> ... In terms of wear though carbon will wear the fastest followed by aluminum then titanium & finally steel. The intended use of lighter materials are for special, one off events where weight is of concern.
> 
> ....


+1 to everything in this post (which I've abbreviated). 

Add to that another reason justifying lighter, shorter lived materials for the larger sprockets of mixed cassettes, especially wide range cassettes. The larger sprockets weigh more, so there's a bigger reward in weight savings to offset the shorter life.


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## pRoto (Jun 17, 2007)

Hmm, yeah I have that in mind, but does it worth to buy some

Alloy/Ti cassette for example
These ones from recon (taiwan)

:: RECON BIKE PARTS :: www.recon-harry.com.tw

Or

SeqLite

Carbonfreaks, for all your high-end carbon race parts

does it worth,

or should I invest a bit more for a heavier for example Sram Red cassette

Do you have any experience with previous cassettes?


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

pRoto said:


> Do alloy and ti cassettes durable compare to steel cassettes?
> 
> I saw some lightweight cassettes on the market from ti and alloy, but do they are durable??


Roughly speaking, Ti cogs wear 2-5X faster than steel. IME it is 5X, while others here have reported 2X. Aluminum will wear faster than Ti, probably significantly faster but there are so few users who have ever ridden a cassette with Al cogs that there really is no reliable information from riders.

When you add in the significantly higher cost of Ti over steel and the very small weight savings, there is no reason to run Ti cogs unless you are competing at the top professional level. Campy Record and Shimano DA cassettes are a complete waste of money - lower performance for more cost.


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## gamara (May 20, 2002)

Most of those after market ti & aluminum cassettes that I have seen have like nada shift ramps/guides or teeth profiling. Will it shift?? Of course but the question is how smoothly & consistently? 

BTW, don't confuse these aftermarket manufacturers using the term shimano or campy compatible to mean that they shift the same as an all campy or shimano drive train. All that term means is that the cassette will fit on a shimano or campy wheel & have the proper spacing for that particular drive train. 

It costs a lot of $$$ to be able to cnc the cogs with the teeth profiling & shift ramps like the oem's do because they've done all the r & d to see what works to make a drive train run smoothly. That is why aftermarket cogsets don't have this important feature. Thats my 2 cents but the WW is strong in you I feel.


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## AndrwSwitch (May 28, 2009)

Kerry Irons said:


> When you add in the significantly higher cost of Ti over steel and the very small weight savings, there is no reason to run Ti cogs unless you are competing at the top professional level. Campy Record and Shimano DA cassettes are a complete waste of money - lower performance for more cost.


I have it on so-so authority that a lot of pro teams go a little cheaper on their cassettes.

When the bikes start having trouble with UCI's minimum weight, a heavier cassette is a place they can add it back with near-zero effect on handling.


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