# Cassettes: Centaur vs Chorus



## saab2000

Hi Folks,

Does anyone know of any significant difference in the metal between a Centaur and a Chorus cassette? Will the Chorus be more durable than the Centaur?

The 12-23 Centaur is for most people a more practical cassette than the 11-23 of the Chorus.

Anyone with experience with both?


----------



## BlueMasi1

*Very little difference*

I run both and there is is no difference in performance. Centaur sprockets are made with the same type of steel as Record and Chorus sprockets. The only difference is that they use a different system of supports and spacers. Also, Chorus is slightly lighter.


----------



## Canadian Guy

*Cassettes*

I've used both and no noticeable difference in function except in price. I put the Centaur cassette on my daily training wheels and save the Record and Chorus ones for race wheels.


----------



## jmoryl

According to Campy, the steel and plating used on the latest Veloce 10 spd. cassettes is the same as the Centaur and Chorus. The latter are slightly lighter due to an alloy carrier on the larger sized sprockets; per the Campy website the weights are 250g/233g/220g. Besides price, an additional advantatge (if you are so inclined) of Veloce is the ability to mix and match cogs, since they are all individual. I'm quite happy with my $75 10spd. Veloce cassette...


----------



## SDizzle

jmoryl said:


> I'm quite happy with my $75 10spd. Veloce cassette...


Ditto. My Veloce 12-23 works great. I wouldn't dream of forking over another 100% to save a few grams on a Chorus. And, for just race day, you'd be better off getting an alloy IRD cassette.


----------



## Utah CragHopper

SDizzle said:


> Ditto. My Veloce 12-23 works great. I wouldn't dream of forking over another 100% to save a few grams on a Chorus.


I have a 12-23 Veloce because that seems to be the only groupo that offers that range. The 11-23 is worthless; it's just a 12-25 where they have taken off the 25 and put on a useless 11. Now if I could only get a 12-21 for a reasonable price...


----------



## yzfrr11

Here is the difference guys:

Record: Ti cogs (10, 9, 8, 7), Ti carrier
Chorus: Steel cogs, Ti carrier
Centaur: Steel cogs, Steel carrier
Veloce: Steel loose cogs, no carrier


----------



## KATZRKOL

*I'm with you Utah. .*



Utah CragHopper said:


> I have a 12-23 Veloce because that seems to be the only groupo that offers that range. The 11-23 is worthless; it's just a 12-25 where they have taken off the 25 and put on a useless 11. Now if I could only get a 12-21 for a reasonable price...


I badly needed a 12-23 and was NOT going to buy Record (I have Record everything else though). I wen't with the Veloce and they is NO differance in performance at all. In fact I like it better as you can replace every individual cog versus the rivited pairs in Chorus and Record to save a few grams.


----------



## Utah CragHopper

KATZRKOL said:


> I badly needed a 12-23


Yeah, that 18 tooth is too useful not to have.


----------



## atpjunkie

*well you can loose cassette it (build your own)*

from campy loose cogs or Miche. You can set up a Miche cogset as you wish.
I think it's branford bikes that sells the campy cogs (pricey)


----------



## bigbill

*No difference, what about Miche?*

I saw a Miche cassette case on the Red Rose Imports website. It is a box filled with multiple sizes of cogs with like 10 of each. The box cost around $450. You can custom stack a cassette and replace the worn cogs. My bread and butter gear is a 53X16 and have had to replace several campy cassettes because the 15,16,17 was worn. As far as campy is concerned use the cheapest one you can get because the cogs are the same steel. A cassette doesn't really fall into the spinning weight catagory and your money would be better spent on light wheels and tires.


----------



## atpjunkie

*Miche*

or you can order a cassette kit (9 speed whatever) you indicate how many gears and the gear spread, ie... 12-25 9 speed and they send you the spacers and cogs for about 90 bucks (Supertype, other kit is cheaper) then just reorder the 15, 16, 17 when you need them. that way you won't have to buy cogs you won't use in that big $450 set up


----------



## elviento

*Miche wear*

I have a used Miche cassette that came with a wheelset. I am not using that cassette. The cogs seem like aluminum and I am guessing they aren't very durable. Does anyone have first hand experience?



atpjunkie said:


> or you can order a cassette kit (9 speed whatever) you indicate how many gears and the gear spread, ie... 12-25 9 speed and they send you the spacers and cogs for about 90 bucks (Supertype, other kit is cheaper) then just reorder the 15, 16, 17 when you need them. that way you won't have to buy cogs you won't use in that big $450 set up


----------



## ukiahb

*the riveted carriers can also cause very annoying creaks.....*

had that problem with a Chorus cassette (17/19 pair in my case), have read of others having this problem also.....




saab2000 said:


> Hi Folks,
> 
> Does anyone know of any significant difference in the metal between a Centaur and a Chorus cassette? Will the Chorus be more durable than the Centaur?
> 
> The 12-23 Centaur is for most people a more practical cassette than the 11-23 of the Chorus.
> 
> Anyone with experience with both?


----------



## atpjunkie

*Miche Alloy Cassettes*

Miche makes 2 cassette types.
Basic Steel - about $65 a set and the Alloy Primato, which they say lasts about 1000 miles, is very light and therefore should only be used for racing. (about $125 a set)
You have a Primato set.


----------



## Spunout

Have Chorus and Veloce cassettes. I really like the Chorus carriers because the contact points on the freehub body are very wide. I notice that my veloce cassettes (no carrier) may slightly bite into the freehub body (I have Record hubs on 2 wheels) a bit. I am not super concerned, but wondering if anyone else has had the problem.

BTW, will buy a veloce 12-23 10s this week to replace the 11-23 Chorus on my racing wheels. Just can't go Record, even at labicletta.com prices.


----------



## Utah CragHopper

Spunout said:


> BTW, will buy a veloce 12-23 10s this week to replace the 11-23 Chorus on my racing wheels. Just can't go Record, even at labicletta.com prices.


I hear you. Campag cassette prices are outrageous. I have a huge number of cassettes for my mountain bike, everything from 34 down to 21 with several of each size (some all steel XT and others being part ti Dura Ace). It's nice. If I tried to do that with Record it would send me rocketing to the poor house. I just can't justify more than a couple Record cassettes. Chrous and Veloce work fine for training.


----------



## Argentius

Dunno if it's based on experience or not, but I have a chorus (9v) right now; I asked my LBS if I should just use Veloce to replace it when it wore out, and he said "Yeah, if you want to tear up your freehub. If it's for nice wheels, you should get at least Centaur..."

'course, LBS's aren't totally unbiased...


----------



## artnshel

*How will a Miche cassette shift if I make up an 11-26?*

The Miche custom cassette option sounds interesting. I'm running a compact crank and live in the mountains so I want an 11 for decents and a 26 bailout for tough climbs. In campy I have to settle for a 12-25 10 speed cassette. I messed with my own campy 9 speed cassette but the shifting deteriorated when I took out the 16 and I think it was because the ramps didn't line up from the 15 to the 17? Does that make sense? Will the Miche ramps be right in an 10 speed 11-26? How could they be?


----------



## Dave in Driggs

*05 Centaur individual or grouped cogs?*

I have an 04' Centaur 12-25 cassette and all of the cogs are individual. Is this not the case with 05 Centaur cassettes? Does this vary depending on the size of the cassette within the Centaur line? A few others in this thread indicated that the Veloce line is the only one with individual cogs and I just wanted to clarify. 

The loose cogs make it very easy to give them a good cleaning every once in a while.


----------

