Tuesday, May 11, 2010

XT cassette mods

I keep getting pestered by people interested in buying a modified cassette (see This One Goes to 11 for more details) so here's the official word.

I will sell you the following, shipping in the lower 48 included, for $120:

-XT M770 (11-32 or 11-34) cassette with back side driveshell removed (depending on your hub, you may or may not need to run a spacer or two inboard to clear the spokes)

-I will also remove the outboard drive shell down to the smallest cog on the carrier. This means you'll also need a spacer in most cases to run a separate single cog (or two). Essentially, I remove as much material as possible from the drive shell of the carrier-mounted cogs, meaning that you'll use spacers to fit tune the fit.

-For those who have some chainring size flexibility, or do not need a super-low bottom gear, I recommend the 11-32 model. The 11-32 has 5 cogs on a spider (18,21,24,28,32) and 11,12,14,16 cogs separate. This means you have a good deal more flexibility if you can fit even one single cog onto the cassette body. The 11-34 cassette spider/carrier has 6 cogs (17,20,23,26,30,34), meaning that unless you can fit 7, you're stuck with the 17 as your highest gear.

-I also remove the "key spline" so that the cassette will fit onto King or other hubs that are non-keyed.

-Wait time is typically about 2 weeks, I make each cassette to order.

-As of now, there is not a 10 speed cassette that will work well for SS hubs. 9 speed is it, sorry!

-A +/- 1mm spacer kit is available for $25 if your hub didn't come with any. You will want to be able to *precisely* fine tune the position of the cassette on the hub in order to fit as many gears as possible.

If you already have a cassette and want to have it modified, the cost is $65, return shipping included. Please email me to confirm that I can work with the cassette before sending it.

Keep in mind that using these modified parts on your bike requires decent mechanic skills - if you're not good at working on your own bike, don't even ask. If improperly set up, using these parts could easily destroy your rear wheel, derailleur, chain, and more. I am offering no guarantees or warranties - this is a mod that is NOT approved by Shimano. For what it's worth, though, I have been running it for 6 months with no problems.

Want one? Click on the PP link and order away.






Configuration



10 comments:

Fort James said...

Since I am always wearing out the smaller cogs, could you send the leftover cogs to me???

Llama said...

Could this work on a SRAM 990 cassette?

Walt said...

Hey James -

I think in most cases people want the small cogs (you run all but 2 on many setups). I'll see what I can do.

Llama -

Yes, it looks like the 990 would work as well.

Walt said...

Whoops, scratch that. I don't think the SRAM cassette will work...

Anonymous said...

Walt - have you had a chance to look at the 10s cassettes? 8 9s cogs barely don't fit on a Hope pro2, so 8 10s cogs should fit.
Also, why won't the sram cassette work?

Walt said...

No go on the 10 speed, Anon. The carrier on the XT 9 speed that I machine off isn't there on the 10 speed cassettes (or the 9 speed SRAM) so you can get enough material off to make it work. You could probably fit 6 of the 10s if you were careful about it, but that's not any better than 6 or 7 of the 9 speed.

Unknown said...

Is the 11-34 King machined on the front/lockring side? Or, does it just get rid of the hyperglide alignment spline of the cassette? I understand one user had to have the face machined as the spacers required to prevent cog/spoke contact did not leave any threads for the lock ring to engage. From Jeff Jone's images of the cassettes being made, he clearly machines the front/lockring side. I'll gladly give you $120 for a new cassette that drops right on to my King SS rear wheel without the hassle of getting this done myself locally.

Thanks

Walt said...

Kyle -

I machine off both sides unless someone requests otherwise - so spacers are required for fine tuning and to run additional single cogs.

I also remove the key spline so that the cassette will fit in any orientation (necessary for some hubs like the King).

-Walt

Anonymous said...

Does a shadow type shimano derailer work for the 6 speed cassette?

Walt said...

Any 9 speed rear derailleur will work - Shimano is easier to set up than SRAM, though.