What is a cassette?
Most sportive bikes (mountain bikes, racing bikes, touring bikes and gravel bikes) come with derailleur gears.
At that point you also need a cassette. On this type of bike, the rear derailleur raises or lowers your chain over several sprockets that differ in size and are attached to your rear hub. We call those sprockets together a cassette. .
Bicycle cassettes come in many sizes. A cassette affects the ratio. The smaller the rear sprocket of the cassette on which your chain rests, the heavier the bike will cycle. The larger the sprocket on the back of the cassette, the lighter you can cycle. A typical road bike cassette is often 11-28, a road bike cassette in 11-25 is also popular. If you are going to climb with your road bike, you can sometimes also use an 11-32 cassette or a 12-32 cassette on your road bike.
With mountain bikes, the trend is that there is only a rear chainring and then you come across sizes for the bicycle cassette of even 10-52. A cassette for your mountain bike with a single front ring needs a longer range.
Cheap cassette
Cheap cassettes for your bike may be fine. A cheap bicycle cassette is often made of simpler material.
A simple steel or aluminum cassette will be heavier and wear out faster. In addition, the stiffness of the blades on the cassette is less. For a simple bicycle that is not used intensively, a cheap bicycle cassette is an option.
Good (more expensive) bicycle cassette
A higher quality cassette has many functional advantages. A good cassette for the bicycle will be made of a higher quality material, which is often processed further and longer with a CNC machine.
Because of these operations on the cassette, the cassette will be lighter, stronger and more durable.
A good bicycle cassette also often has an operation that helps your bicycle chain to change between the blades of the cassette more quickly. Shimano cassettes often have the Shimano Hyperglide system that ensures that the cassette can shift smoothly. Shimano itself has now given the high-quality Shimano cassettes the Shimano Hyperglide + system with which Shimano cassettes for the road bike or mountain bike can shift better under power. Of course, brands such as Sunrace, SRAM and Campagnolo also provide designs on their cassettes that allow fast shifting on the bicycle cassette.
The cassette, as you now understand, is an essential part of the drivetrain of most bicycles. Choose a nice high-quality cassette if you use your racing bike, mountain bike, gravel bike or touring bike intensively.
How many gears on my cassette?
A cassette can have from 5 to 13 sprockets. The more gears, the more gears. You cannot simply change the number of tooth blades. Cassettes work together with a chain, derailleur and chainring.
If you now have a cassette with 11 sprockets, then it is best to also buy an 11-speed bicycle cassette.
To change to a different number of sprockets, it must also fit on the cassette body of your rear wheel.
In addition, you will also have to replace the chain, shifters and often the derailleur. So your chosen cassette should match the number of gears your other bike components are designed for.
Cassette and cassette body
The cassette must fit the rear hub. For example, Shimano and Campagnolo have a different philosophy about what is the best fit. So you can't put a cassette made for Campagnolo on a Shimano cassette body.
Not sure which cassette body you have? Check with your rear wheel / rear hub manufacturer.
We sell many cassettes from well-known brands such as Shimano, Sunrace, SRAM and Campagnolo. We also often have affordable options from other brands that make cassettes for your bicycle.
