Longevity of Campy cassettes

[ottavayan]

Hello,

I was wondering if you guys had any experience with the longevity of campy cassettes? I am considering getting something Centaur or higher, but is there a difference other than weight I'd get the 12-29 or the 13-29.

Cheers!
Narayan

[Ken Robb]

cassette life is affected by how much power they have to transmit. I have never worn out a cassette in my life.

[AngryScientist]

Both veloce and centaur are great. Cassette life, in my experience is directly related to the conditions you ride in. Wet mud and road grime age a cassette faster.

[akelman]

Keep your drivetrain clean, don't mate a cassette with a worn chain, and you'll be fine. They last a long, long time.

[carpediemracing]

Generally speaking the lower end Campy cassettes are super durable. I don't track my individual cassette use very well - I usually have 1-2 rear wheels for training and 1 rear wheel for racing - but I've been on the same race cassette for about 150 hours? and I've used training cassettes for something like 300-400 hours. I usually go through 2 or 3 chains before the cassette is done.

The higher end Campy cassettes have larger cogs made from titanium. Titanium is softer than steel and wears quicker. Unless saving a few grams is important I'd stick with the regular steel cassettes.

I think someone just came out with aluminum cogs too. Those will wear even more quickly. In the old days I had a Campy aluminum cassette. It realistically lasted 10-15 hours.

Keeping your drivetrain clean is key. I've worn a chain in 2 weeks simply from riding through sandy/muddy conditions and not doing more than rinsing the chain after each ride. I've also had chains last a season (like the one on my bike now - I installed it winter 2011-2012).

[tannhauser]

cassette life is affected by how much power they have to transmit. I have never worn out a cassette in my life.

Are you serious?

Campy cassettes are nothing magical durability-wise. They're metal.

[jmeloy]

cassette life is affected by how much power they have to transmit. I have never worn out a cassette in my life.

Ken... Thousands of miles and not worn out.

[Ralph]

Hello,

I was wondering if you guys had any experience with the longevity of campy cassettes? I am considering getting something Centaur or higher, but is there a difference other than weight I'd get the 12-29 or the 13-29.

Cheers!
Narayan

Centaur cassettes work very well. But no 12-29. There is a 13-29, a new 12-27 and a new 12-30. Plus all the other ones that have been in production a while. Loose cog Veloce are as good as any, and the latest Centaur has the two largest cogs on a carier to save some weight. All steel 10's Chorus are still around new also. They have two sets of cogs on carriers, as I recall.

[PaMtbRider]

I changed my last record 13-29 cassette at about 14000 miles.

[kramnnim]

I changed my last record 13-29 cassette at about 14000 miles.

Dang. How many chains did you go through in that time? What did the teeth look like?

[zap]

10spd?

On my road single, I have north of 15K miles (8 years) on my Record 10 spd cassette. Three chains and the third chain is the last. I initially had chain skip for the first 100 or so miles when I installed the third chain 4 odd years ago.

[PaMtbRider]

Dang. How many chains did you go through in that time? What did the teeth look like?

New chain every 3000 miles. Teeth definitely showed some marking, but not worn as bad as you might think.

[thwart]

New chain every 3000 miles. Teeth definitely showed some marking, but not worn as bad as you might think.
At least with Campy cassettes I've been impressed by how difficult it is to tell by looking (at least with the naked eye) whether a cassette cog is used up or not. I've had individual cogs slip that look just like their neighbors...

So when buying used cassettes, trust in the seller's history of use generally trumps how the thing looks, IMO.

Or... as some here have said... never buy a used cassette.

[Mike748]

What about freehub body longevity? I notice a lot more notching when using Centaur loose cog cassettes vs. Chorus paired cogs. May be irrelevant, but I prefer Chorus just for this (and I have a stash).

[djg]

Kinda what they said. You can get many miles out of a centaur-level cassette, if you keep your drive-train reasonably clean. But you can wear the cogs out -- they are not lifetime products, and that's not a Campy thing, that's a cassette thing. But the cogs are good cogs -- durable and well functioning.

The freehub bodies . . . dunno. If you maintain them they should last and last. I've got a set of nucleon tubulars I still use -- second owner . . . maybe they're 10 years old? 5 or 6 or so on my watch?

[norcalbiker]

cassette life is affected by how much power they have to transmit. I have never worn out a cassette in my life.

Pretty much the same here.

[ottavayan]

I think I'll try and stick to the middle of the road cassettes. Not planning to buy used. I am not quite capable of detecting flawed ones. :)

Are the ones mounted on multiple carriers more reliable or am I being daft as usual?

Narayan.

[oldpotatoe]

I think I'll try and stick to the middle of the road cassettes. Not planning to buy used. I am not quite capable of detecting flawed ones. :)

Are the ones mounted on multiple carriers more reliable or am I being daft as usual?

Narayan.

Least expensive compatible cogset and chain. They are consumables. An Ultegra cogsets doesn't work any better or last any longer than a 105 cogset. Same for Veloce and Centaur....Veloce chain, 105 chain...etc.