IRD cassettes

[vqdriver]

anyone have experience with these?
any good compared to the shimano setups?

[dave thompson]

anyone have experience with these?
any good compared to the shimano setups?
I've had IRD cassettes in both 9-speed and 10-speed. If there were any difference in the shifting quality between them and Shimano cassettes, I couldn't detect it.

Being (a) and old guy and (b) living in very hilly/mountainous country and (c) running a compact crankset instead of a triple, I've had the IRD 11-30 10sp for over a year now and am very pleased with it. Even though they are quite a bit more expensive than Shimano, I would buy another.

[Ti Designs]

You know the old saying "if you don't have something nice to say..."? That's about all I'm gonna say...

[Smiley]

I kind of heard they are not so smooth from my tandem friends that remain nameless. This is for a tandem application though. Take that with what it was meant to mean.

[vqdriver]

ti designs - hit me up via pm if you have some input. feel free to be honest.

for some context, i recently went sram force with a 6700 cassette and chain from a few years of campy chorus, mostly out of curiosity. the new shifter mechanics aside, the rear shifting was noticeably quieter and much less jarring when under load which i attribute to the ultegra cassette and chain.
i was using a 13-26 with the campy setup and now have a 11-28. i hardly used my old 13 cog so the 11 and 12 on my current cassette is pretty much useless. not to mention the large jumps on the lower end of the cassette. hence my search in another thread for custom and now i'm looking at the IRD 14-28.
i don't race but do appreciate, and desire, a smooth running machine.

[Smiley]

ti designs - hit me up via pm if you have some input. feel free to be honest.

for some context, i recently went sram force with a 6700 cassette and chain from a few years of campy chorus, mostly out of curiosity. the new shifter mechanics aside, the rear shifting was noticeably quieter and much less jarring when under load which i attribute to the ultegra cassette and chain.
i was using a 13-26 with the campy setup and now have a 11-28. i hardly used my old 13 cog so the 11 and 12 on my current cassette is pretty much useless. not to mention the large jumps on the lower end of the cassette. hence my search in another thread for custom and now i'm looking at the IRD 14-28.
i don't race but do appreciate, and desire, a smooth running machine.
SRAM will be introducing a new 32 and 36 tooth rear cassette not the dome version which is really pricy, look for them next month

[palincss]

Yes, but what will the smallest sprockets be? Vqdriver isn't the only one who finds 11 and 12T sprockets useless, and I'll bet he's probably not interested in switching to a 40T big ring to make them useful.

This is also something Jan Heine comments on often in road tests in BQ. For instance, in the Terraferma test in the current issue, he says "Of the 11 cogs of the cassette, I only used six: 17-19-21-23-26-29. Even during the Seattle International Randonneur's 100km Populaire, which draws out many racers, speeds were not high enough to use the smaller cogs. This turned the 11-speed cassette into a 6-speed with relatively large steps between the gears (>10%)." (Spring 2010, p.37)

[GBD]

If anyone is in the market for a brand new 12-32 10 speed Campy for $60.

[vqdriver]

Palincss is correct. The 28 is fine for the granny but the smaller end of the cassette just doesn't see the same use.

If I'm going to shift that far over I'll usually go to the big ring and stay in the meat of the cassette. And I don't often go fast enough to use the 11 or 12 with the big ring.

[Ahneida Ride]

If anyone is in the market for a brand new 12-32 10 speed Campy for $60.

12 - 32 ???? I guess I am interested ....

[oldpotatoe]

Yes, but what will the smallest sprockets be? Vqdriver isn't the only one who finds 11 and 12T sprockets useless, and I'll bet he's probably not interested in switching to a 40T big ring to make them useful.

This is also something Jan Heine comments on often in road tests in BQ. For instance, in the Terraferma test in the current issue, he says "Of the 11 cogs of the cassette, I only used six: 17-19-21-23-26-29. Even during the Seattle International Randonneur's 100km Populaire, which draws out many racers, speeds were not high enough to use the smaller cogs. This turned the 11-speed cassette into a 6-speed with relatively large steps between the gears (>10%)." (Spring 2010, p.37)

Yep, 11-X 10s cogsets on a road bike is marketing. If it's a big low gear, it's gotta start with an 11t. It 'should' be a question as to what would you rather have, a 16 or 18t or an 11t? Obviously a interior cog, used much more. a 13-29 or 13-32 makes much more sense. I hear all the time of people 'spinning out' going downhill. righto-stop pedaling!, Relax, enjoy the sights!

[sg8357]

Custom cassettes, 13-30 and for tourists a 14-34

http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/k7.html

[Ralph]

I'm an old guy, but still ride about 100 miles per week, and could still do a not too hilly Century if I just had too, but generally limit daily rides to 30-40 miles.

Got that out of the way.

When I first started riding seriously in the 70's, a 52X14 was about the biggest gear you could get. Maybe some in Europe were riding 53's at that time. All my old 10 speed Paramounts came that way (49-52 in front). I did have a Paramount triple that came with a 54 one time. In those days, I never knew anyone who could sprint in a 52X14, so for Florida riding anyway, I always thought 100" was plenty of gear ....actually too much for me. I preferred 48 or 49 X13 as a top gear for me even then. I recall the TDF was won not too long before that with a bike that had a top gear in the high 80" area....52X16 or something like that. They were spinners then.

I'm afraid to go downhill fast anyway, so for my mostly Florida riding, my daily bike has a 50X14 as my top gear, and with a strong tail wind I can pedal that to 26-27 MPH, and if going down hill, if I need to go faster than that....well....I just coast. It's a Campy 9 speed cassette in 14-28 with 39/50 front. For my "Sunday" bike, I do have two 10 speed cassettes with A 13 tooth cog and usually run a 39/50 or a 30-40-50 if on a trip. I just leave the triple FD on all the time.

I realize all you young guys are a lot stronger than we used to be, and bikes are now lighter and more aero than those days. And you tend to run longer cranks which may help with the bigger gears.

But I do wonder sometimes why bikes marketed to ordinary riders come with gears like 53X11 and 12. And when you ride behind them on a Sunday morning ride doing 15-18 MPH, they are in the big ring and cross chained over to a big rear cog, or vise versa on the small front ring. Just think how much better shifting could be for the average rider if cassettes started with 14, or no more than 13, and they rode with the chain somewhere in the middle of the cassette. Good chainline is one reason I like triples....for the average rider.

Some of you are super strong, and this does not apply to you. So please don't take offense.

[Ti Designs]

OK, here's my feedback. I've sold about two dozen of them, plus the stock wide range cassettes that came with Co-Motion and Santana tandems since they've gone to 10-speed. On a tandem they are pointless, if you need a lower gear what you don't need is the chain jumping around but never hooking up - they've caused more twisted chains and irate customers than any other part I can think of. On single bikes I sent probably a dozen of them up Mt Washington last season. They can be made to work, but you have to be picky about adjustment and when you shift. That was sort of OK given that the adjustments were made the day before the race and they were specific set-ups for that event, but keep that on the bike for a month and don't touch the adjuster and it's going to shift like crap. And then there was the fact that the weigh a ton - I'm no gram counter, but if you're doing hill climbs...

The design flaw was a simple oversight which we see in the bike industry over and over again - will they never learn? Plating and surface coating adds to the thickness of a part. Remember the original Super Record rear derailleur? It had a titanium upper pivot bolt, and for some reason a bit of slop. They machined the titanium bolt to the same spec as the steel one, but the steel bolt was then chrome plated. See the problem here? Anyway, IRD probably made a copy of a Shimano cassette, then plated it and put the thing together. Small differences to be sure, but on one cassette you've added 11 times the thickness of the plating (the outside of the smallest cog doesn't count, and the last 4 cogs are held by aluminum transports).

In any case, I've fallen in love with the new Sram XX wide range cassettes. The 11-32 is stunning in so many ways - and anyone who knows me knows how little I care for ultra wide range stuff. I'll agree that most people don't need the 11 and a 13-32 would allow for tighter jumps, but there are still some who live by the saying "what goes up must come down"... The XX 11-32 is so light that you have to open the box to be sure it's in there - I'm not kidding. It's so accurate that your shifting can be off by a bit and it'll still hold in gear just fine. The most impressive bit is the lack of effort it's taken me to switch gear ranges. Last year I had a number of my riders doing the hill climb series in the North East. They all had their bag-o-parts which included a long cage derailleur, a longer chain, a bunch of chain pins and the IRD cassette. I could change over the set-up in under 10 minutes, but it was a royal pain. By comparison, the Sram XX is a 32, not a 34, so depending on your drop-out hanger, a bit of tweeking on the b-tension screw gets the derailleur to that large cog with a link between the pulley and the cog. And with that aluminum cog it runs smoother than just about anything else out there. So I run the chain just slightly slack for the standard gearing set-up, and when it comes time to switch gear ranges they just throw in the climbing wheel with the 11-32 and hop on.

There is one slight down side. The cassette costs $328. But the way I see it, an Ultegra long cage derailleur, a second chain, the IRD cassette, and the time to swap things over costs more. Besides, the entry fee for Mt Washington is $350, so the idea that cycling is a cheap sport has fled...

[Pete Serotta]

12 - 32 ???? I guess I am interested ....


It works......(IRD)and served the purpose. With the groupo you have with the TA triple and long cage, you can use it.


PETE

[zap]

You know the old saying "if you don't have something nice to say..."? That's about all I'm gonna say...

What he said.

:) too ;)

[seshboy]

For wide range 10 speed, I like Nino's cassette's http://luckynino.blogspot.com/2009/03/10s-mtb-titanium-cassette.html

The XX sounds nice too.

[vqdriver]

Actually what I'm looking to do is narrow the range not widen it.
Narrow-er but low range.

[palincss]

Yep, 11-X 10s cogsets on a road bike is marketing. If it's a big low gear, it's gotta start with an 11t. It 'should' be a question as to what would you rather have, a 16 or 18t or an 11t? Obviously a interior cog, used much more. a 13-29 or 13-32 makes much more sense. I hear all the time of people 'spinning out' going downhill. righto-stop pedaling!, Relax, enjoy the sights!

11-32 might make sense on a MTB with a microdrive crank, 44T big ring and 26" wheels. On a single with 700C wheels, I like a high gear of around 96-100". I'm no great spinner, but I can easily keep up at 34 mph going downhill - that's only 120 RPM. Not that that's exactly "relaxing and enjoying the sights" considering the state of the pavement where I do most of my riding.

With a 46 or 48T big ring and a 700C wheel, a 13-30 is my favorite cassette. With tandems, it's another story. The high gear on my tandem is a 54x12.

[vqdriver]

never mind.
i looked on their site again, and the 14-28 is campy only.

[jbay]

And then there was the fact that the weigh a ton - I'm no gram counter, but if you're doing hill climbs...I'm also not a weight weenie and bought one of the IRD cassettes (a 12-30 in my case) for hill-climb races. However, it was such a boat anchor I soon dropped that plan.

Regarding shifting performance, I have observed that if you spin the cassette/freewheel backwards, you can see the sprockets wobbling from side to side. Shifting is correspondingly inconsistent and sloppy.

In any case, I've fallen in love with the new Sram XX wide range cassettes. The 11-32 is stunning in so many ways - and anyone who knows me knows how little I care for ultra wide range stuff.I thought you usually ran an 11 as your largest sprocket, Ed! :rolleyes:

-- John (tempted to lighten my wallet with an XX cassette, but trying to be good...)

[jbay]

This is also something Jan Heine comments on often in road tests in BQ. For instance, in the Terraferma test in the current issue, he says "Of the 11 cogs of the cassette, I only used six: 17-19-21-23-26-29. Even during the Seattle International Randonneur's 100km Populaire, which draws out many racers, speeds were not high enough to use the smaller cogs. This turned the 11-speed cassette into a 6-speed with relatively large steps between the gears (>10%)." (Spring 2010, p.37)Jan doesn't mention this in his tests, but he spins at 120rpm on the flat. I know few to no other riders who spin like he does.

-- John (who also has less than no interest in 11T top sprockets)

[jimp1234]

I've been using an 11-30 on my DR 7900 compact for the last 6 months, and it works fine. I have progressive knee arthritis, and I may eventually give a 12-32 a try, though I think it might be pushing the capacity of the standard RD. Anyone know if it will??

[NHAero]

I put together my own cassettes from Shimano 9 speed cassettes (I'm also old and slow). They are 13-14-15-16-18-20-23-26-30 or 13-14-15-17-19-21-23-25-28

[vqdriver]

yeah, i was considering that until i remembered that the big three cogs are on carrier. that last jump, 24 to 28, is a big one.