A spoke flange broke on my rear hub. While transferring this (10 month, 15000 km) cassette to the new wheel I found so much gunge, a mix of excess Squirt and whatever, in its nooks and crannies.
A good weight saving!
But I'm surprised that there's so much there, despite doing what I'd thought was enough cleaning over its life.
by aa599
22 Comments
When you clean your bike do you not clean the cassette? How does it get that bad? And that rusty?
I remove the wheel and clean it often but I’ve never removed the actual cassette. Probably a good idea.
Mine isn’t that dirty though. I’m fairly particular with cleaning and keeping everything lubed up. Try not to ride in the rain unless I get caught in a storm, or am really itching for a ride.
This is so funny, I literally just did this 5 minutes ago (also just removed it to service the hub and then started clean it while I am at it). Was surprised how much came off š
I do this every few months, especially on the winter bike, more often if it’s gotten really clogged up with crap.
I find removing the cassette and reinstalling are too much of a PITA.
I just wash, scrub, rinse and āflossā with a rag with the wheel removed.
I keep my cassettes clean. No gunk, ever. There are brushes for that.
How does it even get that bad? Why is there so much lube in there, are you not wiping it off your chain after you apply it?
Nope, but I may be more of a xbiking type of guy
Iāll generally āflossā my cassette (work a rag between the cogs, as far as you can) when I pull the chain off for its monthly cleaning and re-lube. Once a year or so Iāll do a deep clean where I pull the whole drivetrain apart, including the cassette and derailleur to give it a good soak in the ultrasonic cleaner just to get the buildup in the small spaces out.
The frequency is not important and should be based on how often you ride and in what conditions. If, like me, you ride year round in all weather, youāll do it more frequently. But flossing the cassette will help prevent this kind of buildup.
My cassette has literally never looked like that.
Just curious, is this a road or gravel bike? That is an impressive amount of grime!
I usually get some degreaser and brush the cassette off every few rides, but only remove the cassette to deep clean once or twice a year.
Gunk off
I can tell from that cassette that you need to chuck the whole bike and start again.
I did once to switch to wax.
I couldn’t sleep at night if there was even half that much gunk in my cassette
I rarely take that apart but I always run a brush though it to get the gunk out. The only time mine has looked like that was when out in the dirt and mud but I cleaned it when I got home.
Some SRAM cassettes are very good for this as they come completely apart. At least some of their 11 speeds do.
Sorry, i call BS. A cassette that made 15000km in 10 month would never have that amount of rust.
I never have to… Waxing prevents this…
I dismantle it and give the cogs an ultrasonic bath every now and again around the time I re-wax my chain if it’s grimy. Spotless š
Yes, i tear my bicycle down every year to clean and regrease everything, replace cables and whatever else is worn out. But i also wash my bike thoroughly every time i ride in rainy/wet conditions, and rotate/rewax the chains every 300km
Nope