[Patrick L]

For the last couple years I have been running a Shimano LX in the rear but its time is over. I'm going with an x7 derailleur and shifter to get me through the rest of this season and am considering going to 6 speed (11-23) or 7 speed. I have found a decent deal on the Sram 970 cassette (I know, kind of heavy) but how easy is it to remove some of the cogs from the spider or should I just spend a bit more and get the 970DH which has the individual cogs? Also once I set the derailleur's high and low adjustment screws and what not, will I still have 2-3 left over clicks in the shifter or will that also stop where ever I set the high and low adjustments?

 

[Matchew]

Also once I set the derailleur's high and low adjustment screws and what not, will I still have 2-3 left over clicks in the shifter or will that also stop where ever I set the high and low adjustments?

Set the high limit as you normally would as Im assuming you'll use spacers behind the cassette to take up the space of the 3 gears. Adjust the low limit so that it does not come off of your 1st gear, which is now in the 3rd gear position. So basically you will use gears 4-9 on your shifter. Just make sure you get the low limit right or you'll still be able to shift into 3rd and off of the gear cluster...

 

[w00dy]

You will not be able to take cogs off a carrier. Just buy one with individual cogs. Keep your old one for donor spacers, you'll need those. I keep a few cassettes hanging around. The larger cogs rarely wear out because there is so much less stress on each tooth. A good selection will allow you to build the cassette to suit your needs. I used to run 12-16-17-18-25-32. nice and tight in the middle with a normal and a bailout climbing gear and a sprinting gear.

 

[buildyourown]

Cassettes with no carrier are cheap. I think the SRAM one I got was $20.
I'm running 6sp on my hardtail. It works fine.

 

[marshalolson]

you can buy the sram 980 11-34 cassette

11,13,15,17,20,23,26,30,34

and just not use the 26/30/34 spidered part.

unclear if this is actually any cheaper or lighter than doing a 970dh with the same gearing, but in the sram 970 dh you would really want a 20t in there, not the 21/19.

either way, that is the gearing you want for a 6spd 11-23

really the same goes for the shimano hg-80 11-34 cassette as well.

 

[JustMtnB44]

You can take the regular Sram 970 cassette apart into individual cogs. It is very easy, there is just one tiny bolt that holds the main part together, and then spacers in between each cog. You may have to get a shorter bolt to reassemble it, or just leave it out altogether. You could also use the 980 as marshalolson pointed out, but it would cost more to begin with.

 

[IH8Rice]

You can take the regular Sram 970 cassette apart into individual cogs. It is very easy, there is just one tiny bolt that holds the main part together, and then spacers in between each cog. You may have to get a shorter bolt to reassemble it, or just leave it out altogether.

yep, i take mine apart to clean it easier but sourcing a smaller 1.5mm (or whatever its size is) screw will be tough.

 

[4130biker]

Couldn't you still use the longer bolt, as long as the spacers that take the place of the large cogs have the correct holes in them?

 

[richgardiner]

Just a heads up, with my 2011 x7 short cage, the stock low limit wasn't enough for me to do this (i tried replacing the easiest 3 cogs with spacers and limiting it into that) I ended up putting in a longer screw but once I dialled it in enough to stop it going over the largest cog, it was wound in so far that it prevented the mech from moving back to the highest gear..

Might be worth taking off the easiest 2 gears and the hardest cog instead of just the 3 easiest, so you can run the block in the middle of the freehub body, which might let you get the setup to work, as it shouldn't matter as much if the mech doesn't fully return to where the hardest cog would usually go, as there won't be a cog there anymore

 

[marshalolson]

you can buy the sram 980 11-34 cassette

11,13,15,17,20,23,26,30,34

and just not use the 26/30/34 spidered part.

unclear if this is actually any cheaper or lighter than doing a 970dh with the same gearing, but in the sram 970 dh you would really want a 20t in there, not the 21/19.

either way, that is the gearing you want for a 6spd 11-23

really the same goes for the shimano hg-80 11-34 cassette as well.

so in sum, the 970dh would allow you to run a 7spd 11-23 effectively, but NOT a 6spd 11-23.

a standard 970 11-34 taken apart would be a better solution to get the 6spd 11-23 setup with proper jumps through the cassette.



edit: and if you are having an issue setting the low limiter down enough for the 6spd setup, you can just pull the low limit screw and go to the hardware store and get a longer one. they are standard fine metric threading.

 

[Gary]

edit: and if you are having an issue setting the low limiter down enough for the 6spd setup, you can just pull the low limit screw and go to the hardware store and get a longer one. they are standard fine metric threading.

On many SRAM mechs this approach will not work, once you have a long enough bolt to limiting the largest sprocket side to 6speed it starts limiting the mechs movement at the small sprockets too.

Do you really ever need a 23T sproket on a DH bike? What size chainring do you run?

I run a 36T and have 2 wheelsets both cut down to 7speed (would prefer 6 but have 7 because of the above reason) one cassette is an 11-32 (so effectively now an 11-25 and the other is an 11-26 (now 11-21) I don't ever use anything bigger than the 19T sprocket on a DH track.. the spacing on the cut down 11-26 is far better (11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 19) as all 3 smallest sprockets are closer together.

 

[rockofullr]

Do you guys encounter problems with the individual free cogs damaging the freehub body?

I can't run anything that has individual cogs because they damage/get stuck to the free hub splines.

 

[marshalolson]

^^^that comes down to what your cassette body is made out of, and how you pedal.

 

[rockofullr]

I've had this problem on multiple hubs. The worst was on a DT hub which I hear has a notoriously soft freehub body (I now have a cassette permanently installed on the freehub body).

Anyone have any guidance on what hubs are more resistant to this issue and which hubs to stay away from. Sorry about the derail.

 

[marshalolson]

steel or ti cassette body = good

aluminum cassette body = bad

 

[TWeerts]

Just a heads up, with my 2011 x7 short cage, the stock low limit wasn't enough for me to do this (i tried replacing the easiest 3 cogs with spacers and limiting it into that) I ended up putting in a longer screw but once I dialled it in enough to stop it going over the largest cog, it was wound in so far that it prevented the mech from moving back to the highest gear..

Might be worth taking off the easiest 2 gears and the hardest cog instead of just the 3 easiest, so you can run the block in the middle of the freehub body, which might let you get the setup to work, as it shouldn't matter as much if the mech doesn't fully return to where the hardest cog would usually go, as there won't be a cog there anymore

of course. the only constraint is that the range of motion is less than (or equal) the stock range. you can put that range anywhere within the stock