[Vulcan]

I'm going to be picking one of these up... Which cassette performs best? the 2005 PG990, 2006 PG990, or a Shimano XT? Cheaper is better too. But I found the 2006 990 for around 70.00. I'd consider lesser models too, if theres no reason to spend more.

 

[oldfart]

Many folks give Shimano the nod for shifting. On the front rings I agree that Shimano is the best but I can't say that I notice much difference on the rear. I have run XT or XTR on my XC rigs for years and I have a SRAM on my big bike and commuter and both work equaly well.

 

[VaNIlLin81]

XT all the way.

 

[def]

I've been on just XT cassettes since '00-ish, but just switched to sram (red carrier - forgot the model #, xt level) this winter. Its only been 5 months or so, but shifting performance is the same. I usually don't burn through cassettes, so the test is how she's looking after a good year and few chains. But so far, no performance difference and it was the same price as the XT.

 

[Wumpus]

I've stuck with XT because I don't like the gaps(ratios) on the Scam cassettes especially the 11-34 cassettes.


edit -- Don't know if the 2005 Scams have the solid carriers like the XT, but there were some complaints of the cogs gouging the cassette body.

 

[jungle]

unless the sram cassette has a alloy carrier like the XT
forget it as the sram stuff with the plastic spacers
chew your freewheels to bits
so my vote is XT all the way

 

[mud'n'sweat]

The sram pg990 does not have plastic spacers. The red aluminum carrier version is the 2006 pg990. I have the 06 pg990 myself and I absolutely love it. I recently dropped ALL of my shimano stuff and am running full sram/avid now. I have been riding shimano since the mid 80's on my first schwinn frontier and I have my original XT group still on my '91 Trek 8700 which works seemlessly to this day. I can definitely say the old adage "they don't make them like they use to" definitely holds true for shimano. It seems that while sram is progressing, shimano is going downhill IMHO. All of the 06 XT drivetrain I was running for the first part of the year (except front derailer) proved to be a real pain in my a$$. The reverse spring 2:1 actuation has too much play and slop no matter how much you streamline the cabling and housing... hold on a sec. I just got way off track. Back to the cassette. So far I love it. Solid and smooth shifting, stronger than XT and only 20 grams heavier. XT's have had lots of reports of the cog's bending too easily.

just my $.02