Cheaper Parts... but will they survive?

[KnollyBro]

With the ever increasing supply shortage of bike parts I have been tempted to try Ali Express for some difficult to find bike parts. If Rob can build a decent ebike from a cheap Chinese frame, what are the chances that some of these parts are made in the same factory as name brand parts as all roads lead to China for many bike parts.
I need an 10-50 XD cassette and was thinking about this. Thoughts?

68.07￡ 45% OFF|ZTTO MTB 12 Speed 11 50 Cassette HG Standard 11 46T 12v k7 Ultralight Full Steel Lightweight 12s 12speed Sprocket Ultimate|Bicycle Freewheel| - AliExpress

 

[Gary]

Firstly. Do you really *need* a 10-50 cassette with 12 gears when you have a motor helping you out?

 

[steve_sordy]

I have not looked at your link as I don't have the expertise to comment. But I share your temptation. There used to be a big thing about bottom brackets on mtbs at one time. The cool guys on the Forum I was on at the time were urging us to buy a premium BB that was well over £100. I was buying bottom of the range Shimano HollowTech II BBs for about £10. Now and again I'd buy two for less than £20. To my mind the value for money of the cheap Shimano BBs was off the scale. I'd get easily 700 miles from a cheapo, sometimes more. At the time, I was selling my bikes after less than 3 years of ownership, so I was only fitting 2 maybe 3 new BBs on top of the OE. So the BBs cost me £20-£30 in three years, compared with £100+. The HolllowTech II BBs were a doddle to fit and took no time at all.

However, following the same policy with chains didn't work for me at all. I could buy a chain for £10, but the value for money wasn't there in my opinion. At that level, the chains rust as soon as look at them and I was only getting about 650 miles out of one. Pay double and you get a chain that doesn't rust overnight, or even after a week of being left. And I got more miles out of them. The first premium chain I experienced was on a new bike, it was a SRAM XX1 Eagle Black, 12-Speed. After just over 1400 miles, the length extension was only 0.25%. When the chain lasts well, so does the rest of the drivetrain.

 

[KnollyBro]

Firstly. Do you really *need* a 10-50 cassette with 12 gears when you have a motor helping you out?

Haha... you are probably right about not needing 12 gears. I could get by with a 7 speed. As for the range, here in Vancouver and Squamish, we routinely punch up climbing trails for 25+ minutes, with elevation gains of up to 500M+ ,to get to the trails so a 50 tooth comes in handy in the steep sections. I am on a Levo SL and ride mostly in Eco to get some exercise so, once again, need is relative to one's goals. My *need* was to find a cheaper 10-50t cassette other than a Shimamo X01 for less than $500.
Secondly?

 

[steve_sordy]

Firstly. Do you really *need* a 10-50 cassette with 12 gears when you have a motor helping you out?

I would agree with you there Gary, but new bikes come fitted with 12-speed drivetrains and when the chain goes there is a decision to make. How long am I going to keep this bike, how long do the chains last, how does that affect the rest of the drivetrain, how much will it cost to switch to a 10-speed, can I afford it? (Irrespective of whether it is the correct financial decision long term, because all the spare income has been committed to paying for the bike).

That is ignoring of course those riders that actually need the 12-speed gearing AND the motor because of some physical deficiency, be it heart or lung problems, dodgy knees, ailing joints of multiple kinds, whatever. I wish you lifelong health, strength and fitness Gary, I really do. Because once it starts to slip away it's a proper bugger and I would not wish it on anyone!

 

[Gary]

here in Vancouver and Squamish, we routinely punch up climbing trails for 25+ minutes, with elevation gains of up to 500M+ ,to get to the trails

Yeah. We do that in Scotland too. We call it mountainbiking

Secondly?

I was gonna suggest you could save yourself a wad of dosh on drivetrain consumables by swapping your freehub body to an HG unit and using cheaper 10 or 11 speed components and HG compatible cassettes with 11t smallest sprockets that not only cost a fraction of the price but last a lot longer too but If you genuinely need your 50t cassette sprocket AND your 10t sprocket stick with 11 or 12 speed XD or Microspline.
Personally I find most Emtb's have far too wide gear ratios for me and geared too low (but i'm not on an SL).
I wouldn't even use a Sunrace/Box cassette as I've found them to be way less smooth shifting and way less durable than Shimano or SRAM But having said that what have you to lose by ordering yourself a cheap chinese cassette? You'll find out soon enough if it's up to the job or not. Personally I'd order from Ebay as then you at least have Paypal to claim a refund from if it turns out to be gash.

 

[Gary]

how much will it cost to switch to a 10-speed, can I afford it?

That part's a no brainer bro.
a complete 10 speed shimano drivetrain (Cassette, mech, shifter, chain & chainring) costs LESS than a single XD 12 speed cassette

That is ignoring of course those riders that actually need the 12-speed gearing AND the motor

I most vertainly wasn't ignoring that. Hence my opening question to the OP.

I wish you lifelong health, strength and fitness Gary, I really do. Because once it starts to slip away it's a proper bugger and I would not wish it on anyone!

Thanks man. I actually do have a fairly long list of physical issues. I just tend not to moan about them too often.

Oh... and ALL non Shimano HTII BBs are worse VFM than genuine Shimano for mtb use. Especially the cheap non series and entry level units you'd been buying. not that I've any idea why you brought that up in reply to an Ebike component query


.

 

[steve_sordy]

.................

Oh... and ALL non Shimano HTII BBs are worse VFM than genuine Shimano for mtb use. Especially the cheap non series and entry level units you'd been buying. not that I've any idea why you brought that up in reply to an Ebike component query

I agree with your Shimano HTII point. I brought up BBs merely as an example of my appreciation of the search for value for money. I haven't been riding emtbs long enough to have better examples than chains.

 

[KnollyBro]

Yeah. We do that in Scotland too. We call it mountainbiking

I was gonna suggest you could save yourself a wad of dosh on drivetrain consumables by swapping your freehub body to an HG unit and using cheaper 10 or 11 speed components and HG compatible cassettes with 11t smallest sprockets that not only cost a fraction of the price but last a lot longer too but If you genuinely need your 50t cassette sprocket AND your 10t sprocket stick with 11 or 12 speed XD or Microspline.
Personally I find most Emtb's have far too wide gear ratios for me and geared too low (but i'm not on an SL).
I wouldn't even use a Sunrace/Box cassette as I've found them to be way less smooth shifting and way less durable than Shimano or SRAM But having said that what have you to lose by ordering yourself a cheap chinese cassette? You'll find out soon enough if it's up to the job or not. Personally I'd order from Ebay as then you at least have Paypal to claim a refund from if it turns out to be gash.

Your in Scotland? Do you know Danny?

I understand what you are saying about the 12 speeds but I have 4 other Hope hubs that have HG (3) and Microspline (1) drivers on them and I have found it most aggravating to remove the cassettes after the steel chain rings have dug into the aluminum HG splines. I have not had the Microspline cassette off yet. The one XD hub I have had for years has held up without any issues. Changing an entire drive train would be pretty expensive if the bike comes stock as a 12 speed.
As for refunds, I was hoping to avoid that by seeing if anyone had any experience with the parts from Ali Express. My limited experience with Ali Express has been VERY good with refunds when trying to decipher their clothing sizes. YMMV

 

[Gary]

Everyone knows Danny

 

[Gary]

Burrs on Ali freehub bodies really aren't abig deal but if it bothers you hope also manufacture a steel HG freehub body.

You couldn't be more wrong about the entire drivetrain replacement being expensive.

XD Cassettes are extortionate as are 12 speed chains. (And both are consumables with far shorter lifespans than their 10 speed counterparts)

 

[KnollyBro]

Burrs on Ali freehub bodies really aren't abig deal but if it bothers you hope also manufacture a steel HG freehub body.

You couldn't be more wrong about the entire drivetrain replacement being expensive.

XD Cassettes are extortionate as are 12 speed chains. (And both are consumables with far shorter lifespans than their 10 speed counterparts)

I will have to disagree with you on the aluminum Hope freehub bodies as not only is it a pain to get cassette off and on but the burrs leave impressive divots in the freehub body, making that part consumable (correct me if I am wrong but each time you put a cassette back on, it will end up back in the same divots and only make them worse), especially on an ebike. I am not able to source a steel HG freehub (Hope website says they are only for 10 or 11 speed only) over here in the Colonies and they seem to be over $140, when they are available.
You are probably right about a 10 or 11 speed drivetrain being cheaper than one replacement Shimano XD cassette but I do not seem to be able to source out a 10 or 11 speed cassette that goes beyond 46 teeth. Once again, out of stock.
In the end, I will order an XD cassette from Ali Express and see how well it works.

 

[michael.kozera]

With the ever increasing supply shortage of bike parts I have been tempted to try Ali Express for some difficult to find bike parts. If Rob can build a decent ebike from a cheap Chinese frame, what are the chances that some of these parts are made in the same factory as name brand parts as all roads lead to China for many bike parts.
I need an 10-50 XD cassette and was thinking about this. Thoughts?

68.07￡ 45% OFF|ZTTO MTB 12 Speed 11 50 Cassette HG Standard 11 46T 12v k7 Ultralight Full Steel Lightweight 12s 12speed Sprocket Ultimate|Bicycle Freewheel| - AliExpress

ive built several bikes/ebikes with cheap Chinese components, with no issues at all. ive put over 10,000kms on some of these components and they have lasted as long as or just slightly less then the equivalent "brand name".

some thing else to consider/ remember, in the MTB world, generally speaking, the more money something cost the LIGHTER it is, NOT any stronger. in fact, more often then not, you will find that the cheaper stuff is more durable and longer lasting , i be it , alot heavier.


for example: 7-8-9 speed chains/derailleurs are almost always way more durable then the 11-12 speed counter parts. a el-cheapo 7speed generic no name brand will last 3-5x longer then a sram eagle 11/12s, easily.


however, there are 3 things that i would not cheap out on:

1-rims , both carbon and aluminum

2-forks

3-rear shocks

notice how i didnt mention frames,chains, or brakes, as most things made and sold cheap on aliexpress are still of decent quality.


and lastly, like i said, i buy alot of stuff off ebay/aliexpress over the last 20 years, and what ive noticed is that alot of the times i will get a cheap item, say a derailleur, thats 1/3 the price of the "brand name". it looks identical, it weighs the same, its missing all of its stickers, or has different china-lang china brand stickers, has no packaging, limited warrantly ( usually 1 month only), and may come with missing hardware like screws, clips, or greese, it may not even be fully assembled sometimes, it may have scratches and scuffs on the product. however, this rarely happens, usually it just comes with no stickers on the item and no packaging, (usually wrapped in generic bubble wrap).

i suspect that when you buy something off aliexpress/ebay thats 1/4-1/3 the price it must be a B-stock item that didnt pass QC, usually always due to cosmetic.



i actully laughed abit when that guy made that bike called the CHEEB, cuz ive known for years, decades even, that Chinese frames are of good quality, as every frame ive bought from china over the last 20 years has been of excellent quality. unfinished sometimes sure, and maybe 10-20% heavier then the frame they copied but hey if it works it works. especially considering i would pay 1/4 the price of the "brand name" frames......

I will have to disagree with you on the aluminum Hope freehub bodies as not only is it a pain to get cassette off and on but the burrs leave impressive divots in the freehub body, making that part consumable (correct me if I am wrong but each time you put a cassette back on, it will end up back in the same divots and only make them worse), especially on an ebike. I am not able to source a steel HG freehub (Hope website says they are only for 10 or 11 speed only) over here in the Colonies and they seem to be over $140, when they are available.
You are probably right about a 10 or 11 speed drive train being cheaper than one replacement Shimano XD cassette but I do not seem to be able to source out a 10 or 11 speed cassette that goes beyond 46 teeth. Once again, out of stock.
In the end, I will order an XD cassette from Ali Express and see how well it works.

+1 on the idea to switch the a freehub as 11t small to 36-50t big cassettes are WAY cheaper then the XD 10t shit. like you can go on amazon right now and get a 11t-50t 11/12s cassette for like 70$. and its nice cuz you can buy and replace just the 11t/12t/13t cogs for like 8$ on amazon/ebay and get 2-3 times more life out of the rear cassette.


as for the divots/grooves created by the extra torque generated by E-bikes.....to me sounds like you didnt tighten the lock ring tight enough. ive experienced this problem in the past when i didnt tighten enough. as for ebikes i double, sometimes even triple the lock ring torque to really press those gears together to compensate for the extra power running through the system. or you can get a cassette that has 1-2 or even 3 "through pins" that hold all the gears together ( except the last two 11/13t), this distributes the load across all the gears rather then just the one gear.

ever since i increased the lock ring torque ive had no issues with free hub body grooves, and i run my ebike at 1,800w....so yeah.



--------------------------------------------------------

hope this helps

 

[Sander23]

Yeah. We do that in Scotland too. We call it mountainbiking

I was gonna suggest you could save yourself a wad of dosh on drivetrain consumables by swapping your freehub body to an HG unit and using cheaper 10 or 11 speed components and HG compatible cassettes with 11t smallest sprockets that not only cost a fraction of the price but last a lot longer too but If you genuinely need your 50t cassette sprocket AND your 10t sprocket stick with 11 or 12 speed XD or Microspline.
Personally I find most Emtb's have far too wide gear ratios for me and geared too low (but i'm not on an SL).
I wouldn't even use a Sunrace/Box cassette as I've found them to be way less smooth shifting and way less durable than Shimano or SRAM But having said that what have you to lose by ordering yourself a cheap chinese cassette? You'll find out soon enough if it's up to the job or not. Personally I'd order from Ebay as then you at least have Paypal to claim a refund from if it turns out to be gash.

You can order with PayPal on aliexpress to, had couple of refunds from PayPal as they delivered a uncomplete order or a broken one that the shipper on ali wouldn't payback completely

 

[Gary]

sounds like you didnt tighten the lock ring tight enoug

This

 

[Gary]

You can order with PayPal on aliexpress to, had couple of refunds from PayPal as they delivered a uncomplete order or a broken one that the shipper on ali wouldn't payback completely

Ah.. Did not know this. Thanks.
I stopped using AliX years ago because their customer service was terrible and would drag on for months leaving me out of pocket for junk/incorrect items and the final straw, an empty box from a scammer (meant to be a super powerful bike light)

 

[KnollyBro]

ive built several bikes/ebikes with cheap Chinese components, with no issues at all. ive put over 10,000kms on some of these components and they have lasted as long as or just slightly less then the equivalent "brand name".

some thing else to consider/ remember, in the MTB world, generally speaking, the more money something cost the LIGHTER it is, NOT any stronger. in fact, more often then not, you will find that the cheaper stuff is more durable and longer lasting , i be it , alot heavier.


for example: 7-8-9 speed chains/derailleurs are almost always way more durable then the 11-12 speed counter parts. a el-cheapo 7speed generic no name brand will last 3-5x longer then a sram eagle 11/12s, easily.


however, there are 3 things that i would not cheap out on:

1-rims , both carbon and aluminum

2-forks

3-rear shocks

notice how i didnt mention frames,chains, or brakes, as most things made and sold cheap on aliexpress are still of decent quality.


and lastly, like i said, i buy alot of stuff off ebay/aliexpress over the last 20 years, and what ive noticed is that alot of the times i will get a cheap item, say a derailleur, thats 1/3 the price of the "brand name". it looks identical, it weighs the same, its missing all of its stickers, or has different china-lang china brand stickers, has no packaging, limited warrantly ( usually 1 month only), and may come with missing hardware like screws, clips, or greese, it may not even be fully assembled sometimes, it may have scratches and scuffs on the product. however, this rarely happens, usually it just comes with no stickers on the item and no packaging, (usually wrapped in generic bubble wrap).

i suspect that when you buy something off aliexpress/ebay thats 1/4-1/3 the price it must be a B-stock item that didnt pass QC, usually always due to cosmetic.



i actully laughed abit when that guy made that bike called the CHEEB, cuz ive known for years, decades even, that Chinese frames are of good quality, as every frame ive bought from china over the last 20 years has been of excellent quality. unfinished sometimes sure, and maybe 10-20% heavier then the frame they copied but hey if it works it works. especially considering i would pay 1/4 the price of the "brand name" frames......






+1 on the idea to switch the a freehub as 11t small to 36-50t big cassettes are WAY cheaper then the XD 10t shit. like you can go on amazon right now and get a 11t-50t 11/12s cassette for like 70$. and its nice cuz you can buy and replace just the 11t/12t/13t cogs for like 8$ on amazon/ebay and get 2-3 times more life out of the rear cassette.


as for the divots/grooves created by the extra torque generated by E-bikes.....to me sounds like you didnt tighten the lock ring tight enough. ive experienced this problem in the past when i didnt tighten enough. as for ebikes i double, sometimes even triple the lock ring torque to really press those gears together to compensate for the extra power running through the system. or you can get a cassette that has 1-2 or even 3 "through pins" that hold all the gears together ( except the last two 11/13t), this distributes the load across all the gears rather then just the one gear.

ever since i increased the lock ring torque ive had no issues with free hub body grooves, and i run my ebike at 1,800w....so yeah.



--------------------------------------------------------

hope this helps

Thanks for your response to my question, with long term experience, it helped a lot. Good point about the lock ring on the cassette not being tightened enough but I do worry about stripping the thread if its over torqued. I only have one XD hub that I have had for years so I wanted to put it into use after getting the conversion kit from 142 to 148mm axles but I also had to switch the cassette as it was a 11-42t. I guess I should have looked to see how expensive XD cassettes were first! Thanks again for detailed explaination.

 

[michael.kozera]

Thanks for your response to my question, with long term experience, it helped a lot. Good point about the lock ring on the cassette not being tightened enough but I do worry about stripping the thread if its over torqued. I only have one XD hub that I have had for years so I wanted to put it into use after getting the conversion kit from 142 to 148mm axles but I also had to switch the cassette as it was a 11-42t. I guess I should have looked to see how expensive XD cassettes were first! Thanks again for detailed explaination.

most lock rings require 40-50ftlb. I've tightened them up to 200ftlb and still no stripping of the threads. however. I will admit that at 200ftlbs, failure must be close. but I would say 150ftlb should be plenty, and should eliminate all hub grooving.

just a warning tho. 150ftlb on lock rings. extremely hard to remove the lock rings if you don't have a cassette tool.

 

[Gary]

Your cassette lockring should be torqued to 50Nm.
It's safe enough to go a little higher than that but certainly not over five times the recommended torque. (200foot pounds is over 270Nm). Please stop giving out absolutely awful information

Also beware of overtorquing any cassette which uses plastic spacers (SRAM HG I'm looking at you) If you do you'll crush the spacers.
.

 

[michael.kozera]

Your cassette lockring should be torqued to 50Nm.
It's safe enough to go a little higher than that but certainly not over five times the recommended torque. (200foot pounds is over 270Nm). Please stop giving out absolutely awful information

Also beware of overtorquing any cassette which uses plastic spacers (SRAM HG I'm looking at you) If you do you'll crush the spacers.
.

id sugest you re-read my post as its obvious u didnt .....

I did not say/suggest that you should over tighten ur lock ring, i said I over tightened my lock ring and it worked for me. no where in my post did i say that others should do the same, i even provided a warning as to not do it.

please read carefully before you post as to eliminate forum master race rhetoric. thankyou.

 

[michael.kozera]

Also beware of overtorquing any cassette which uses plastic spacers (SRAM HG I'm looking at you) If you do you'll crush the spacers.
.

when i tightened to 150ftlb, i did notice that the largest gear, and the smallest gear didnt always shift properly. me thinks is because the plastic spacers have been crushed and the cassette has basically "shrunk its spacing" , off setting the indexing ever so slightly.

 

[Gary]

The smallest sprocket never has a plastic spacer.

150 foot pounds is over 200Nm
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ON A BICYCLE SHOULD BE TIGHTENED TO ANYWHERE NEAR THAT TORQUE

please read carefully before you post

Irony much?
what i said was...
Please stop giving out absolutely awful information

 

[KnollyBro]

The OP asked about whether parts from Ali Express are a viable alternative to SRAM and Shimano parts and that has been answered. Questions about the need of 12 speed drive trains and the point of XD cassettes were brought up to reduce costs. I think those have been answered. Not wanting to speak for either of the contributors but I think the main take-a-way is to avoid XD cassettes and to make sure that the cassette locking ring is properly torqued. Over torqueing can reduce the gouges found on aluminum freehubs but this can put stress on other parts and one should choose there remedy carefully as it could be costly and affect performance. I will check my cassette torque settings more carefully from now on. Thanks for all the information and personal experience.

 

[Singletrack Scene]

I will have to disagree with you on the aluminum Hope freehub bodies as not only is it a pain to get cassette off and on but the burrs leave impressive divots in the freehub body, making that part consumable (correct me if I am wrong but each time you put a cassette back on, it will end up back in the same divots and only make them worse), especially on an ebike. I am not able to source a steel HG freehub (Hope website says they are only for 10 or 11 speed only) over here in the Colonies and they seem to be over $140, when they are available.
You are probably right about a 10 or 11 speed drivetrain being cheaper than one replacement Shimano XD cassette but I do not seem to be able to source out a 10 or 11 speed cassette that goes beyond 46 teeth. Once again, out of stock.
In the end, I will order an XD cassette from Ali Express and see how well it works.

The Aluminium Hope Free hubs are very poor. I always request or buy the Stainless versions!

 

[Cyclopath1000]

I was looking at a 9 speed Ultegra chain for my non e bike road bike. Going price for a Shimano from a real bike store is around $41. Unfortunately out if stock. AliExpress, eBay etc has many packaged chains looking identical to Shimano for $12-$22. ....as does Amazon...clearly forgeries. Why would.a.shimamo chain be shipped from some Chinese town!
As a side note @Gary convinced me to go 10 speed Shimano 11-46 to replace my ex1 for my next cassette. 10nspeed Shimano steel was $50 vs $400 plus for the ex1....but I agree with the original poster that he actually needs the 40 tooth cog. I need my 48 tooth cog in NorCal so when I actually go from ex1 to 11-46 I suspect I will need to reduce the 34 front to a 32. Before all you tough guys poo poo the need for big cogs I suggest you wait until you are 71b and come out to NorCal and ride or BC.

 

[Cyclopath1000]

50 tooth I mean

 

[Manc44]

The lowest gear I use up the steepest hill I go up is 36x23 now I have a (500W) motor on.

That's not a really steep hill but it's about 13%. I'd argue you don't need anything beyond 36x28... you're on a 50t?

The problem isn't low gears, it's high enough gears. I run a rear hub with a 24/36/48 triple chainset and most of the time on the flat I am on the 48 outer on the 14/15 on the cassette, going about 15 MPH, pedalling pretty slow (55-60 RPM). That's on PAS 3/5. If I reduce it to PAS 2/5 then I'm probably doing 13 MPH and on the 16/17t on the cassette.

I have never used the 24t granny ring since fitting a motor, it's only purpose is to hold my PAS magnet disc on.

If your hills are 20%+ then I guess it's different, but you can't possibly need a 50t even then. I forget you lot ride up mountains, I ride an eMTB... but on the road.

 

[Cyclopath1000]

Manx 44 are you telling me that you're writing a typical modern Enduro bike with a triple chain ring? Well more power to you if that's what you're doing literally more power but few modern bikes will accommodate a triple chain ring so you must have like hacked into an old bike with a do-it-yourself or maybe and I applaud you for making it work I'm not criticizing in any bit but I don't think it's germane to what other people are riding but show us your bike prove me wrong.

 

[Manc44]

Manx 44 are you telling me that you're writing a typical modern Enduro bike with a triple chain ring? Well more power to you if that's what you're doing literally more power but few modern bikes will accommodate a triple chain ring so you must have like hacked into an old bike with a do-it-yourself or maybe and I applaud you for making it work I'm not criticizing in any bit but I don't think it's germane to what other people are riding but show us your bike prove me wrong.

Yeah it's an old (suspension) MTB frame with DIY rear hub kit. I just like having suspension on the road with all the potholes there are. Cars and motorbikes have suspension so why not pushbikes. I'm getting sick of how it handles though and I'm swapping over to a hardtail, but that will also have the same triple crankset on.

Having 48t outer and 36t middle means I can get away with a 13-23t cassette and I'm never swapping between gears trying to find the right one. If 36x23t gets too tough I still have the 24t granny ring. I know most bike now run one chainring and with a mid drive it's necessary to but this is why I got a rear hub and DIY kit, apart from the fact it was far cheaper that way. My (48v) battery is over 1,000 Wh and was under £250. Goes about 50 miles on a charge, even on my 60lb-70lb bike and me up near 200lbs.

 

[Rostle32]

As a Trek Rail 7 owner with the best part of 4000 miles in about 15 months, lancashire/yorkshire border, (we get some shite weather)
i was dubious from the outset about the need for 12 speed 10-51setup on an eeb.
So when it came to replacing the chain/cassette for the 1st time, i was able to source original fitment parts for a reasonable outlay.
But fast forward 4months or so, chain skipping, gears not just sweet, and genuine stock had nearly doubled in price ! so i started looking into "downgrading" to more pocket friendly drivetrain setup, so some research got me to fit 10 speed 11-42 shimano deore cassette, zee shifter, deore rear mech, HG freehub, works like a dream!
Tried a microshift brand cassette, just to see if cheapo stuff would cut it ,didnt last and poor shifting, big thumbs down!! for the slight price increase shimano all the way ,
10 speed 11-42 deore cassette and deore chain for less than £50! WOTS NOT TO LIKE