Warning: the quality of cheap cassettes from online sellers has gotten way worse in the last year

Honestly, I used to think the no-name 8-speed cassettes from certain sites were fine for basic repairs. But in the last 6 months, I've seen three from the same seller fail within 200 miles, with teeth bending under normal load. The steel feels softer, and the lockring threads are a gamble now. Has anyone else in a shop noticed this drop with specific budget parts?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_betty1mo ago

It's not just the eight-speeds... the five and six-speed cheap cassettes have always been junk. The steel is too soft and the splines wear out fast. I saw one strip its splines just from a kid pedaling hard up a hill. They're fine for a bike that just sits in a garage, but for actual riding, they're a waste of money.

jennys721mo ago

How many times have we seen this happen? It's not just about the metal being soft, the whole design feels like it's made to fail. I've had those cheap cassettes start skipping under normal load, not even hard riding. They save a few cents on material and it costs us hours of frustration. Honestly, it makes you wonder if they even test these parts on real bikes.

blake_bell291mo ago

Wasn't there a whole thread on another forum about this exact thing? Someone did a side-by-side with a new cheap cassette and one from a year ago, and the weight difference was crazy... way less metal. Totally backs up what @the_betty said about the soft steel. Feels like they've cut every corner they can now, and the threads are always the first to go bad in my experience.