T Using a chain stretch guide can be useful and occasional inspection of the state of the teeth of the most used cogs on the cassette.
Nice photos but not a representative example. This is a single-speed sprocket that's been turned over after it wore out on the one side. A cassette sprocket cannot wear like that because it will skate long before it gets to that stage and of course it cannot be reversed, so the teeth never become that small. On a singlespeed the chain enters the sprocket under tension, whereas on a derailer bike it enters under slack. However, there is something to be learnt fro this photo thanks to the good juxtaposition of the new and used sprocket. Notice how the tooth pitch remains at 1/2 inch no matter how much wear. You can see this where the new and old are placed against each other. One can also get an idea of how the root (valley) of the sprocket wears by increasing it's radius whilst maintaining pitch. Also representative is the hook that develops at the tip of the teeth. On cassette sprockets this will only develop on the trailing edge.
He may, but as @Yellow Saddle correctly hints, that'll be noticeable by the new chain skipping or skating long before it's easy to detect by sight. I suspect lots of people mistake the shifting-friendly irregular tooth pattern of modern cassettes for wear and replace them prematurely.
Please don't feel "told off". That's not my intention. I'm trying to rescue this thread from confusion and misconception.
'Fraid this a visual inspection one. Once the teeth on any of the sprockets begin to look like sharks teeth, then is the time to consider replacing the cassette, which is annoying, as it's usually only the three or four most used sprockets which are affected, thus leaving four or more perfectly good ones going to waste.
First, don't you mean shark's fins rather than teeth?'Fraid this a visual inspection one. Once the teeth on any of the sprockets begin to look like sharks teeth, then is the time to consider replacing the cassette, which is annoying, as it's usually only the three or four most used sprockets which are affected, thus leaving four or more perfectly good ones going to waste.
'Fraid this a visual inspection one. Once the teeth on any of the sprockets begin to look like sharks teeth, then is the time to consider replacing the cassette, which is annoying, as it's usually only the three or four most used sprockets which are affected, thus leaving four or more perfectly good ones going to waste.
