SRAM PG950 Bicycle Cassette (9-Speed)

The SRAM powerglide series of cassettes is a very good BUDGET cassette and can give you excellent shifting performance for the price provided you have a good chain in serviceable condition (not stretched) and a good derailleur that is not bent, is adjusted correctly, is mounted to a derailleur-hanger that is straight and true and with a set of high-quality shifters/brifters and cables/housings. All this stuff needs to be in good condition, clean, lubed, and adjusted properly. One fly in the ointment and shifting and even pedaling may be noticeably and negatively effected.There are so many factors in problems with bicycle drivetrains that I have to read some of the less-favorable reviews for these and other similar cassettes with a grain of salt.Skipping, bad/slow/missed shifts, noises, and other problems can come from many sources.Often just replacing one part like this and expecting a magic bullet to fix all your ills is a bit short-sighted. If your old cassette was bad it's almost a certainty that the chain was bad too. Chains wear out faster than cassettes -but a worn out chain will grind away the favorite cogs of a cassette in short order. Replacing a worn out cassette and not replacing the chain will cause the problem to come back in short order. A worn-out cassette will also chew up a new chain in short order too!It's a good idea, if you are not an experienced bicycle mechanic to review Sheldon Brown's excellent articles on bicycle drivetrains and derailleur adjustments. Do a websearch for "Sheldon Brown Derailleur Adjustment" and just keep reading that page and other linked pages on the Harris Cyclery Website until you have more of the big picture of what you are up against here with modern indexed-shifting systems.If you are getting a cassette with a bigger largest cog for a lower low gear be aware that you may need to adjust your B-tension screw to keep the derailleur off of the cassette. This is a mistake a lot of people make and can cause serious damage to the chain, cassette and derailleur -even bend the derailleur hanger on the frame if it jams up and/or do serious damage to your wheel. Know what you are doing here please. Us bicycle mechanics really do not enjoy seeing people bring in mangled bikes and having to tell them that the cost to fix the mess will probably cost more than a new bike. Also, be aware that a larger biggest-cog may require you to run a longer chain or risk derailleur damage if the Large/Large cog/chainwheel combination is ever selected (not a good idea to cross-chain like this but still the chain should be able to do it should a mistake happen.)In my opinion the only downside of this cassette (and any decent bargain cassette for that matter) is a small-medium weight penalty. More expensive units will weigh much less -and may shift slightly better, but not too much -the most important thing in indexed shifting is a high-quality cable and housing followed by a good high-quality indexed shifter lever/brifter. But don't forget proper adjustment of all the components being essential also for everything to work well together. The skill-set necessary to do this is beyond many home bicycle mechanics, at least for the first couple attempts until they learn the tricks.The tools needed to remove this cassette are a cassette locking tool such as: Park Tool Cassette/Rotor Lockring Removal Tool - FR-5/FR-5G  a wrench capable of holding the tool, and a chain whip like this:  Park Tool HCW-16 Chain Whip/15mm Pedal Wrench . It's not a hard job to physically remove and re-install the cartridge. If your bike was working well when you swapped it should be fine with maybe a small adjustment of the cable to account for small manufacturing tolerances. If you put a bigger largest cog on you will need to adjust the B-tension screw for more clearance.BEFORE ORDERING: Check your derailleur rating by searching for it here on amazon to be sure that it is rated for a larger cog than you have. Most Shimano medium-cage derailleurs are rated for 27-tooth max but you can usually get away with 28. 30 might be iffy. 30+ tooth largest cogs really need to have a mountain derailleur with a long cage and not a medium-cage (or small cage) road derailleur.Sorry if this review seems super-long but there is a lot of material here to cover. Good luck with your new cassette, riding should be fun and there is nothing wrong with wanting your bike to shift well and be geared for your type of riding.

We run this on a road tandem and do moderate hills 2.5- 3.5 ft / per ride 3x's week= 120 miles/ week. the cluster stands up well if i make sure to change out the chain when stretch indicator tool recommends. Years ago we did lots of steep hills- 20+ grades and we would destroy the lighter weight cassettes- twisting the aluminum carriers- these heavier all steel cassettes proved to be much more durable.

Here is my story with this product. I love SRAM products. However, I purchased this cassette along with a SRAM PG 950 9 Speed chain. I have SRAM x-7 shifters, and X-7 Derailleurs. I put everything on the bike, and the chain kept skipping. I realized that it was skipping on the highest (smallest) cog. I thought perhaps the small cog was not on right, or was not tightened enough, so I checked these things and it was fine. I kept adjusting the der. and still the same skipping. It was very frustrating. I had a hunch that the der. hanger may be bent on this bike, so I purchased a new one (over $30.00). I put it on with no changes in shifting. The only part of the drive train that I had not replaced was the rear der. I thought that this had to be the problem. I purchased a new x-7 rear der. (about $50.00). I installed it and it still skipped the same way. UGGGGG!!!! I thought about it some more and decided that something may be defective with the highest gear. I was going to put the old small cog on and see if that may fix the problem. That is when I realized that the lock ring seemed to be bit large and was partially covering the teeth! I looked at the old lockring from the cassette I removed (also a SRAM), and it was considerably smaller. I used it and it fit like a glove, and did not cover any of the teeth. I put my bike back together, and the problem is resolved!! I am a bit peeved though because I bought a hanger and a rear der. that I did not need to replace. I wish I had thought about the small cog before purchasing parts, however, since something is brand new, it should work. I want to email SRAM and let them know about this issue. I cannot find an email address for them. Their site keeps prompting you to call your local dealer.

Low-end, Shimano/SRAM hub compatible 9-speed cassette. It's heavy, and designed for steel hubs. Works like a champ. Holds up to high wattage, and standing on a climb in the large gear.If you have aluminum or titanium hubs, or are concerned about a couple of ounces of weight, then you want a higher-numbered cassette with a large-gear spider.This is very wide range, pretty evenly stepped from 11T to 34T. This is great for a compact double crankset (34/50), giving a 1:1 (WHEELIES!) for monster climbs, and a 4.5:1 for powering downhill at 35mph.Since it's 9-speed, and such a wide range, you may find some of the mid spacing a little too much if you are mostly on even, flat pavement.If you do only hard, off-road climbs, you may find this is not enough (vs some of the new 42T pizza plates lately).END 2014 reviewEDIT 2017 - Subtracting a star because the description now says it has a spider, but it does not. A spider is a solid block of aluminum serving as the core for the biggest cogwheels. It reduces weight, and distributes the load so high-wattage does not dig into the freehub splines. THIS CASSETTE DOES NOT HAVE THAT. The description should not say it does.

Too many questions

My existing SRAM PG950 9 speed cassette was in an embarrassing state. If i used it any more, there would've been literally no teeth left on it. So I was very desperate to get hold of this and a new chain to go with it of course...With the current climate of bicycle parts being hard to get hold of, I was delighted to find this on Amazon and at a respectable price. In fact, when you look at how complex the teeth are, it's amazing they can sell them so cheap. If only I could say the same of chainrings!!Bottom line, it appears to be the genuine article judging by the packaging. It was dead easy to fit, which surprised the heck out of me. And it has been working great on my commutes so far. And I should say that it's nice to have slick gear changes once again, I didn't realise that it was the cassette that was making the gear changes to awful recently.Maybe I should buy another now so that I have a good spare available immediately when I need it! :-)

Where cassettes are concerned, I only go for Sram (Sachs) or Shimano. 9 speed cassettes are hard to get now at the quality end, so Sram's range is most welcome. Well engineered and easy to fit

Ordered a 9 speed cassette but when opened pack it had only 8 gears returned and 9 speed was sent, this fitted to bike very easily and also fitted new chain and now have a smooth gear shift. The only annoyance was that it took a week to receive replacement.

Lovely bit of kit, well done SRAM!I had a 11-32 Shimano cassette on my 18-speed Trek Cyclo-Cross bike, but the bottom-end gearing was too high for the horrendous hills where I live. I ordered this, which was a perfect replacement and my gear shifters needed no adjustment, it just worked.HOWEVER, there was a steep learning curve for fitting - the lock-ring on the old cassette was so tight I broke one chain-whip (which I bought specially, along with a lock-ring spanner) and even punching it round with a metal-drift and hammer had no effect. So, I had to ask my local bike shop to help. They had to use a vice mounted on a heavy work bench to undo the old lock-ring, and even that was a struggle! Apparently, this is a common issue.Tip; If you don't have a workshop and all the tools already you may wish to get your local bike shop to remove the old part for you, and if they're doing that they mught as well fit it for you as well!If you like my review kindly VOTE for it.

Gradually replacing the 8-speed Felt Q620 with a 9 speed layout, and this was the first to go. I set my gears to skip one between 5th and 6th, you may vary. Other than that, a good, cost-effective cassettel