www.reddit.com/r/MTB/s/PR0cOKzK6X
Anybody have any long term use on Garbaruk or E*thirteen cassettes?
Looking for input on long term durability of Garbaruk cassettes
Bike Tech and KitThanks. I don’t know what to make of this information to be honest. I need someone to give numbers on experience to feel comfortable. Miles, specifically. Mountain bikers do not track their numbers so I don’t know what to think of their input. People refer to zero friction cycling often stating that soaking a chain in wax can make it get like 5000 miles. For day rides and fair weather cycling that’s one thing but for bikepacking it doesn’t seem feasible. All you can do is try to keep it waxed until you encounter a bunch of mud I think. At that point you’d have to switch to oil or something like wolf tooth.
I've got an Ethirteen 9-46t cassette on a mtb from 2018 (gen1 I assume). The first few easy gears show some wear (Colorado high country) but I've yet to replace those. Cool thing about the cassette is that they sell just the low 3 gears a replacement piece. Some people don't like them though. Not sure how people can have vastly different experiences with the same product!
All about the material Garbaruk uses which is 7075 aluminum.
You should replace a 11 to 13 speed chain at 0.5 wear. For optimal performance once you reach 1% wear you should replace both. Once you reach 0.75 wear you should replace both the chain and the cassette. The lifespan of a chain is around 2,000 miles. With proper cleaning and maintenance you can make the most of it.
Higher end cassettes can be made from titanium with carbon spiders and all these different materials wear at different rates. Shimano mostly uses steel and aluminum until you get into the fancy bits.
When I did trans am bike race I changed out the chain in Kansas and didn't bother switching out the cassette or chainrings. Once I got home everything was overhauled. 2ish k miles swap chain. 4+ k miles overhaul.