A Ten Speed SRAM PG-1050 12-32 Cassette — Did Not Work — with the Shimano 105 5700 Shifter — on a 2013 Cannondale CAAD 10— A Heads Up Review

© 2015 Peter Free

 

14 May 2015

 

 

“Ya takes yer chances”

 

Today, I attempted to temporarily replace a Shimano 105 12-27 ten speed cassette with SRAM’s PG-1050 12-32 equivalent.

 

The SRAM did not work properly with the 105 drivetrain, despite the Shimano 5701 rear derailleur’s ability to handle the added capacity.

 

 

Test bike

 

2013 Cannondale CAAD 10 105.

 

Shimano 105 shifters, derailleurs, chain, and 12-27 cassette. FSA Gossamer 59/39 crankset.

 

 

The problem lay in the Shimano 105 shifter’s inability to reliably track the evidently different spacing between the SRAM’s interior cogs

 

The chain jumped erratically on at least four of the PG-1050’s (12-32) interior cogs, even though it mated adequately with the inner and outermost ones.

 

In determining what was wrong, I noticed that my sample of the PG-1050 cassette appears to be very slightly wider overall than the 105 it was supposed to replace.

 

I noticed that Cannondale had installed two thin spacers on the wheel hub side of the 105 cassette. With those in place, the 105 and PG-1050 cassette assemblies came out to the same point on the outside of splined hub spindle. With the same spacers, the SRAM’s smallest diameter cog would not fit securely on the splines.

 

Presumably the spacing between the SRAM's cogs was slightly different than the Shimano cassette's.

 

 

The moral? — One cannot be sure that other people’s success with mixing supposedly interchangeable Shimano and SRAM components will apply to one’s situation

 

An irritating $60 lesson.