harris cassettes - century special

[Seth Vidal]

Hi,
Has anyone bought/used one of these:
http://harriscyclery.net/product/harris-custom-century-special-13-30-9-speed-cassette-702.htm

I'm considering one for the hilsen build I'm working on and I'm
curious if there are any yay/nay sayers for it.

thanks,
-sv

[Bruce Herbitter]

My frequent riding companion Frank uses these and swears by them
Sent from my Kindle Fire

---

From: Seth Vidal <skv...@gmail.com>
Sent: Mon Nov 21 12:32:43 CST 2011
To: rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [RBW] harris cassettes - century special

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[Steve Palincsar]

I've been using them since 2002, have them on three bikes and love 'em.
It's all "yay" as far as I'm concerned.

A point to bear in mind about these: the 13 and the 30 are re-usable,
and will can be used on many 12-27 cassettes (the basis for the
customization).

I use them with 24/36/46 (700Cx32), 24/36/48 (700Cx28) and 26/36/48
(650Bx42) drive trains. The resulting gearing is absolutely perfect for
me. Top gear just under 100", low gear on the middle ring in the low
30s, and a granny gear in the low 20s.

I have never understood why Shimano didn't make this a standard
cassette. A 13-30, after all, was one of the standard 7 speeds (and I
use that one, too, on my Kogswell P/R touring bike).

[Seth Vidal]

On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 1:51 PM, Steve Palincsar <pali...@his.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 2011-11-21 at 13:32 -0500, Seth Vidal wrote:
>> Hi,
>>  Has anyone bought/used one of these:
>> http://harriscyclery.net/product/harris-custom-century-special-13-30-9-speed-cassette-702.htm
>>
>> I'm considering one for the hilsen build I'm working on and I'm
>> curious if there are any yay/nay sayers for it.
>
> I've been using them since 2002, have them on three bikes and love 'em.
> It's all "yay" as far as I'm concerned.
>
> A point to bear in mind about these:  the 13 and the 30 are re-usable,
> and will can be used on many 12-27 cassettes (the basis for the
> customization).
>
> I use them with 24/36/46 (700Cx32), 24/36/48 (700Cx28) and 26/36/48
> (650Bx42) drive trains.  The resulting gearing is absolutely perfect for
> me.  Top gear just under 100", low gear on the middle ring in the low
> 30s, and a granny gear in the low 20s.
>

Steve,
Thanks for the details. The cassettes you get are miche cassettes, I
assume with a few cogs changed out in them? Does this also mean it is
possible to replace a specific cog if one wears more than usual (for
example a cruising gear you use a lot).

Thanks,
-sv

[Garth]

You can get individual Shimano and Miche cassette cogs from all sorts of places online.  I believe eBikestop was/is usually about 1/3 to a half less per cog than other retailers,, if that matters to you. Non racers never wear out the the smallest and largest cogs, so those are always reusable.  That said, if one has the mind to, one can make their own custom cassettes quite easily by either using stock riveted versions(the least expensive ones) and cutting off the rivets to free the cogs and spacers, or just buying the Miche cogs individually as desired, and using spacers form an old cassette.  This was the big promise of cassettes when they came out... but can still be done if you don't care about weight, and most here don't.

That said, I've used Sachs 13-32 7sp. FW for years and have never worn out a cog yet. .  . . not even close actually. New cassette cogs have more wear on them than any of my used FW cogs .... now that's both funny and sad.

[Steve Palincsar]

On Mon, 2011-11-21 at 14:43 -0500, Seth Vidal wrote:

> Thanks for the details. The cassettes you get are miche cassettes, I
> assume

No, Shimano Ultegra 12-27s. You customize the 12-27 into a 13-30 by
removing the 1st position 12 and the 13, replace with a 1st position 13
and add a flat 30 behind the 27.

> with a few cogs changed out in them? Does this also mean it is
> possible to replace a specific cog if one wears more than usual (for
> example a cruising gear you use a lot).

Unfortunately, no. I tend to wear the 15, 17, 19 and 21 all about the
same, and when they wear they skip under the load of standing, and
shifting also becomes imprecise.

[dougP]

Has anyone tried NOT changing the second position 13 for a 1st
position 13?

My Atlantis came with an 11-32 8 speed, which features some pretty
weird jumps. After riding it for a while, I tossed the 11 & 18, and
dropped in a 17 & 19 from a 7 speed HG. Final product was
13-15-17-19-21-24-28-32, which worked great for touring with the Riv
standard 24-36-46 rings. Like Steve, I wear out the ones in the
middle, so a while back I took a new Shimano 13-26, dropped the 14, 23
& 26 & re-used the old 24-28-32. The weird thing was the shift from
13 to 15 (new cogs from the same new cassette) was dodgy. So I
swapped out the new, 1st position 13 for the old 2nd position 13, and
things worked much better. Weird.

I see Harris has a new 11-28 8 speed where I could just use my old 32,
toss the 11 & leave everything else alone to get my preferred
gearing.

The question is what is special about the 1st postion cog?

dougP

dougP

[William]

Quoting Sheldon (RIP)

"To provide the Hyperglide functionality, each sprocket must be designed with regard to the adjacent sprockets. For instance, there are 3 different 15 tooth sprockets for 7-speed systems: one version works between a 13 and a 17; another works between a 14 and a 17; another works between a 14 and a 16."

Mixing and matching cogs is possible, but if the resulting adjacent pair doesn't have the ramps line up, then shifting can be sub-optimal.  A 'top-position' cog has the little ratchety indents to take the lock ring, so that's special, and the ramps (or singular ramp on my 11) is lined up to hand the chain off to a particular next position cog.  If they line up right, it'll shift right.  If they line up wrong, it might not be quite as good.  

[dougP]

William:

Thanks for that quote. That makes sense. When I modified the
original cassette, the 13 & 15 were stock & maybe I got lucky with my
17 & 19 in place of the original 18. Modifying the 13-26, I took the
14 out so apparently the 13 & 15 aren't meant to be adjacent, but my
original 13 happens to work better. Some days you get lucky.

dougP

[robert zeidler]

Got 'em on almost every bike. Perfect.

[reynoldslugs]

For those of you using the 13-30, what derailleurs are you using?

Do you need to use the XT/mountain bike derailleurs, or will a long
cage ultegra work?

thanks.

RL

[Steve Palincsar]

Sheldon said any road derailleur would work with the 13-30, but I've
always used XT MTB derailleurs with it.

[William]

Ultegra will usually take a 30.  On some bikes the dropout geometry will hold it too close and it won't, but on most bikes it will.  Almost always with a vertical or semi-vertical dropout, it'll work fine.  With most horizontal dropouts, it's cozier in there, and is somewhat more likely to give you a problem.  

[jimD]

I'm using the Harris 13-30 9 spd with an Utegra long cage and it works flawlessly.
I've read that chain stay length is a variable that influences the range the derailler can accommodate.
-JimD

[Bob]

Tempted . . . I have a lump of 8-speed chains--will they work with
this?

[Steve Palincsar]

On Fri, 2011-11-25 at 07:39 -0800, Bob wrote:
> Tempted . . . I have a lump of 8-speed chains--will they work with
> this?

Allegedly not, although I have never tried it myself.

[Bertin753]

In my experience, 10 sp chains work with anything from 5 up; 9s work with anything from 9 down; and all the rest all work fine together excluding 1/8" things.

Patrick Moore
Typed with one finger on my
iphone