This article is your guide to Shimano and Shimano-compatible 10-speed cassettes (sprocket clusters) -- replacing worn sprockets, making subsitutions, and building custom combinations.

Another article on this site gives more general information about cassettes, and on how to upgrade from an older cassette.

In case you're not sure whether your bike has a cassette Freehub or a thread-on freewheel, we have a separate illustrated article explaining how to tell them apart.

We do not recommend 10-speed cassettes, if you can avoid them. The increasing number of sprockets from year to year is an example of spec hype. They represent an attempt to make last year's bicycle look obsolete so you'll buy a new one. Please keep these pointers in mind:

• No matter how many sprockets your bicycle has, you can use only one at a time!
• These's no need for that many sprockets at the rear wheel. A wide gear range, with a small steps between gear ratios, is easily achieved with a 7- or 8-sprocket cluster at the rear wheel and a wide-step double or triple-chainwheel crankset.
• The closely-spaced sprockets of a 10-speed system make shifting more finicky. Minor misadjustments which would not be a problem with a 7- or 8-speed system result in malfunction.
• 10-speed sprockets are thin, and so is the chain. They wear out faster, are harder to service and more easily damaged. The side plates of chain made for a 10-sprocket cassette are barely thicker than the lid of a tin can. If one of these chains jams, it may easily bend or break. This is an especially serious issue for a bicycle tourist or randonneur.

Still, there are a couple of reasons it can make sense to have a 10- or even 11-speed system:

• You may find a bicycle particularly attractive, but it is available only with a 10-speed system. That is the case with most high-end bicycles as of 2016. (Fortunately, 8- and 9-speed cassettes fit most of the same cassette bodies, allowing replacement when the 10-speed sprockets and chain wear out.)
• You may be on a racing team which needs to have all the bicycles equipped the same, for easy parts interchangeability and to match pedaling cadences.
• If you're a pro racer, your team will buy the bicycles and keep them in repair.

Cassettes listed below will fit most Shimano and Shimano-compatible Freehub bodies, with the following exceptions:

• Shimano FH-7800 and FH-7801 aluminum 10-speed bodies with tall splines work only with 10-speed sprockets. The Shimano cassettes listed here will fit, but don't try to use a cassette with fewer sprockets. Some other brands of 10 speed cassettes, in particular, SRAM, don't work with the taller splines.

• A shorter 7-speed body would require you to modify the largest sprocket or install only 8 sprockets from a 9-speed cassette or 9 sprockets from a 10-speed cassette. A simpler alternative is to replace the 7-speed cassette body with an 8/9/10-speed body.
• 11-tooth sprockets require a "Hyperglide C" freehub body and lockring.
• TheShimano Capreo body has four special sprockets, with 9, 10, 11 and 13 teeth. The other, larger sprockets are standard.

Colored backgrounds in the cells of the tables below identify assemblies of two or more sprockets on a spider to save weight. The lighter cassettes are more expensive, sometimes much more, so you really have to decide for yourself how important it is to save a few ounces. Sprockets on a spider cannot be separated from one another, so you will have to replace all of them even if you only wear out one of them! They can be replaced by flat steel sprockets with spacers sandwiched between them, and vice versa. Assemblies of the same sprocket sizes shown in the same background color are compatible with one another, though they may differ in materials and finish.

Some Shimano flat steel sprockets and spacers are in bolted or riveted assemblies, indicated by tooth counts in italics in the table. The bolts or rivets serve only to keep sprockets and spacers in order when the cassette is not installed on the freehub. They can be removed to replace sprockets or build up custom combinations.

The ramps and shaped teeth of Shimano Hyperglide sprockets, and their imitations, are designed to improve shifting in the stock progressions, but it is possible to mix and match sprockets with some small penalty in smoothness of shifting. Miche sprockets are available individually in all sizes, useful in building up a custom progression.

The Shimano parts lists linked below will help you identify models and order replacement parts. SRAM, IRD, Miche, BBB and SunRace also offer 10-speed Shimano-compatible cassettes -- see additional sections that follow the Shimano section.

Harris Cyclery sells some but not all Shimano 10-speed cassettes. The table below, though, is a complete as it can be made as of April 2016, in order to indicate compatibility and interchangeability. The table, unlike others, shows both "road" and "mountain" cassettes.

Current parts lists as of 2016

These links are current on the Shimano site' as of April, 2016.

Older parts lists, current as of 2012

The parts lists below are now found in the Internet Archive.

IRD has many combinations that are different from Shimano's. Some combinations are rather nice, and others have some uneven steps.

ES series cassettes have the four largest sprockets on aluminum spiders, two sprockets each. The spiders are indicated by background colors in the table below. These 10 speed cassettes fit all Shimano Freehub bodies including aluminum ones with tall splines.

Tthe inner two-sprocket spider assemblies must be recessed on the back side so the innermost sprocket overhangs the flange of the Freehub body. I haven't checked them so I don't know for sure whether all are recessed. If so, all with the same tooth counts will work in either the innermost or middle positions

Rows with gray background indicate cassettes no longer listed as of 2016.

As of this writing, Harris Cyclery does not sell IRD cassettes, but they are included here for the sake of completeness -- John Allen.

IRD Web page describing cassettes

Unlike the other major cassette manufacturers, Miche specializes in custom combinations. Miche even offers a sprocket board, as in days of old. Miche's main page on cassettes. Sprockets for 8- 9-10-and 11-speed cassettes are the same (narrow enough to fit a 10- or 11-speed chain), but the spacers are different.

The smallest sprocket for a 10-speed system on a Shimano body has 11 teeth; all sizes up to 30 teeth, as well as 32 teeth are offered.

Miche 10-speed Supertype cassettes

These have (mostly) aluminum sprockets and should be used with a Shimano Dura-Ace cassette body. Supertype cassettes are also made for Campagnolo cassette bodies.

• Instructions for Supertype cassettes (English on page 2)
• Table of Supertype sprockets.
• Note that an 11-tooth outer sprocket may be used only in combination with a 12-tooth second sprocket. All other sizes up to 30 teeth are available.

Miche 10-speed Primato cassettes

These have steel sprockets and will fit any Shimano-compatible cassette body other than Dura-Ace with tall splines. Primato cassettes are also made for Campagnolo and Miche's own proprietary cassette bodies.

• Table of Primato sprockets.
• Note that an 11-tooth outer sprocket may be used only in combination with a 12-tooth second sprocket. All other sizes up to 29 teeth are available.

Harris Cyclery sells a few SRAM cassettes, where they fill in gaps in Shimano's offerings.

Note: Some SRAM cassettes do not work with Shimano aluminum Freehub bodies that have tall splines.

• XG-1099 ("XX") cassettes have 8 sprockets (all but the innermost and outermost) CNC machined from a single piece of steel.
• XCG-1090 series cassettes use "PowerDome" construction, with several sprockets machined from a single piece of steel. These are gaps in the oferings listed on the SRAM site and so there may be other cassettes in this series.
• OG-1090 series cassettes use "PowerDome" construction, with several sprockets machined from a single piece of steel; also reported to use some titanium sprockets and a carbon-fiber spider. These no longer appear in the 2016 catalog. At least some OpenGlide (OG) series cassettes skip teeth on some or all sprockets. The skip-tooth cassettes are reputed to shift more smoothly, but to be noisy, probably due to roughness of chain disengagement from sprockets under power when the chain is at an angle.
• XG-1080 "PinDome" cassettes have 8 sprockets (all but the innermost and outermost) riveted together near the outside, with numerous separate, short rivets between each two sprockets, for greater rigidity with lightened sprockets. Unlike with traditional Shimano three-rivet assemblies, it is not practical to remove the rivets to use the sprockets separately.
• OG-1070, PG-1070 and PG-1050 series cassettes use steel sprockets, and the three largest are on an aluminum spider. The finish differs among these lines of cassettes.
• SRAM uses some of the same series identifiers for both "road" and "MTB" cassettes. So, if you see a cassette in the list below but don't find it in SRAM's Road listing, look in the MTB listing.
• It is probable that all of the 3-sprocket spider assemblies which start with 21-tooth sprockets are interchangeable without compromising smoothness of shifting, as they all follow a 19T sprocket.
• Grayed-out rows in the table below indicate cassettes which were listed in the 2011 catalog but are no longer listed in the 2016 catalog.
• Asterisked listings are for odd sequences which may reflect mistakes in the catalog.

SRAM 2010 technical manual (see pages 36 ff.)
SRAM XX technical manual (see pages 70-71).
SRAM 2016 spare parts catalog
SRAM 2016 road cassettes
SRAM 2016 MTB cassettes

BBB has many combinations that are different from Shimano's. Some combinations are rather nice. No spiders are used - rather, separate cogs with aluminum spacers.

As of this writing, Harris Cyclery does not sell BBB BCS-10S cassettes, but they are included here for the sake of completeness.

BBB Web page describing BCS-10S cassettes

As of this writing, Harris Cyclery does not sell SunRace cassettes. They are included here for the sake of completeness.

The different model numbers with the same tooth counts differ in materials:

• CRSZ: One-piece aluminum CNC, ceramic coating
• CRSX: Steel sprockets, largest two sprockets on a spider, aluminum spacers
• CSRS: Steel sprockets, largest two sprockets on a spider, polymer spacers
• CSMS: Steel sprockets, two spiders with three sprockets each, steel spiders
• CSMX: Steel sprockets except the largest is aluminum; two spiders with three sprockets each, aluminum spiders and spacer.

SunRace does not give tooth counts in the 2016-2017 catalog but there are tooth counts in the earlier catalogs. SunRace listed a 12-32 10-speed cassette in the 2013-2014 catalog but did not give tooth counts for it.

For SunRace cassettes with flat sprockets that skip the same sprocket sizes, it is fair to assume that the sprockets are interchangeable while maintaining smooth shifting.

Grayed-out rows in the table below indicate cassettes not listed in the 2015 new-products listing or 2016-2017 catalog. SunRace appears at this time to be specializing in MTB cassettes, at least among the 10-speeds.

SunRace 2010-2011 catalog

SunRace 2013-2014 catalog

SunRace 2015 new Products

SunRace 2016-2017 catalog

Shimano wants you to use one of its standard combinations, and offers a wide-enough choice to suit the needs of most cyclists, but you don't have to if you don't want to!

It is not difficult to customize Shimano cassettes. If you substitute an un-approved cog, Uniglide or Hyperglide, SRAM, SunRace, IRD, BBB, Miche, or some other brand, it will still work, but the shift to/from that cog will probably not be as smooth as a Hyperglide shift normally is. Since people managed without Hyperglide for several decades, this shouldn't scare you off. In particular, if you substitute the top or bottom sprocket, you will only have one shift that isn't HG; shifts to or from the extreme sprockets tend to be less troublesome than intermediate shifts anyway.

Shimano cassettes that don't use spiders have most of the sprockets held together by 3 small bolts or rivets. These are not essential. Their function is convenience, in allowing the cassette to be installed slightly more easily. To make a custom cassette, you will often need to remove the screws or rivets. Just discard them, they are unnecessary in practice.

• Some cassettes use screws with a 4 mm hex head. These can be removed with an adjustable wrench.
• Some cassettes use screws with a 2 mm Allen head. These are frequently mistaken for rivets.
• The easiest way to remove rivets is to grind off the heads where they protrude from the largest sprocket. I generally do this on a bench grinder.

When you build your own cassette, generally, the smallest sprocket needs to be one with a built-in spacer, designed for the top-gear position. While you can't insert or remove a sprocket within a spider module, you can add sprockets on either side of these modules.

Sprockets are available individually, too, from Miche.