cassette change

[Shawn]

On a scale of 1 - 10 how easy is it to remove clean and replace a cassette.  Please bear in mind i am mechanically inept 
thanks

[Terry A]

Hi Shawn, not sure if you want 1 or 10 = most easy .... but either way it's simple. Need the right tools of course & will help you if you want.

Cheers, Terry

[xrayspecs]

1-2; i.e. I can do it. Just need a few tools; worth changing the chain as well.
http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/cassette-and-freewheel-removal-and-installation#article-section-2

[ron b]

There's always someone on You Tube that will show how easy it is to do the change, how much would someone charge and reduce the risk? Why is it necessary to remove the cassette just to clean it? I have some tools you could borrow, is it Tesco or Asda?

[Rob Jones]

Agree, very easy and apart from being mucky one of the nicer jobs. Also one of the few jobs I'm yet to screw up. The job I fear most of all is putting a new tyre on a wheel. Usually end up with no skin on my thumbs, blood on my clothes, and a very sore back...oh and last time pinch punctured 2 new inner tubes as I took to tyre levers to get the job finished and save skin. Fortunately changing a tyre at side of the road has always been OK. Presumably tyre has by then stretched a bit.

[xrayspecs]

Yes Rob me too; I watched a team sky mechanic online who said you can do it without tyre levers....
Worst is my old orange turbo tyre which I ruined several inner tubes on then had to cut it off with a stanley knife. My disc wheel is also a challenge so I put the tyre on an old wheel with tools; it made it slightly easier to get on the good wheel.

[RichardB]

Even I can do this Shawn. Just need a whip chain and the special socket/spanner to remove the locking nut. And a quick look on YouTube and you are done.

[Shawn]

I am emboldened by all this.....will give it a whirl and let you know how I get on. Thanks all

[Tom]

Seems as if I'm the only person in the Club who hasn't done this. Was feeling very self-satisfied at having changed my own cleats!

[ron b]

Tom do you really need a cassette? Shawn watch the spacers as you take the cassette off.

[Tom]

Good point Ron-probably not!

[Nick Langley]

It's pretty simple with a chain whip, sprocket tool, spanner and some decent cleaning products. A really satisfying job to get all that grime out. Top tip: Lay all the individual sprockets and spacers in order when removing, will make it a lot simpler to put back together. Good luck

[Chris C]

Its quite straight forward to be honest, I usually press the stop button, then eject, you can quite easily remove the cassette from the deck, cleaning is usually done with some sort of proprietary solution and a cotton bud, replacement is quite simply a reversal of the previous instruction. You can now get most music on digital form, be it CD (COMPACT DISC) or even USB (UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS) but purists would normally never detract from the analogue media type. Hope this helps.

[Rob Jones]

An eject all (ie entire cassette) button would be good. Seems daft having to put each ring on one by one when your simply changing one cassette for another. I don't even know why the things separate anyhow. I've certainly never needed to replace individual rings. I bet if you did it wouldn't shift as well. And Chris you neglected to mention the streaming of music, the advancement that finally made me realise my entire CD collection is entirely pointless and worthless!!

[Shawn]

Thanks for all the advice. Two casettes successfully swapped.
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