By now, you’ve likely ogled the XX’s X-Dome cassette plenty, but there’s a refresher here and here if you need a fix.
Above is the new X0 (PG1080) cassette, nicknamed ‘Pin-Dome’. Why? For starters, each cog thinned out just like XX, but it’s not machined out of one piece like XX. Instead, each cog a separate stamped steel piece that’s then pinned together and joined to an aluminum 36T large cog. This is better illustrated in the pics after the break.
The X7 and X9 cassettes als0 have stamped steel cogs (including the large one), but they reside on a more traditional forged alloy spider. Even at those lower levels, though, the cogs are pretty heavily cut out, and all of them have SRAM’s X-Glide tooth profiles and ramps.
Make the jump, er, Leap as SRAM would put it, for more info…
SRAM says the pins are extremely strong and won’t loosen under riding regardless how strong you are. The cogs ride on an aluminum center body, with the 4th through 10th cog attached, and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd loose as shown in the top pic. This is actually the first time they’ve shown the new X0 1080 cassette. The pics and specs shown in the original X0 post we did (with info sent from SRAM) showed the XX cassette and premature info.
Besides the pins being a strong connection, once the lockring is tightened, it slightly compresses the cassette and ensures everything stays in place. That compression actually flares each cog ever so slightly, and SRAM compensated for that in the design such that when it’s installed, the cogs are properly spaced and positioned to work correctly. At launch, the X0 cassette will only be available in an 11-36T option.
The X9 cassette, above, uses all stamped steel cogs mated to an aluminum carrier and gets an aluminum lockring.
The cogs on the X9 (above) and X7 (below) aren’t quite as cut out as the X0.
The X7 cassette gets a steel lockring. It’s available in 12-36T and 11-32T options.
