First Impressions: 120g Recon “Race Day” 11-Speed Aluminum Road Cassette

I’m told you can save about 60 grams by removing your toes, if your into that kind of thing.

For some reason I’m reminded of a Top Gear episode – http://www.topgear.com/uk/videos/track-cars-part-1-series-18-episode-7-

“If I sawed my leg off I’d weigh much less than I do now but I wouldn’t actually function any more, I’d keep falling over.”

I love to see how it wears but personally, I think I’d prefer the reliability of the factory cassette if the only advantage to the Recon is the loss of 60 grams. Just not for me.

@Mark: not only does it not shift as well, but it very well may break during the race.

@pmurf…if your bike is less than 15lbs (under the UCI limit) the race probably isn’t important enough to warrant these measures. Reliability and performance is probably worth 50 grams.

I’ve increased the durability of mine by using an aluminum chain.

so it breaks if you shift too hard. ya, thats something I want? Huh? Ill piss before the race to lose 50grams

@jimmy – you nailed it.

Not sure about the reliability of this cassette, and I generally like shimano stuff, but there’s no guarantee that shimano stuff will always be more reliable. There are lots of posts online right now about the carbon fiber support spiders of 9000 series DA cassettes shattering after some miles. Enough that some pro teams are going with ultegra 6800 series cassettes instead.

When you consider that pro teams routinely add weight to their bikes in order to make the UCI minimum, the whole idea of an extra light “race day” cassette seems utterly pointless. Truth in labeling would call this a “bragging rights on the weight weenie forum” cassette because no sane race mechanic would use this as long as the 6.8Kg rule is in effect. Even then who wants to risk a missed shift or a dropped chain?

This kind of reminds me of the ultralight bottle cages that don’t hold bottles if you hit a bump. If it doesn’t serve its purpose effectively, then what’s the point? Who would buy a cassette that you have to always remember to shift “gently” lest it break? However, from a weight weenie design exercise, I can appreciate the thought and effort.

if you want it buy it.

@CXisFun – sorry to hear about your broken DA 9000 cassettes. Not that I’ve tried it (yet – but it’s on order), I’ve heard that the SRAM 1190 cassettes with a KMC X11SL chain solve the problem of smashed cassettes on dura ace 9000 systems. Might be worth looking into. As for light carbon spidered cassettes, I’m not a fan. That’s the one place where I want it strong for reliability and power transfer. Especially as I weigh 108kg. I’d snap that in no time.

I’ve got several hundred kms of winter fatbike riding on a recon 10speed aluminium cassette, 11-36 range without tooth loss or for that matter, any perceptible wear in the Ti-Nitride gold surface treatment.

i tried one of these a few seasons ago (on my XC bike) and it failed horribly; at least 6 or 7 teeth ripped off on the highest three cogs within a month, never shifted well and was basically just a massive waste of my hard earned cash. absolutely nasty product for a general user, but admitedly it might be fine for a “race day” product, if you can afford that kind of extravagance.

@saywhat? – I’m not alone. Search the bike forums, I’ve come across quite a few people with the same issue. I talked to Shimano about it and they are well aware. NQA warranty when I told them the reason I was calling. New cassettes each time along with some bar tape and a few other goodies to smooth things over.

Now my bikes have SRAM 11sp cassettes (who would have ever thought SRAM would be the durable choice?) and everything is peachy.

I thought that anyone on a reasonably high-end CF bike needed a power meter just to get back up to the UCI minimums now? At least you can’t say the manufacturer didn’t warn you if this thing goes kaput.

I rode a 9-speed Recon alloy cassette on my XC bike 3 years ago. The weight saving could definitively be felt, but the lousy shifts and poor durability were far worse than having the weight of a regular cassette. It’s the first time I actually wore out a cassette before the chain…

The weight weenie crowd does ride bikes. Join our group on strava and see if you can hang. I doubt it.

until you ride an 11 pound bike with a 1000g wheelset (including tires and cassette) you have no idea what you are missing.

it’s like explaining sex to an alien, if you have to explain it, you just wont understand.

Is it April 1st already? Aluminum cassette?!? Really?

I once removed all of my non-drive spokes…….

I once drilled flutes in my seatpost, stem, and handlebar…………

I once replaced my down-tube with a cable [oh wait]……….

I only race with only a rear brake…………….

I’ve got 2000+km out of my Recon 10sp 12-27 cassette, no broken teeth, excellent shifting – my LBS is great at setting things up – I race on it, ride everyday on it in summer. I’ll be buying another one soon. I would not recommend this for CX though, the dirt and crap would wear it down too much. Sure it’s not Dura-Ace and it’s not meant to be. I use mine with a gold KMC X10SL chain, tuned Campag Record RD, Aican Bungarus cables, so weight weenie stuff. You can have light stuff with reliability

My son recently won a TT by 1.6 sec. So shaving 50g here or there on a bike used on a hilly TT – adds up and does make a difference. While it may be easy to get a road bike under UCI weight, not so much for a TT bike.

I just ordered one of these. Actually bought a 13-25 11speed. The 13T will be ground off so this is really a 14-25 10 speed with better chain angle for junior “race day” wheels. It seems like a great setup. It will be paired with Di2 shifting, so if a tooth breaks – its the electronics.

My son has used the 9-spd 12-25 Token solid cassette for 5 years in TTs and it works great. We ground off the 12-13.