Hey folks, quite a few of you asked me how to solve the so-called issues with this
e*thirteen 9-46t 11 speed cassette so here's a short description of
what I found and my attempt to finding a solution.
On this bike I have a 32 tooth
oval from OneUp, direct mount, used with a KMC chain, the last KMC chain that I have
the E.13 11 speed cassette and an XT medium cage derailleur
and a Shimano XTR 11 speed shifter.
The first issue that I'm noticing is, this chain will
tend to drop from the 46 tooth when backpedaling.
second thing that I noticed
is that the chain seems to be touching the cogs here when you get to the bottom
two or three, and overall when the chain is on the steel cogs at the bottom of
the cassette is just a bit noisier.
So the smallest cog
Now if you backpedal on the 9t cog
Look at that
(The chain) catches that 10 tooth cog.
Otherwise shifting is perfectly fine, very similar to shifting on a Shimano cassette.
Now the chain falling off of the big cog is not unique to
that cassette, same bike same chain, this is an XT 11-42t
and a quarter turn backpedal
you'll see how the chain falls off.
So today I am going to try a couple of things.
First of all the PC- X1 chain that I've used successfully in the past.
But more importantly I will try an Eagle GX
chain, 12 speed on my drivetrain, and see if that changes anything.
So first the 11 speed chain on this 11 speed cassette, the PC- X1.
It doesn't seem to solve that issue of the teeth of the 10t cog actually catching on the chain
Shifting to that 46 tooth...as smooth as before.
Let's see the backpedaling
It seems like the backpedaling issue is resolved with this chain (PC-X1).
Let's try the Eagle GX 12 speed.
11 and 12 speed chains side by side, you can see
the PC-X1 and the GX Eagle, definitely the finish is the same.
The thickness of the 11 speed
This thickness here is 5.6 mm, on the Eagle is 5.25 mm
Also they redesigned the plates of the chain to make it work better and reduce
friction with the chainline specific to 1x drivetrains
I didn't show you guys how to install a chain
but use the link on this screen right now.
So 12 speed chain on an 11 speed drivetrain, let me show you the shifting.
It still catches a little bit on the 10, the cogs of the 10 tooth
but it's not as bad.
And realistically why would you backpedal that much on the 9t cog?
Let's try the 46t.
I guess no surprises there, back pedaling on the 46t
doesn't seem to pose any issue with the drivetrain.
Under normal riding conditions you will never backpedal this much on either one of the cogs
regardless of what you're doing.
And since we're talking about issues
with these e*thirteen cassettes I've gotta mention this
Is not something I experienced but some people
get creaking / cracking noises coming out of the cassette.
It's a simple fix and by the way this is where you use
the two chain whips on these cassettes.
You put one on the aluminum side of the cassette,
the second chain whip, you put it on the steel side.
Ad that's how you actually undo it.
Here we go.
Just lift up the steel piece and these are the three tabs holding the
two parts together. Just clean and re-grease these ones as you
saw it on my full installation video.
And you should be good to go.
So if I try a conclusion at the end of this test yes, I still like the cassette.
I truly believe that the only issue that might be baked into the design
is the chain touching the teeth of the second cog here.
That might be because they are really pushing
the design of the XD driver to the extreme.
Now neither one of these
so-called issues should stop you from using this successfully on the trail
And realistically once you're using these SRAM chains most of that issue
is eliminated anyway.
When it comes to preferences, I will probably prefer to
use the 12 speed Eagle chain on this 11 speed drivetrain.
That seemed to give meslightly better shifting performance
but the good old PC-X1 11 speed should work just fine as well.
What about you guys ? Have you had any different experience
with the e*thirteen cassettes?
This is again a 9-46t TRS+, they also have
the TRS Race which is slightly lighter.
And that is pretty much the end of my video guys.
If you have any questions, as usual, don't hesitate to ask.
In the description of the video
I have more links and information
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And until next time, I will see you folks on the trails.
Cheers!