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I swapped a 10spd cassette between two wheels yesterday, both having standard 8/9/10spd Shimano freehubs. Very quick job, lock-ring tightened up nicely, shifting working fine after a quick tweak of the barrel adjuster.
After the bike was put back in the rack, I realised that the spacer ring that sits at the back of the cassette was still on the old wheel, I'd forgotten to swap it across. So, is it essential? Has my life been irrevocably shortened by it's omission?
assuming we're talking MTB here the spacer is specific to the wheel - there's no spacer for a 10 speed cassette, only if the freehub needs it.
So the answer is we can't tell you, but probably you dont need it.
Sounds like you put a 10sp cassette onto a 10sp freehub. Therefore, spacer not needed.
We're talking a 10spd 105 cassette onto this wheel with a Deore hub:
https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-parts/bike-wheels/29-shimano-deore-disc-8-9-speed-rear-wheel
strange, the spacer is used for fitting 9/10 speed cassettes onto 11 speed hubs.
maybe you fitted it when you didn't need it on the other hub. if so you were probably lucky that the lock ring would engage
OK, so that's a 8/9 speed wheel, not a 10 speed.
What wheel did you take the cassette off? If it had a spacer then I would assume it was an 11 speed?
The cassette came off a similar old 8/9spd Deore hub. The spacer came with the cassette, so I used it when fitting it to the old wheel.
Some Shimano 10 speed road cassettes have a loose 1mm spacer that goes on the freehub first to make the cassette the same width as a 8/9 cassette or MTB 10/11.
You might get away with it on some hubs, I would refit as the cassette may not be clamped properly by the lockring.
doh, didn't read the Halfords bit properly. as above spacer to allow 10 speed cassette on 9 speed hub