12 speed cassettes

Much of a muchness, we have both. Is the Sunrace 51t? Slightly wider range slightly lighter. SRAM slightly better shifting, one piece so less likely to rattle. What's more important to you?

The SRAM is likely to be steel and will last a decent amount of time. I think Sunrace is alloy and won't last as long. Pretty sure that is right.

Going off the specs the SRAM is lighter (615g Vs 648g).

Not a huge difference but I'm liking the sound of smoother shifting (even if it is only a small difference).

Is your freehub body steel or alluminium?

Srams NX cassette only has the largest 4 on a spider. The rest individually slide onto the freehub body so really needs a steel freehub body.

I used the sunrace for a few months and was faultless. Just a bit heavy.

I found a nearly new SRAM PG1230 in my shed yesterday, I’ll never use it, you’re welcome to it for £10 plus collection or postage! I’m guessing it did about 10 rides as it came with my old scandal, I then destroyed the rear wheel and all my other wheels are HG… 🙂

I've only used 12 speed SRAM cassettes, can't really feel any difference between NX and GX. GX is a bit prettier though. Both really good shifting as long as they're set up properly, the space between the rear mech and cassette is critical to shifting quality.

I'd only stick with SRAM and Shimano as a lot of the shifting quality is in the cassette so would rather stick with what I know (lots of experience of Shimano and SRAM in 9, 10 and 11 speed).

Slight hijack of thread...

One of my bikes has 11 speed Shimano with a Sunrace HG cassette (46T ?).
What's the biggest cassette I could put on there without changing other stuff?
Rear mech is an 11-speed Shimano job.

My current Sunrace cassette weighs a lot. It tends to carry a lot of momentum and makes the top of the chain go slack when I stop pedalling in higher gears btw.

Ta

Shimano cs m5100 11-51

I have these on both my bikes.

Grab one now for £48:

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shimano-m5100-deore-11-speed-cassette/rp-prod198899

Works fine with slx m7000 11s mech or the newer 11/12 speed mechs

Shimano cs m5100 11-51

Not enough cogs!

Not enough cogs

Question was about 11 speed.
Anyway the issue of top run of chain going slack is a sign of freehub bearing issues not too much momentum in the cassette.
The deore 11-51 cassette weighs a ton. Certainly more than the 11-46 sunrace I’m sure.

Thanks docrobster. I was unsure on how big a cassette I could go. I'll have a good look at the weights too though as the chain slack "problem" is definitely related to momentum... Does it on both sets of wheels I use on this bike, doesn't do it when back pedaling and is definitely speed related.
(Btw, pro 2 Evos that are well maintained and spin freely... Well, freely for pro 2 evos!!)

@steamtb
If the OP doesn't take you up on that, I'd be interested... Only your post suggests that your cassette isn't HG, but pretty sure the SRAM PG1230 is...?

My Pro 2 Evo did the same, the bearings collapsed shortly after. It wouldn't freewheel with load on the bike (was fine in the stand).

Chuck some bearings at it & you'll save an imminent walk home.

Yes, I obviously confused it with another I had at some point as it is HG. Now replied to cp, if he doesn’t want it then I will let you know @thenorthwind, I really need to start moving on all the stuff I’ve accumulated and don’t intend to use 🙂

@steamtb cheers, yeah obviously give cp first refusal, but let me know if he doesn't want it.

My Pro 2 Evo did the same, the bearings collapsed shortly after. It wouldn’t freewheel with load on the bike (was fine in the stand).

Chuck some bearings at it & you’ll save an imminent walk home.

Honestly, the bearings are fine in both wheels. I've changed then enough times over the years to know them. It's a heavy cassette spinning at 250rpm that doesn't want to stop. It's always going to push a bit of slack into the chain.
Never had it on any of my other bikes... All with much lighter cassettes btw 🙂

If changing the cassette, I'll go lighter 👍