Budget cassettes. Are they any good?

Looks on with interest.

I've just bought a 10-speed Deore 11-42 for a gravel bike and shifting is very good, as you'd expect.

Weighs 500g, but I guess the other "budget" options in the £50ish bracket are equally heavy?

Also got Sunrace 11sp cassettes on my MTBs and they shift well and have been very durable. Will be replacing with same.

Anyone use the Airbike ones?

I've got an 11-40 Airbike one on my Cascade and it works fine. Shifting is good, Ultegra rear mech on an Airbike extender link thingy and 105 shifter. Thinking of changing it to an 11-46 and will just get another one from Airbike.

Road bike so a bit unrelated but I use the decathlon Shimano ones for my turbo trainer and it's great.

I have a 9 speed airbike one. No problems at all. Will buy again.

I've got and have had several SunRace ones and only ever had an issue with one of them, but that was more down to the wheelset and it's shonky freehub - needed some really skinny shims to stop the cassette wobbling.

If SunRace are still classed as budget then I have no issues with them on both SRAM and Shimano drivetrains.

I'm intrigued by the cheaper XD options as I may well be passing a wheelset down to No.1 son and his bike currently has 11-42 SRAM NX cassette on it, but the wheels I have are XD so would require an XD 10-42 and as we all know SRAM are mega bucks at the moment.

I used to use the 10 speed ZTTO cassettes and they were great, I then picked up a Sunrace 10 speed and it was awful, it turned 2 or 3 mm on the hub, it was noisy and I could never get it to shift properly in all 10 gears. I ended up binning it after 100 odd miles and going back to ZTTO.

I say used to, only stopped as bikes were changed and are now on 11 and 12 speed.

Airbike 10 speed 11-42 has been great

Also a big fan of sunrace ones (never seen hoolis problem a d I've had several) , especially as they have smoother spread cf shimano

I find the shifting still a bit rubbish, there's a bit of a pause and a clunk as it goes. And multiple shifts (i.e. the hyper glide bit) are just a mess.

Of the two bikes I've refreshed this year:
Comparing Dura Ace 10s, to its tiagra 10s replacement, can't tell the difference.
Comparing 105 11s to cheap 11s (it's on the cross bike so it's getting trashed so I went cheap) is a massive gulf.

If there's a shimano one available, go with that, if not then there isn't really an option.

I've had sunrace and ztto. The shifting is ok, but just not quite as quick/crisp as shimano or sram. Given the choice I would take a nx or deore over a lighter ztto/sunrace at the same price.

Used quite a few SunRace 11 speed cassettes. 11-46 and 11-50 and found they all shift as well and seem as if not more durable as Shimano cassettes.
I have however smashed the spider on one of them being a dick on my eeber.
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There's no way I'd be able to do the same without the assistance of the magic turbo button.

Good heads up single speed as it's going on an e conversion that I'm doing.

Might take a punt on an Airbike one for my Rival equipped PX Tempest.

Good heads up single speed as it’s going on an e conversion that I’m doing.

I'd not really worry about doing that to one.
I really did try to do something very stupid to break it.

￡29.71 47％ Off | WUZEI SL CNC Road Bike 12/11S Ultralight Freewheel 11-28/32/34/36T Bicycle Cassette Flywheel 12 Speed K7 Gravel 11V Sprocket
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EutS49P

I’m running a 12 speed one of these on my summer road bike. 1000 miles in all good. Ok not quite as crisp shifting as shimano but it’s not far off 👌🏻

9/10 speed in other listings

My recent experience with a SunRace 11s 10-46 XD-fitment is that it was really good when new. Unfortunately it didn't last too long, as when swapping it to a new bike I didn't set the limit screw properly and the chain went behind the largest gear, causing it to bend inward. So it seems they're a much less stiff construction than the high quality items. Also it was really heavy!

I've been using Wuzei MS 12spd cassettes on several bikes and whilst heavy, and clunking when changing gears, they're cheap over here in China and do the job. I had one come loose but a small screwdriver and some threadlock sorted the screws on the back keeping the main parts together.

They're cheaper because they don't have all those patented ramps. Ramps I don't personally need.

I’ve used ZTTO some other brand I can’t remember the name of, not particularly cheap but very light.
Shifting was good, I had Ultegra Di2, very occasionally under load it would clunk, but generally they were both fine.
I now have 13 speed EKAR and finding a cheap cassette isn’t easy….£300 for a cassette rankles a tad! And I’m still not really enamoured YVY the shifting with EKAR. It’s alright is about as generous as I can get.

I have 2 air bike ones. Can’t comment on longevity but shifting is just fine

Microshift advent x 48t cassette has been great. Circa £40 on crc.

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/microshift-advent-x-h104-10-speed-mtb-cassette/rp-prod204939

@teenrat ,saw that wasn't sure how easy it would be to get in the 48 as I'm using a goat link.
What mech do you have?

I have the advent x 10sp mech. £30 odd from crc. Ive been very impressed by the advent x kit