What cassette do I need?

If it’s XD there aren’t many different cassettes that fit it.

Sram mtb you’ve got either the 10-42 11 speed or 10-50/10-52 sram eagle 12 speed ones.

Sunrace do a 10-46 in xd fitment for 11 speed too.

I generally find the sram cassettes ace - apart from the biggest ring on eagle I think they’re all steel - and the 11 speed 10-42 cassettes last almost forever as they’re also all steel.

I’d suggest using copper anti seize grease on the splines and thread when you fit the cassette.

Edit - there might be some Gabaruk ones too thinking about it

I think you misunderstood. I presumed it was XD, and have the cassette, but the hub is not compatible.The splines on the XD have one small spline (or is it one larger) amongst the other same sized ones, the hub has the splines all the same width, so the XD wont fit.

Do you have pics of the things you have in front of you, rather than pics of what they are supposed to be?

Do you have pics of the things you have in front of you, rather than pics of what they are supposed to be?

Exactly as the linked pics, the cassette has the same spline pattern, but the hub has only got same spaced and sized splines.
From some searching, the freerhub , for XD, should be like the one linked here:

XD free hub

The one I have got from Superstar does not have the single smaller spline, they are all the same size and spacing, so I’m at a loss as to what cassette fits this hub.

If it’s not XD it must be either HG or Microspline. The latter is what it says on the tin - lots of very thin splines. I think HG might be what you have - a number of chunkier splines with one smaller one.

Can’t you take a picture?

I reckon that top cassette is probably HG. In which case if you want a big range mtb cassette in 12 speed you need sram NX or Sunrace 11-50.

.....

I think this came up before and I don’t think the clocking spline actually matters on xd hubs. I think the SRAM cassettes have even slots all round. The one you’ve linked above doesn’t look like a SRAM model.

I can’t recall if the freehub is supposed to have the timing spline but some people reverse engineered theirs from the cassettes.

There was a thread on this a while back, I think the gist was that original XD design/spec had the little spline, design changed a little over time, newer ones don't have it but Superstar's freehub needs it

From looking ( a lot) online, it might be a XDR hub. Which is a real pain as the cassettes are a ridiculous price.

XDR should just be ‘XD with a slightly longer splined section’, so I think an XD cassette should fit on an XDR freehub with a spacer but not the other way round. Basically the same modification they made to the HG freehub for 11s road cassettes.

Sram website- “ XDR driver bodies are compatible with all XD cassettes when the cassette is installed with a 1.85mm spacer behind it.”

It’ll be an XD hub - XDR is road groupsets.
Looks like your casette is microspline (Shimano) to me.
Toy can either change to a microspline freehub - presuming Superstar sell them, or find an XD casssette. I’m pretty sure Sram only do 12 speed in them, but there are aftermarket ones in 11 spd if that is what your chain/shifter is

(every XD(R) freehub I’ve seen has it written on it, what it is btw)
Actually look ing at the pic, is the cassette not one of the 12spd HG cassette, eg like this?

I accidentally bought the wrong freehub with my superstar wheels, I emailed them and they very kindly exchanged it. Took a while as the post is currently shite but all went without a hitch. They were very helpful.

@alanl -just for my own clarity, are you saying that in general the cassette you have looks like an xd cassette, and the Superstar hub you have looks like an XD hub, but the hub doesn't have the narrower spline/wider gap which the cassette does have?

Pics of your actual parts would help a lot.

The picture in the op is an hg cassette is it not?

just for my own clarity, are you saying that in general the cassette you have looks like an xd cassette, and the Superstar hub you have looks like an XD hub, but the hub doesn’t have the narrower spline/wider gap which the cassette does have?

Yes, the cassette is marked as XD, and is exactly the same as the pic linked in the OP. And yes, the hub looks exactly like the OP hub pic, it does not have the narrow spline, all splines are the same distance apart.
A link to the cassette here:
Air-Bike Cassette

OP The cassette your picture links to is Shimano HG. You may have tried to order an XD cassette from Airbike, but if the back of the cassette you’ve received looks like the pic you’ve linked to, it’s actually HG, not XD. That’s why it won’t fit.

You’ll need to return it and have it swapped. Or just save time and buy a SRAM GX.

OP The cassette your picture links to is Shimano HG

It's an XD - the pic isn't clear as the internals are in shadow but the splines are shallow as per XD then there is the threaded mount inside

It’s not. XD cassettes have the same lug spacing all the way around the spider where it mates to the freehub. HG cassettes have different lugs so that loose sprockets in the smaller sizes can’t be fitted backwards. The cassette above has differential spacing on the spider at the 2 o’clock position. The internals don’t matter if the large lug prevents the big sprocket spider from seating as that will stop the threads from even reaching a point where they engage.

The XD spec does have a keyed smaller lug - you can see it in SRAM's tech drawings here:

XD Driver Spec

Superstar are also an SRAM licensee - are you sure there isn't a smaller tab somewhere on the freehub body ?

So, are there actually two iterations of the XD standard involving the narrow and not narrow spline?

@alanl - I think this is one for superstar.

This is the OP's image lightened:-

[img] [/img]

There are many many XD hubs with the narrow spline.

@cp - every single driver body you just posted has the narrow spline visible; good job !

Yes, thanks all, it’s a mystery. I’ll email Superstar today to see what they say.
Thanks.

Gotta love standards! I'm selling an XD freehub item at the mo, someone asked if it was 11 speed compatible... buggered if I could find that exact info anywhere. All I know is a 12spd Eagle came off, so that's what its compatible with!

The cassette pictured is Airbike XD 50t, adjust brightness and you see the threads inside, I've seen other aftermarket cassettes with that small spline and I've seen pics of hope pro4 freehubs with that small spline and other brands freehubs too, I don't use SRAM so I'm not that familiar, when did the small spline disappear from XD freehubs, do some manufacturers still keep the small spline for older cassettes while remaining compatible with newer cassettes without the small spline, maybe filing away the small spline on the cassette could be a last resort if the mystery isn't solved.

EDIT. This forum has some glitches, a few replies above me weren't there a few minutes ago despite saying they were written 40 mins ago, weird.

There was a thread on this a whole back where superstar commented. Something like the original sram standard didn’t have the small spline as it wasn’t needed for clocking all the cogs as sram was all in one piece. But then aftermarket manufacturers used an old blank or something - so their xd cassettes did have the small spline but should still fit. Sram subsequently changed the standard to have the small spline.

I can’t remember if the outcome was the small spline standard is still compatible with earlier non small spline xd or not.

This would all be much easier if the op would actually just post of the actual freehub on his wheel.

Edit - this is the thread where it’s explained

https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/xd-hub-help/

None of my cassettes have that.

If all the freehubs have the notch/small spline and only some cassettes have the small spline, does the OP simply need to rotate the cassette until it seats?

For cassettes with equal spacing it doesn’t matter, but this one is keyed.

Again. A SRAM cassette would fit fine. There are no big/small spacing on SRAM cassettes.

Just checked what I have as I too recently bought the SS wheels in the sale:

* Superstar V6 hub with XD freehub: all even-sized lugs.
* Hope Pro4 hub with XD freehub: has one smaller lug.
* SRAM XG-1150 11-sp 10-42 GX cassette: all even-sized splines (gaps)

So I'll be able to fit my SRAM cassettes to the Superstar freehub with it's even-sized lugs, but not other XD cassettes which require the single narrower lug.

I think the Superstar V6 XD freehub might be XDR: mine came with a spacer behind it which tallies up with @swanny853's earlier post:

Sram website- “ XDR driver bodies are compatible with all XD cassettes when the cassette is installed with a 1.85mm spacer behind it.”

EDIT - Superstar's XD freehub on their V3 and V6 is DEFINITELY XDR: https://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/v6-freehub.htm and https://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/v3-freehub.htm. Not a full photo of it showing all the lugs, but I can confirm the SS V6 XDR I have spare in the garage DOESN'T have a smaller lug. If it's a V3 or V6 the OP has, that aftermarket cassette which needs the small lug is never going to fit...

Nearest I can find to a complete article on the standards.
https://off.road.cc/content/feature/which-freehub-body-do-i-need-sram-shimano-9-10-11-12-speed-hg-xd-micro-spline#Other%20odd%20standards%20you%20may%20come%20across

Even though the info on [url= https://www.sram.com/en/service/articles/sram-xd-and-xdr-driver-body-explained ]SRAM's website[/url] regarding XD/XDR is quite old (video is 4 years old) there is no mention of different spline sizes.

If those SS freehubs don't have the narrow spline they must be 5-6 years old?

Well I’m still no closer to finding a cassette that will fit staright on, I had a good look at it yesterday, and will be filing down the cassette to make it fit, and, lo and behold, from a reply from Superstar today:
"Hi there,
The cassette you are using, is using a non standard spline design. This is
to get round patenting issues with Sram and copyright.
I know of customers that have filed the freehub/cassette to fit, with no
issues.”

So that would be the non-standard cassette that SRAM and all the others are selling?
Or their freehub which has the smaller spline?
Sram even publish on their website that they allow others to make copies of their design if they follow certain rules.
Superstar are talking shiiiite. It is really old stock, as stated above, or, they have not researched/made it correctly. All current XD hubs have the smaller spline.

None of my SRAM XD cassettes have the narrow gap, soon don’t think it’s down to old stock from Superstar.

Could it be that your cassette is the older style?

Per my post above Superstar went with the correct original standard from sram. Bit so many other companies have made them with a small spline as they could reuse old black for forging (or something along those lines) that the standard has now been changed.

Your freehub must have been made before the standard change - but all genuine sram cassettes should fit. The one you’ve got is a bit of a cheap aftermarket thing.

Edit - thinking about it I picked up a cheap superstar v6 hub with an xd freehub late last year. Fitted a GX eagle cassette to it and all went smoothly.