How To: Changing a cassette on a road bike? This is how it’s done!

Modern chains are almost always equipped with a master link. To open it cleanly, it is best to use master link pliers. Chains without a master link can be opened with a chain tool. However, if the cassette is worn, the chain is usually worn as well. Since you will be disposing of them after disassembly anyway, you can simply cut them with bolt cutters. Be careful: the chain is under tension, so you should fix it in place. If your rear derailleur has a vibration damper (e.g. Shimano GRX), you should open it to reduce the tension of the cage.

Tip: It is best to take apart the chain along the lower strand! An old spoke bent at both ends is very helpful for holding the chain’s tension until you can use both hands again.

To remove the rear wheel, first shift to the smallest sprocket. On road bikes with rim brakes, open the small quick release on the brake body so that the inflated tyre fits through the brake shoes. For Campagnolo, the quick release is referred to as the axle, and is located on the brake lever. After that, loosen the quick release or the thru-axle and remove the wheel. To access the cassette with the tool in the following step, you should remove the quick release from the hub.

Tip: You can clean and lightly grease the axle or quick release at the same time. Place them within reach of the wheel – this will make assembly quicker later.

Disassemble the old cassette by loosening the lockring that sits in front of the smallest sprocket. To do this you need a chain whip (or a pair of cassette pliers) and a cassette remover. This is the name of the multi-tooth socket that you insert into the lockring from the front. Since the lockring loosens in the same direction as the freehub rotates, you need the chain whip to hold the cassette in place. The photo illustrates how you use the tools to loosen the cassette. Place the chain whip on one of the larger sprockets. The cassette remover is on the ratchet in our photos, but you can also use a ring wrench or an adjustable wrench to grip the remover. Other removers come with their own handle. To loosen the lockring, turn the remover anticlockwise while holding the cassette with the chain whip (or cassette pliers) in the other direction.
After removing the lockring, you should be able to easily pull the cassette off the freehub. If you have been riding the cassette for a long time, it may be that it is very tight on the freehub and you need a little more force to pull it off. Make sure that you don't pull the freehub off the hub body along with the cassette! With some hubs this is very easy. If you have an aluminium HG freehub and a cassette with individual steel sprockets, it can happen that the sprockets have eaten into the freehub and the cassette can only be released with great effort.

Pro Tip: When loosening the cassette, bend over the wheel from the other side – as shown in the picture. This way you won't get your knuckles caught on the spokes.

Before you put the new cassette on the freehub body, you can clean it and the hub. Places that you cannot reach with a rag can be cleaned with an old toothbrush. To reduce the above-mentioned seizing of the cassette on the freehub, you should grease the freehub body a little before sliding on the new cassette.

The cassette only fits on the freehub in one position. This is ensured by grooves with varying widths at different points on the freehub body. On the cassette you will find splines that correspond to the hub’s grooves. Just make sure that you push the widest spline onto the widest groove! When the cassette is in place with all the sprockets, you can put on the lockring and tighten it.
Road bike cassettes from SRAM with twelve gears require an XDR freehub. It makes it possible to install cassettes with a smallest sprocket of only ten teeth. The XDR differs significantly from Shimano and Campa freehubs: the grooves do not extend over the entire length of the freehub, as the cassette is only carried along by grooves on the last piece of the freehub. The cassette is simply pushed onto the freehub from the front and screwed tight. For this purpose, the cassettes have an internal multi-tooth gearing and no lockring like the other manufacturers. Please pay close attention to the required torque for all variants and use a torque wrench for assembly!

Finally, re-mount your rear wheel. You should have already cleaned the axle or your quick release and applied fresh grease. Before you put the rear wheel back in place, mount the quick release in the hub again – or put the greased axle in place.
You can then fit the new chain and get back on your bike. Have fun on your next road bike tour!