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I bought the Rohloff HG-Check as it was apparently the only tool out there to measure cassette wear.

IMHO it's just too uncomfortable to use and with practice and good sight you can actually determine faster if the cassette needs to be changed.

Already checked: How to tell when to replace cassette?

Is there a tool more sophisticated/expensive or even unknown to the general public that I can check? And or easier/faster to use.

Plain honest, I'm just not that good checking wear by eyesight.

HG-Check

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    As you attest yourself, it’s easy to eyeball cassette wear or to just use a distance based exchange interval. So there’s little market for such a tool.
    – RoboKaren
    Commented Jan 8, 2018 at 1:58
  • I have seen tour mechanics using a Park tool which is similarly based on a piece of chain. And for the larger cogs, at least, there's the technique of wrapping a good chain around, then seeing how far it can be lifted off the cog.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Commented Jan 8, 2018 at 3:17
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    In theory, a micrometer to measure the length of the tooth on the biggest cog, and compare that to the length of other cog's teeth should shed light on the cassette's condition, but that would be very small differences.
    – Criggie ♦
    Commented Jan 8, 2018 at 4:15
  • Another visual tool is use a single inner link from a chain offcut and rest it in the least-worn teeth. Wiggle it with a finger, then compare that feel with the same wiggle in a worn-looking cog. This would be a go-by-feel technique, with no quantifiable numbers.
    – Criggie ♦
    Commented Jan 8, 2018 at 4:17
  • @Criggie good catch there! I think I'll edit question to also include "easy to use"
    – DRP
    Commented Jan 8, 2018 at 4:30

2 Answers 2

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I bought one too - on the same idea of having a better way to check for chain/cassette wear. Its pretty useless to be honest.

The best tool for knowing how much mileage is on a chain/cassette is a set of accurate records. Cars have mileometers/odometers and stationary engines have hour meters. Sadly bikes don't have the same hardware.

So I record every ride on Strava, and religiously use the "My Gear"* options to note when things were changed. Works for me

* For clarity, that's "gear" in the sense of "equipment", rather than specifically gears as in cogs.

But records don't help where you have a bike with unknown provenance. For those you have to fire up the eye-crometer and make an educated guess. And ride it, if feasible. You can find more faults quicker in a 30 second ride than any other way.

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    agree %100 with the useless part of the tool and also that ridding less than a minute will give me the answer. I hadn't thought of using Strava as you mentioned, sounds like a good idea. My expectation was to hear about a new super tech tool, lol. I'll wait a couple of days, if nobody replies anything else more satisfactory, your answer will be marked as solved.
    – DRP
    Commented Jan 8, 2018 at 4:37
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    While that tells you how many miles you've put on the bike, that's only half the story -- you'll have to wear through a few components to work out how long they last given your riding conditions and maintenance regime. With a respectable amoutn of riding could still take a couple of years. I'm sure you've found a way to take that into account, but how? (It's still a good approach so +1)
    – Chris H
    Commented Jan 8, 2018 at 9:23
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Using your sight works great to see if a cassette is worn, but when you are trying to get a customer to replace a worn rear cassette, they seem to believe this little tool more than the mechanic.

I can't get over how customers will replace a chain and pay for adjustments when a cassette is just as cheap and will increase the life of the new chain and eliminate the return visit because "their gears were not adjusted properly and are skipping again."

I just show them the checker and how its supposed to work and they buy a new cassette as well.

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    Your comments are correct, but the question is "is there a more sophisticated cassette wear measuring tool than the Rohloff HG-Check" Can you use EDIT to increase the relevance to the question? SE is a Q&A format and this answer doesn't really answer the question, though your customer interactions totally match what I've experienced. Have a browse through the tour to learn now SE works, and have a go at some other questions too - you obviously have plenty of experience worth sharing.
    – Criggie ♦
    Commented Mar 22, 2019 at 21:42
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    If a cassette is just as cheap as a chain, you have very different prices than my local shops.
    – ojs
    Commented Mar 22, 2019 at 22:08

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