It's probably safe to say 99% of riders running 12-speed drivetrains are running either Sram, Shimano or Sramano components. Since its launch several years ago, Sram Eagle has seen several updates, moved to wireless AXS shifting, had Shimano introduce a viable mechanical competitor and a handful of 3rd party offerings, each promising more bling, bang, or both. One of the 3rd party, boutique companies is Garbaruk, who originally hail from war-torn Ukraine but are now located in Poland.
Available in either 11 or 12-speed and for Microspline, XD and HG drivers, the Garbaruk cassette is very similar to the high end Sram X01 and XX1 offerings: The 10 or 11 higher gears are machined from a solid billet of steel and the largest sprocket, 52t for 12-speed and 46 or 50t for 11-speed, is machined from aluminum, anodized in a rainbow of color options and screwed to the main cassette body. The largest sprocket and lock ring are available in 8 colors: Black, Blue, Gold, Green, Orange, Red, Silver and Purple. The 11-speed option weighs 309g for 10-46 and 323g for 10-50t. The 12-speed version 10-52t is 335g and I weighed mine at 333g, so very close to advertised weight. MSRP for 11s-speed is 240€ and 260€ for 12-speed, slightly depending on your country of residence and applied VAT.
Build quality
I'm running 12-speed, so I opted for the 10-52t to replace my Shimano XT CS-M8100 10-51t. I didn't care for the extra range, but was drawn to the 1-piece construction as Shimano cassettes are prone to creaking and eating into the freehub body like the old HG cassettes did.
The Garbaruk offering weighs 30g less than an XTR CS-M9100, and costs 100€ less so for me it was a no-brainer to give the Garbaruk offering a chance.
The machining work is absolutely beautiful and the steel cogs appear to be bead blasted and passivated. The cassette comes with a new lock ring anodized in the same color as the 52t cog, which in my sample is silver. Time will tell how well the finish holds up to use, but out of the box and after about 500km the cassette is still looking good with some scratching, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Installation
Installing a 1-piece cassette is as easy as it gets! Clean the freehub body, grease lightly, put on the cassette and install the lock ring. The only thing to watch out for is the fine thread on the lock ring is relatively easy to cross-thread, so don't force it. Once installed, the cassette has been trouble free with no creaks and no sign of eating into the titanium freehub body on my Erase hub.
Performance
This is probably the bit that interests you, readers, the most. Does the cassette work as well as a Shimano or Sram cassette? Honestly? No, it does not. Shifts are ever so slightly slower and more clunky, but in my opinion performance is still absolutely fine with no skipping or grinding. I can back-pedal my Yeti ARC fine with this cassette with the ~54mm chainline I'm running and shifting is consistent throughout the range. I have only tested the cassette with a Shimano chain, but I expect performance will be similar with a Sram chain.
My current setup is: Garbaruk cassette, Alugear chain ring, Shimano SLX CN-M7100 chain, XT RD-M8100 derailleur, Sram GX trigger. I may chance this to AXS later, but so far I'm quite happy with this mechanical setup.
Verdict
Would I recommend the Garbaruk cassette? At about 100€ more than an XT or GX Eagle cassette, 1-piece construction and about 150g weight saving versus the Shimano and Sram offerings, yes. I would recommend the Garbaruk offering. It looks VERY nice, performance is good and the price-to-weight ratio is excellent. Time will tell how long lived the cassette will be, but I'm running mine with 3 chains and hope to get ~8000-10000km out of it, which for my winter hardtail will be 3-4 years.
Value for money: 5/5 - X01 / XTR weight at roughly 70% of the price
Finish: 5/5 - Anodizing is good and machining absolutely perfect
Fit: 5/5 - No problems fitting this onto a Microspline driver
Function: 3.5/5 - Silent and shifts well, but not quite Sram or Shimano well
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