Gabaruk's 11-50 11s cassette can be gotten for $211. For a weight savings of approximately 300g, it handily beats the $1/gram of weight savings metric that most cyclists use when considering equipment. I bought two, one for Xiaoqin's Ritchey Road Logic (getting that bike under 8kg with pedals!) and one for Bowen's Roadini after watching her experience with it.
The obvious benefit is that the cassette is lighter. It achieves the light weight by replacing the giant 50t steel sprocket with one made out of aluminum. In theory this means that sprocket will wear out faster. However, since we wax our chains, cassette wear is now minimal on all our bikes.
The big loss is in shifting performance. The Gabaruk simply does not shift as smoothly or as well as the Shimano m5100 or the CUES linkglide cassette. Just like older drivetrains, you have to ease up when shifting, and if you flub a shift, the cassette has a disturbing tendency to drop the chain and cause the drivetrain to shift all the way to the smallest sprocket, which usually is the complete opposite of what you intended to do. As a result, I do not recommend this cassette to tandems, heavy people, or the kind of people who want to (or need to) shift under load without easing up on the pedals.
Both Xiaoqin and Bowen complain about the shifting performance. On the other hand, when asked if they'd like the old cassette back the answer has usually been a "no." 300g is half a pound, which is a lot when you weigh in under 100 pounds like Bowen, and both the Ritchey and the Roadini are at a point where I cannot easily shave more weight from either bike. I'll continue to accept the weight penalty on my single and on the tandem, given that I weigh more and the savings is not as important, and I do ride in situations where a bad shift could be very undesirable.
If you are light or have a light touch on the pedals and can ease off when shifting, the Gabaruk is a very nice weight savings for a relatively low price.
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