Replacement for CS6500 HyperGlide?

Bike came w/;
Shimano CS6500 HyperGlide cassette 9 speed 12-27T
Shimano XTR shifter and Derailleur
KMC super narrow X9 speed chain

What would be a decent replacement cassette that would have an 11T sm. gear?
I don't do a lot lot of shifting, so it doesn't have to be high-end.
Thanx in advance.

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ca/en/cassettes?f=4294963681,4294962497,4294962480,4294962413,4294839329,4294153984,4293283862,2212&sort=pricelow

From that list
Brand Name - SunRace CSM98 9 Speed Cassette
No Name - Ventura 9 Speed Cassette

https://www.modernbike.com/cassettes+cassette-speedsis9+SortPriceAsc

From the list
Sunrace CSM96 9sp Cassette - 11-32t
Shimano Alivio CS-HG400 9-Speed 11-36t Cassette Silver, Nickel Plated
Shimano HG400 9-Speed 11-34t Cassette

That's a road bike cassette, but since you have an xtr rear You should be able to clear a much larger cassette If you want to. assuming its the m952 or m960 if its 9 speed, it should clear AT LEAST 34-36t up top, respectively so the ones markz mentioned are all good bets. I find the shifting performance is usually pretty uniform across most of the Shimano line, with the real advantage to the higher end units being alloy spiders and sometimes a couple titanium cogs up top on the xtr units.

Just my personal thoughts after installing hundreds of these on customers, especially in the past year with the pandemic where choices have been limited, but i have never had shifting issues with shimano and have had some QC issues where sunrace just didnt play nice. not talking many, but 2 or 3 Out of maybe 50 or 60 we installed. Even had one or two SRAM units that had issues. On the other hand, ones like the Alivio he posted always seems to work flawlessly

Thanx for the tips, and yes, reviews of this model back in '11 had riders perplexed as to why Motobecane would equip a mountain bike w/ a road cassette.
I like the idea of staying w/ Shimano and I ordered a SHIMANO HG400 9 Speed Mountain Bike Cassette - CS-HG400-9 (11-25).
I don't ride in hilly terrain, so I don't really need big low gears (also, I replaced the original 44T chainring w/ a 48T so the chain is getting a little short.). And I tend to wear out my 11T gears, so having a 12T as the next step up (down?) should allow me to get off the 11T gear from time to time.
Thanx again.

i just looked that bike up, i am familiar with motobecane and gravity being the house brands for bikes direct but did not know the exact model

its actually a REALLY nice bike, chances are they spec'd that cassette for weight savings and close ratio shifting always being a bit crisper. the one you chose should perform pretty much identically, probably weigh 60 or 70 grams more...for like 75 percent less money

I actually bought it from Bike Island, Bike Direct's sister "scratch and dent" store for $899 (including shipping)! It had a few scuffs on the main down-tube and one fork leg that I can live with
Here's Bike Direct's listing for the exact model:
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/motobecane/fantom_team_xi.htm
I mounted the recycled rental bike Bafang SWX02 motor/wheel combo from Jag35 ($66 w/ shipping) which came with a gd. Schwalbe Marathon;
https://jag35.com/products/26-bafang-36v-dc-electric-bike-wheel-tire-w-tektro-disk-break
Added a 9-FET 20 Amp controller from PSW Power ($40)
https://www.pswpower.com/products/36v-48v-500w-brushless-dc-square-wave-controller-ebike-electric-bicycle-hub-motor-controller-with-right-output-30
The matching Schwalbe tire came from Bike Inn ($35)
I had pedals and torque arms laying around.
For batteries, I'm running 14S/10 Ah of LiPoly I had from my other bikes that have been stolden.
So far I'm into it for $1040, not counting the batt.s.
Not bad for a new high-end mountain bike that gets into the mid 20's mph.
I'll see if I can post a pic soon.

Well I never quite use more then a 4 gears, and I hear that same story from others here on ES. The other side of the coin are the ones that actually pedal, have lower wattage setups or have pedal assist. The pedal assist ebikes could be a different story but again totally dependant on the terrain your riding. Obviously want cruising gears so 11T makes sense, on whatever your crank gears are. Climibing story is dependent on user case, here daily ride could involve short yet steep hills. Longer hills involve a faster run up and can get away with lazier gear setup. A purist like Chalo may want something else.

Bike Direct is in it for profit, I wouldnt say they'd be into saving grams on most of their bikes, they'd be into the profit margin of whatever cassette they find that aint an obvious no name brand. But at $1800 they'd want more quality and crisper gear changes, who knows why they did what they did.

I had actually never heard of bikes island, There's all sorts of great deals on there, What's crazy is some of them are like 10-year-olds models That they strip the forks from, Some are blems, some are entire runs of defective products (they have a pretty nice looking fat bike frame in plentiful supply Including fork, headset stem, and post for 125 shipped- The caveat is that the chain will rub the frame in the lowest gear)
Thanks for the information, will definitely be ordering some stuff from them in the future

Yes, I can brouse the Bike Island site for hours fantasizing on how I'm going to do my next build.
And I do wonder where their new/old stock of models comes from.
It kind of reminds me of my first donor bike purchase I made 10 years ago. I was wandering around a huge cycle "superstore" in Wash DC when a spied a dusty forlorn bike sitting in a corner. It was a 2003 Rocky Mountain Edge and I asked the salesperson about it and he told me it had been lost in their warehouse for 7 years! It had a huge triangle space (This was when I thought I needed to carry lot's of batteries), so I bought it. I found out later there had been a recall for broken chain stays and some RM models had been pulled off the floor.
Anyhow, I was impressed by the guys at BI. They were friendly and got back to my questions right away. A great buying experience.
PS, I did delve into the history of Bikes Direct and Motobecane. A number of years back BD purchased the name from the storied French maker and established a completely new factory in Taiwan. BD is the exclusive distributor for Motobecane and they claim that is how they keep the costs down. As for the model I have, even back when it was new, riders were commenting on the tall, squarish chassis and it does look a bit dated, but for an ebike build, it has turned out to be very gd. A little thing, but the square runs on the chain stay allow the clamp-on side-stand to get a very gd. purchase, side-stands that loosen and rotate on round tubing is something that has bugged me for years.