Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - downsides of bargain cogs and lockrings???

I am converting my friends bike for him so he can have a more reliable commuter. I bought a wheel on ebay. it seems pretty solid, and it came with a noname cog and lockring. Does anybody have any experience with the cheapie noname deals?

Noname cogs generally are less round (so you get uneven chain tension as you pedal) and are rougher, so they're noisier and wear a bit faster. Generally it's not a biggie unless you're a perfection queen.

some have ****ty threads that will eat your hub alive. others were modeled after biopace chainrings.

See the "Freewheeling, oops" thread below for my negative expensive experience with cheapo cogs.

don't go brakeless unless you trust your ride 100%

i got the cheapest my lbs woiuld sell which was duraace cog and lockring combo for 40. i think thats safe for brakeless. right?

I use DuraAce and E.A.I. and trust both of them. However I do have a front brake mostly for the benefit of the club members I ride with.

"Trust, but verify." Ronald Reagan

sure, duraace would do fine. cheap drivetrain ware are those no-named stamped steel cogs.

$40 for a Dura-ace and a no name lockring is overpriced. The cogs aren't more than $20-22 at any of the shops around me, and a no-name lockring shouldn't be over $8.

True Story:
A guy comes into the shop with an expensive off-set flip-flop hub.
Mounted on the hub is an El-Cheapo brand stamped cog.
Someone convinces him to remove the cog ASAP and spend the $20 to get a good one.
He removes the cog, flips the wheel to the SS side and donates the cog to the co-op.
The next day some hipster comes in, finds the cog and mounts it on the newly dished suicide wheel of his bum bike.
Fifteen seconds into the inagural ride the hipster is back walking kind of funny and looking all weepy-like because his hub no longer has any threads on it.

Suicide wheel from the co-op $20
Used "El-cheapo" cog from the co-op $5
Watching the hipster take one in the gondolas on his bumbike 'Priceless'

Enjoy

Cheap cogs eat hubs.

EAI, Dura-ace, and Campagnolo (if you can find them) have worked out well for me. I hear that Phil Wood will be releasing the next iteration of their cogs soon.

FWIW, I used to use Soma cogs, but I was at the LBS the other day looking at cogs and the Soma cog quality has REALLY taken a dive. Travis (Freewheel hayes) said that he wouldn't even sell them unless someone is super insistant. They look like hub killers IMO...

True Story:
A guy comes into the shop with an expensive off-set flip-flop hub.
Mounted on the hub is an El-Cheapo brand stamped cog.
Someone convinces him to remove the cog ASAP and spend the $20 to get a good one.
He removes the cog, flips the wheel to the SS side and donates the cog to the co-op.
The next day some hipster comes in, finds the cog and mounts it on the newly dished suicide wheel of his bum bike.
Fifteen seconds into the inagural ride the hipster is back walking kind of funny and looking all weepy-like because his hub no longer has any threads on it.

Suicide wheel from the co-op $20
Used "El-cheapo" cog from the co-op $5
Watching the hipster take one in the gondolas on his bumbike 'Priceless'

Enjoy


In all fairness, it was more a matter of the hipster being a lousy mechanic than a matter of crappy parts.
It was a different hipster who spun the cog while riding , but that was because hipster #1 doesn't know what a chainwhip is, and never tightened his. He actually brought me the hub the next day to show me the stripped threads and I said "yeah? where are they?" He's riding said bum bike right now.

As long as we're being fair, I had a cheap cog strip the hell out of my hub, after roughly twelve miles of riding. granted it was a cheap (quando) hub, but I'll never trust one again. If you look at the threads and there's less than four, you don't have enough ebgagement for the force you're about to apply to the cog (assuming you're a badass like me ;) ), and the cog threads can/will just walk right over the threads on the hub. A better made hub might put up with more abuse, but if you're gonna spend for a good hub, you oughtta man up and get a real cog, too.

Great story though, gondolas and stuff.

So this is what getting served feels like......

Enjoy

yeah, like that's something new for you.

go ahead, keep telling yourself that.

how can cheap threads on the cog hurt the hub? seems to me like the hub could strip the cog....other wise there shouldnt be a problem

how can cheap threads on the cog hurt the hub? seems to me like the hub could strip the cog....other wise there shouldnt be a problem

Cogs are steel
Hubs are Alum

Cheap cogs have crappy threads that do not engage thoroughly.

Next question

Enjoy

A stamped steel cog has tougher threads than a cheap aluminum hub.

Sad but true.


Besides, the motion of the hub (forward) against a (relatively) stationary cog will only have a tendency to spin off (unthread). The danger zone is when you stand up to accelerate from a stop and spin the cog into the hub. It can't follow the threads since it's bottommed out next to the hub flange, and the rotational force (help me out physics guy) on the cog runs it's (stronger) threads across the (weaker) threads of the hub.

Get lost, powers.

This is MY THREAD!!!

Get lost, powers.

This is MY THREAD!!!

Look everyone!
I have a stalker!!
I'm going to write a pieku for him.

I love bike forums

Enjoy

ethanfry, great guy
though not the best mechanic
i'll buy him a pie

Enjoy