Tooth count question for chainring swap
My brain swears I read something about this somewhere (Maybe "Art of Urban Cycling"? Returned my borrowed copy...) I'm not so certain, and I need help settling the question between my brain and I.:p
I've got a Bianchi Castro Valley that is set up (stock) as a 1x9 . Bianchi's site says the crankset is a Sugino XD500t with 42 teeth (which I gather to be a 74/110 ring on a tandem crank). Bianchi also says my cassette is a SRAM 11/26t, but Sheldon's gear calculator only has a SRAM 12/26 9-speed which made me look once, and I believe I found that to be correct, not the Bianchi stats (a typo?). [I'm at work & forgot to check this a.m. before I came in.] Anyhow, the question is this: I wanna fiddle with the gearing a bit (slightly high for my liking), and I know that swapping the chainring is the easier and cheaper way to try this quickly, but do I have to swap chainrings with a specific increment in teeth different from what I have already? In other words, can I use a 39 tooth ring with the same cassette, or should I only change the chainring in 2 tooth increments or something? My brain is insisting that I saw something about wearing out chains faster with odd combinations, or is that only if I've got no deraileur taking up slack? |
I think that you worry too much.
The even/odd ratio thing is definitely a factor in auto differential gears, for example, but I'm not sure how a bicycle chain with an unknown number of teeth affects the issue. At any rate I wouldn't worry excessively about wear on a $20.00 part that's easy to replace. If it was my bike and I thought that a 39 chainring would be perfect I'd slap on a 39 chainring and see how I like it. |
Hey, this is no problem with a multi-speed bike.
With a single-speed or fixie, it's ideal to have the number of teeth on the cog and chainring be relatively prime (e.g. 39 and 15 are NOT relatively prime because they have a common factor of 3, but 39 and 16 ARE relatively prime). This is because if the two sprockets have a common factor in the number of teeth, they'll repeatedly rotate into the same position, which can cause accelerated chain/sprocket wear if you apply more stress to the pedals in certain position (this particularly applies to skidding with a fixie). So again, this isn't a concern for a multi-speed bike where you'll move the chain from sprocket to sprocket and you won't have these synchronised rotation problems at all. The thing you'll want to worry about is getting a front derailer that indexes well with your new chainring combinations... but with a little adjustment you can problem make your current one work, regardless of what Shimano marketing says :rolleyes: |
Originally Posted by moxfyre
The thing you'll want to worry about is getting a front derailer that indexes well with your new chainring combinations... but with a little adjustment you can problem make your current one work, regardless of what Shimano marketing says :rolleyes:
I'll have to get my hands on a 39t ring soon to give it a try. |
Yup, choose whatever tooth count meets your requirements, and enjoy the ride.
The other context in which odd/even tooth counts make a (small) difference is in a tandem's synchronizing chainset, with odd tooth counts "evening out" chain and chainring wear. |
Originally Posted by Glottus
Thanks, but in this case it's a single front ring, so no front deraileur. No worries there. :) I guess I haven't seen too much about odd-numbered teeth on chainrings for a multi-speed and worried that I'd be harming my drivetrain somehow if I made the wrong kind of swap.
I'll have to get my hands on a 39t ring soon to give it a try. |
Originally Posted by moxfyre
Sounds good! Check Nashbar for good deals on cheap chainrings, cause the Shimano ones are just ridiculously expensive. Nashbar's selective is dodgy but when they have a part they have a good deal.
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Originally Posted by Retro Grouch
Also, the shifting aids that make the Shimano chainrings more expensive add no benefit on your single ring set up.
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Originally Posted by Retro Grouch
Also, the shifting aids that make the Shimano chainrings more expensive add no benefit on your single ring set up.
If you want singlespeed-specific rings, Surly makes nice steel ones, or find some old pre-Hyperglide ones from the eighties, or look for track rings. But frankly I think there's no reason to do that, since I've never seen any evidence that multi-speed rings throw the chain more or anything like that. |
Originally Posted by Glottus
Any knowledge/thoughts on BMX Rocket Rings? I've done a quick search or two here and seen mixed reviews, and mostly just people saying they thought they might go that route, but (to my knowledge) no posts much later giving a full perspective on quality.
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