jtei

Please excuse me as I am pretty new to biking... I tried searching for the answer, however, I didn't have the correct search terms.

So I am in the progress of converting an older sekai bike into a fixed gear and I pretty much have all the parts, however, I am confused about what I need to do with the crankset/chainring.

On my rear wheel I have a 14t 1/8 cog and I would like to run a 34ish tooth chainring in the front, but I am not too sure on how to go about doing this. The crankset that is currently on the bike is setup so that I can't remove the larger chainring (52ish?) without removing the smaller chainring (32t) - see attached pics. What would be the cheapest/best way to go about this? Do I have to buy a whole new crankset? or can I just replace that chainring with another chainring...

Thanks in advance for the help!

gh-ap

for starters, you probably won't want a 34t-ish chainring. unless you want a wiley-coyote-running effect. (which i've seen a friend do, on his first build, and it wasn't pretty. andale-andale-eeja)

jtei

What would you suggest with a 14t cog? 40ish? keep in mind I live on a somewhat hilly campus...

Aeroplane

Around 40 should probably do you well. But back to the cranks... I had a set like that. Worked fine, and I could use any chainring I wanted, so long as it was the 52t that was permanently attached. ( <-- Dad quality joke right there)

If you want to change rings and not have that giant 52t on it, you'll have to change the right side crank. So you might as well get a whole new crankset/chainring. If you're looking for something with teeth in that small of a range, you might go with a 110mm bcd crankset, they have plenty of smallish rings. And a rocket ring doesn't look nearly as awful on one.

Good luck.