Black_Gold

I am converting my 10speed to a single speed this summer and wanted a few odd questions answered... there is one gear on my bike currently that i would like to have as my single speed. How do i go about getting the right sprockets? I counted the teeth and it is on the 40-tooth cog in front and the 21-tooth in back. Is there a place to buy sprockets in tooth amounts? My second question is will the gearing be the same as long as the teeth add up to the same number. example: would a 15-tooth in the back, and a 46 in the front be the same as a 21 in the back and a 40 in the front?

dervish

for your first question you can ask your LBS to see if they sell the rings in your BCD (im assuming its 130mm since thats generally hte road bike standard). for your second question : no...different combos of chainrings and cogs/freewheels will give you different gear inches.

40/21 is pretty much a granny gear if i ever heard one...but i guess to each is own
welcome to the world of SS and FG

edit: you can also check online stores (thats what i do) i suggest https://www.benscycle.net/index.php?m...88_537_538_541

Black_Gold

I live in an EXTREMELY hilly area called mountain park. that would be the reason for a lowish gear. what is a more common combo?

urodacus

it's the ratio between the two that's important, not the sum of the teeth. 53:11 and 40:24 have the same number of teeth but rather different gearing.

be warned that 40:21 is a crazy low gear, and you'll feel pretty silly spinning on the flats, while getting along at walking speed.

40:17 o 40:16 is more what you should be aiming for, even with hills. i climb 10% mountains on my 42:16, and can still hit 30 mph on the flats easily enough. you just stand for the steepest pitches, and use long cranks.

Black_Gold

yeah thanks, i never thought about longer cranks....



heres the bike in question, FYI

is there a detailed writeup with mics on how this is all done? i have found a lot of sites with lists of parts but none that really go step-by-step.