Originally Posted by
Homebrew01
I must be mssing something. How do you get better ratios by having the same diameter chainring with more teeth ? Ratio is driven by the # of teeth, not diameter.
But you don't really have the same diameter. The diameter will be a function of the number of teeth, which must be an integer. By making the teeth smaller, adding or subtracting a tooth changes the diameter by a smaller increment, thus you can get closer spacing between gears.. At least, I think that's the idea.