Originally Posted by
chucky
Interestingly enough this advice is the opposite of what is practiced by professional mechanical engineers who purposely chose odd toothed sprockets in order to distribute the wear more evenly:
http://www.renold.com/Products/Trans.../Sprockets.asp
I've never tried Sheldon's recommendation before, but as we speak I am putting together a hub gear bike with an even rear cog (largest available) and an even chainring (on sale). I'm curious as to which advice is better (Sheldon or the engineers), but it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if it were the less credentialed of the two. Either way I expect the chain will outlive my patience to carefully test it.
Cheers.
Those same mechanical engineers you like to reference also have recommendations on chain lubrication requirements and when it comes to things like this, Sheldon Brown's credentials were rather excellent.
It would be interesting to test this to see just how many more miles one could get out of a drive set up like this... my winter bike runs a 40:20 and after an entire winter has no measurable chain wear. I am using a KMC 710 1/8 and have found these run for an extremely long time and only start to show minimal wear at 6000 km after some pretty extreme use.
Might have to mark the sprocket the next time I pull off the wheel and figure this chain will take me through summer rains and well into next winter... this is a plus with an IGH and a good chain / sprocket as the chain life is far better than any derailleur equipped bike that has to handle the same conditions.