seing 9 and 10th tooth cogs mentioned, heres a question for all of you. I find that on both my bikes that have 11 cogs, I dont use the 11s that often and a big part of that is because whenever Im in them, it feels "crunchy" slightly. Ive always assumed its because of the tightness of the chain over so few cogs. I mean I use it when I have to, moreso on the mtn bike with the 42/32/22 on downhills as I get into the 42/11 fairly quickly, but I generally avoid it in going up to the next chainring when I can (never go into it in the granny)
Do others feel the same? I dont know if its my rd setup that does this, or if in fact it is the chain being on such a small diameter cog with so few teeth. Just as cross chaining can produce a sound from a chain that seems to say that it is being worked harder, it seems to me that on a 11t it does also, and I assume a 10 or 9t even more? I guess being in it for short periods is never going to be an issue, but I do know that some riders may go onto it often, and I wonder if it shortens the life of a chain?
When I went to the 45,42,24 and had that 45 tooth ring in line with my smallest cogs I noticed a big difference the straighter chain line made. By that time I no longer had an 11t but I notice what you are saying even on my 12t. This change has really made me more aware of chain line and how it smooth’s things out. As fietsbob posted make a double from a triple crank and get the big ring lined up in the center. That’s also why I prefer a triple as the small granny is lined up with the largest cogs my half step big ring 45t is lined up with the smallest cogs and my most used ring the 42t is lined up in the center of the cassette on the most used cogs.
It’s funny how things change over a year ago I asked if anyone knew of a cassette with a 42t large as I was playing with the numbers and wanting to keep some larger rings and get away from the real tiny cogs. All the answers I got were pretty much there is no need for anything bigger than a 32 all I had to do is go with smaller rings and save weight.