Originally Posted by Fahrenheit531

I've decided to go ahead and get a White Industries FW now that my single speed setup is looking less temporary every day, and if I'm dropping a pile o' cash on a top-notch component I wanna get it right. So a question:

Is there any real advantage (not purely aesthetic) to running a larger ring/FW combination vs smaller? Right now I'm at 42/16; the larger version with nearly the same gear inches would be 48/18. The only obvious difference I see is that a 16t setup leaves more room to adjust gearing upward via chainring size, while an 18t is the opposite. Anything else I should consider?