question about narrow wide chainring
#1
surly old man
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question about narrow wide chainring
Not sure to ask this here or in the mtb forum.
I am contemplating buying a cheap crankset set up for my fixed gear snow bike. The crank I am thinking of comes with a narrow wide chainring (every other tooth is wide so that the chain does not slap around and jump off a set up without a front derailleur). The chain ring has an even number of teeth and so is meant to pair with even-numbered teeth cogs in back. Otherwise it will get out of cycle and get a wide tooth jammed into the alternate narrow chain gap. I currently have a cog on the rear with an odd number of teeth.
So, here is the question: Will the wide teeth of the chainring fit in both the narrow and wide gaps of a single-speed chain? Will it work? Any downside otherwise?
Thanks,
Jim
I am contemplating buying a cheap crankset set up for my fixed gear snow bike. The crank I am thinking of comes with a narrow wide chainring (every other tooth is wide so that the chain does not slap around and jump off a set up without a front derailleur). The chain ring has an even number of teeth and so is meant to pair with even-numbered teeth cogs in back. Otherwise it will get out of cycle and get a wide tooth jammed into the alternate narrow chain gap. I currently have a cog on the rear with an odd number of teeth.
So, here is the question: Will the wide teeth of the chainring fit in both the narrow and wide gaps of a single-speed chain? Will it work? Any downside otherwise?
Thanks,
Jim
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#3
surly old man
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That is my hope. But has anyone actually tried it?
Jim
Jim
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No, haven't tried it, but mathematically it should work. A narrow-wide chainring is designed to work with a 3/32" chain, and the wide teeth will be wider than the narrow teeth by about twice the thickness of the inner chain plates, which is less than the 1/32" difference between a 3/32" chain and a 1/8" chain.
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That sounds pretty convincing to me. Thanks. Jim
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I'm super curious now because I was thinking about purchasing a narrow/wide for my 1x9 commuter setup.
Edit: Found some info on the MTB forum...
"The only way a chain can become out of sync is if the chain is lifted off the chainring and was placed 1 tooth away. It doesn't matter how many teeth are on the cog."
"The only issue I'm aware of with narrow-wide rings is that they don't play nice with half-links."
Last edited by squarenoise; 12-22-21 at 04:55 PM. Reason: more info
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Not to hijack your question but my 1x9 hybrid is a 38x11-32. Not great for hills should have gone with a 34+ but in the end it is not a hill bike it is a round town "beater" bike
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Geez. You are right. I am a bit embarrassed to say that I ws repeating something I had read somewhere but had not bothered to pause and think it through. Thanks for pointing it out. Jim
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It's definitely a brain teaser and I had my doubts as to what the right answer was, haha!
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Thanks Veganbikes and Squarenoise 
My current commuter runs 22/32/42 with 11-32 on a Trek 800 Sport. That gets me 18-99 gear inches. A setup of 40 and 11-50 would capture most of that but exceed my derailleur (45 tooth). To please my CFO, I think I will eventually go with 36 up front and expand the cassette to 11-46 when it wears out.
The interim would give me 29-85 gear inches. I'm mostly ok with losing the rarely used 99 g.i. My operational range is mostly 24-84 gear inches with occasional dips to 20. An eventual 36x11-46 would give me 20-85.
Potentially stupid question: Is there a significant difference in effort to pedal 22x21 (27 g.i.) and 32x32 (26 g.i.)?

My current commuter runs 22/32/42 with 11-32 on a Trek 800 Sport. That gets me 18-99 gear inches. A setup of 40 and 11-50 would capture most of that but exceed my derailleur (45 tooth). To please my CFO, I think I will eventually go with 36 up front and expand the cassette to 11-46 when it wears out.
The interim would give me 29-85 gear inches. I'm mostly ok with losing the rarely used 99 g.i. My operational range is mostly 24-84 gear inches with occasional dips to 20. An eventual 36x11-46 would give me 20-85.
Potentially stupid question: Is there a significant difference in effort to pedal 22x21 (27 g.i.) and 32x32 (26 g.i.)?
Last edited by Digger Goreman; 12-25-21 at 04:56 PM.
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