How bad is it to use a crappy cog?
 

OK, I know it's a stupid question, and in general its a bad idea to use a crappy stamped steel cog, but here's my situation.

I have a real beater of a bike as my fixed conversion. The goal was to build it as inexpensively as I felt safe doing. For me, this necessitated buying new wheels and a new front brake caliper to fit the new wheels.

The wheels came with a cheap, stamped 16T cog. I immediately swapped it out with a quality machined 14T cog. After nearly a year, I decided that I want to go back to the lower gearing I get with the 16T cog.

If it matters, I never skid. I always use my front brake, unless I'm already going real slow and it is easy to come to a stop by backpedalling. It's my low-budget beater and I'm not out to set any records on it...I don't ride it hard. I do like to trackstand at lights. Can I get by with the crappy cog I already have, or should I buy a new quality cog?

It'll probably be fine. I rode for a year with a stamped cog that had been rotafixed onto an old freewheel hub, with no lockring. That wheel and cog is still in use by a friend of mine on his junker conversion.

As a matter of principle, I wouldn't want to use a cheap cog on a good hub, but if its a cheapo beater, use whatever you got. There's no sense wasting money if you don't need to.

yes, you can get by

Buy a new one. Unless your hub is a piece of **** and not worth saving, it's not worth it. Spend $20.

while mihlbach is pretty right, good cogs (dura-ace) are just more than $20. that's five or ten bucks more expensive than a crappy cog that might chew up your hubthreads. to me, the insurance is worth it.

He already has the cheap cog... so it's free ;)

Depends on how much you like the hub... if you don't wanna trash it... spend the 20. If the hub/wheel is disposable... use the cheapie.

I can only provide anecdotal evidence. I have one cheap cog on a freewheel hub that has given no trouble in a year of riding. But another one, also on a crappy freewheel hub that was brand new, stripped out after about 10 pedal strokes. No exageration. I have steered clear of them since, especially since the price difference is so small.

jim

I've never had a stamped cog destroy threads. I think they are fine. They just aren't as pretty.

Don't skimp on the lockring though...

$.02