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