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that gearing looks ridiculous. get a chainring ~48t.

I think that's a ring guard we're seeing. But, if pedaling is too difficult you will want to change your gearing. It's hard to be specific - whether you want to change your ring or your cog but changing the ring will have a comparatively greater effect.

Thank you!

By the way, is there a way to know how many teeths are and if its 1/8 3/32 ?

And, for a weird reason my saddle keeps on slipping to the side , and its perfectly tightened realllly hard. Any tips?

You check your seat post clamp? You'd be surprised how many people come into my work everyday because their seat moves side to side and they swear it's the guts or something else, and a lot of the time the seat post clamp isn't tight enough.

:lol: you were right, it was tightened enough, so i just used a wrench and tightened it. good as new :D

squeegeesunny,

Look at the cog and chainring closely. They are often (unfortunately not always) stamped with the information you are looking for. Of course, to get the tooth count you can always count them manually. The 1/8th 3/32nd question is a good one. Obviously, 1/8th chains are wider but if someone didn't know the difference how could they tell? Even if for example the cog was stamped 3/32 there is no rule against running a 1/8th chain. Of course, if you have 1/8th anything (cog or chainring) then you are at least guaranteed the chain is 1/8th. Again, good question.

Looks like that crank/chainring/guard are all one piece swaged together. Replace.

a 1/8 chain on a 3/32 cog will have a wider gap between the teeth and the links if you look at it

Changing out your cog will be much cheaper. And honestly...if you're new to fixed(and especially riding in general) your strength will increase quickly. I'd recommend getting a smaller cog, use that for a few weeks and see how you feel. Chances are that will get too easy, then you can put this cog back on and probably be fine. Changing out chainrings gets expensive...

Did you mean a bigger cog? I don't know what the gearing on that thing is, but it looks silly, probably 90+ gear inches. I ride over 80, and I think even that is really high (fun to keep up with traffic, but stoplights are a drag).

I'd normally suggest swapping the cog, too, but man is that an ugly set of cranks. I'm torn.

Yeah..I meant bigger cog...thanks for the catch Raiden.

Wondering how to tell if nothings stamped. Don't see any indications on my (so far stock) bike. Wanted to grab a cog to try out the fixed gear side now that I'm getting into the swing of things again, but not 100% if I should go 1/32 or 1/8.

P.S. Chainwhip/lockring spanner mandatory or are there ghetto ways of doing it =P?

A good chainwhip and a lockring tool are good investments if you intend to keep up with fixed gear any longer than as a passing interest. I recommend the Par SR-2 chainwhip (super beefy, chain is replaceable) and the Hozan C-203 lockring pliers. Buy good tools once, use them forever.

IMO there is no need for a chainwhip. the rotafix method is more effective and free.

Unless of course one chooses to have the proper tools for doing the job. Rotofix is a hack.

"more effective" = ham-handed

There is no true substitute for the proper tools.

If you don't have the tools, then i guess it's more effective than your hands.

But if it was more effective than the tool, then why do bike shop mechanics use them?

unless its a parktools conspiracy!!

So... I counted my teeths and turns out i am running 16t cog on 55~t chainring x.x i mean, wtf? but i dont think my dad will let me get a new crankset nor the bike shop will accept a full refund because the tires are prettty dirty. It'd take atleast one or two months before i can buy a new crankset with my own money. The ratios are really weird huh? Can't believe i've been riding these intense nj uphills in this bike x.x

Take that **** to the bike shop and ask for a trade in on a less-******** crankset

a decent chain whip is ten bucks

rotafix is bad all around think about it you don't use a breaker bar to tighten down the axle nuts why would you use one on your cog

rotafix = 3-foot wrench
chainwhip = 12 inch wrench

over torquing is just as bad as under torquing

It matters not what tool is used, as long as the correct amount of torque is applied and the parts aren't damaged. Neither a chainwhip, nor rotafixing, tells you when you over torque or under torque. Rotafix works well if you use common sense. The problem is a lot of people lack common sense. You can generate more leverage with the wheel than you can a chainwhip, but what you geniuses don't seem understand is that you don't have to torque it as hard as you can. I never bothered with a chainwhip once I discovered how to rotafix a cog on or off. Its faster, more convenient, and almost effortless compared to a chainwhip. I've never damaged a cog, frame, or hub. I've never even had a cog or lockring slip.

I have been in multiple circumstances when I was mounting a cog to a wheel that was not on a bike, was not recently taken off a bike, and was not about to be put on a bike. Rotafix works, but I still maintain that properly using the proper tool is a better idea 100% of the time than any kind of improvised method.

I saw these bikes at a bike shop in Bayonne the other week. Seemed nice, not too heavy. They guy wanted low $300 for it.
How you liking it so far? What part of NNJ are you from? Im in Ridgewood. Used to have a Kilo TT, but ended up selling it, well due to me needing rend money at the time, and also because like you said, these NNJ hills are killer. I just wasnt having as much fun on it. I would take to the bike path by my, rusn 12 miles back n forth, and that was fun. but out on the roads with thehills, i could do them, just wasnt as much fun. So now i'm currently building a geared bike.

Get a new (big) cog and chain. Look for a gear inch calculator and compare ratios to what you would normally run on a geared bike.

If you're planning on skidding with this bike, look at how many skid spots you'll have with a new cog/chainring setup. The calculation is pretty simple. Make a fraction with the teeth on the chainring on top and the teeth on the cog on the bottom (55/16 in your case) and reduce the fraction as far as possible. The bottom number of the new fraction is how many spots on your tire will get worn from skidding (the more the better). 55/16 is irreducible so you would have 16 skid spots. If you were to get a 48 tooth chainring, 48/16=3/1 so you would only wear out one spot on your tire. The most foolproof way to go is to get a 17 or 19 tooth cog in the back since they're prime numbers
edit: blast from the past

This thread was posted in 09, boys.

What happened to Sunny anyway, haven't seen him on for a bit.

If you are running low on cash, head back to the shop you bought the bike from and ask them if they can put on (at least) a 19t cog. Or if you can spare a little extra change a 46t chainring. Neither option should cost a bunch of money (cheapest probably being the 19t cog) and it'll make it easier for you to ride around your area. The 55/19 combo will get you around 76GI which you will really notice compared to what you are riding right now.

If you would like more information about "GI" or "Gear Inches" check out the stickies area in SSFG forum HERE. There is some really good info that is pretty easy to understand. Basicly, a low GI number makes it easier to accelorate but takes away top speed. A higher GI number gives you more top speed but makes acceleration harder. Finding the perfect GI's for your type of riding is what most of us FG guys are always on the hunt for.

Hope this helps,

.Chris


EDIT: Got pwned by dates. Thanks for pointing that out Squirrelli!