Questions on child stoker kits
10-03-11, 10:31 AM
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Questions on child stoker kits
I have a square taper BB assembly for a child stoker kit and want to cobble together the rest of the kit, for, I hope, less money than the kits cost. I have a few questions and would appreciate any help you can offer.
1. Can I use any properly-sized crank for the child stoker, or do I need one designed to have the chainring on the left side?
2. The rear synchronization chainring (probably has a shorter name, but I don't know it) is 32T. Does that mean I need to use 32T chainrings to connect the child stoker's crank to the drivetrain, or will it all work fine if I just make sure my connecting chainrings have the same number of teeth? (I expect this question exposes my ignorance of some basic principal of physics or something, but there you go.)
3. Anything else I need to keep in mind in assembling my kit?
Thanks.
1. Can I use any properly-sized crank for the child stoker, or do I need one designed to have the chainring on the left side?
2. The rear synchronization chainring (probably has a shorter name, but I don't know it) is 32T. Does that mean I need to use 32T chainrings to connect the child stoker's crank to the drivetrain, or will it all work fine if I just make sure my connecting chainrings have the same number of teeth? (I expect this question exposes my ignorance of some basic principal of physics or something, but there you go.)
3. Anything else I need to keep in mind in assembling my kit?
Thanks.
10-04-11, 07:04 AM
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1. If you use a normal crank for your kid stoker setup, it will be on backwards. This means that the threading for the pedals will be backwards (reverse threaded on the right side, normal on the left). That will have two effects: the pedals will be backwards and the threading will not tend to keep them tight. Pedals backwards might be a problem if you use toe clips (you probably should!) or some kind of clipless other than Speedplay.
I have a cheaper kid stoker setup that uses a 140mm Bulletproof (now Origin8) BMX crank. For the pedals, I used some regular old toe-clip-friendly pedals, disassembled them and switched the RH and LH pedal spindles. Then I used blue Loctite on the spindle threads so they wouldn't back out of the crank. This has worked perfectly.
2. The captain-stoker sync chain on the stoker doesn't need to have the same tooth count on its rings as the stoker-kid stoker sync chain. But, for each chain loop, the tooth count of its rings must match. Does that make sense?
Example: 34t captain, 34t/32t outer/inner on stoker, 32t on kid stoker crank. One chain goes around both 32t rings, one around both 34t rings. This will work fine.
3. You will probably need to come up with a high-rise handlebar scheme.
I have a cheaper kid stoker setup that uses a 140mm Bulletproof (now Origin8) BMX crank. For the pedals, I used some regular old toe-clip-friendly pedals, disassembled them and switched the RH and LH pedal spindles. Then I used blue Loctite on the spindle threads so they wouldn't back out of the crank. This has worked perfectly.
2. The captain-stoker sync chain on the stoker doesn't need to have the same tooth count on its rings as the stoker-kid stoker sync chain. But, for each chain loop, the tooth count of its rings must match. Does that make sense?
Example: 34t captain, 34t/32t outer/inner on stoker, 32t on kid stoker crank. One chain goes around both 32t rings, one around both 34t rings. This will work fine.
3. You will probably need to come up with a high-rise handlebar scheme.
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abdon
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