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Chain ring question

1K views 18 replies 11 participants last post by  J.B. Weld 
#1 ·
Think I know the answer already, but I still want to ask the experts here.

I have had a few single speed bikes and I never had trouble in using regular chain rings. Am I right to assume that there is no advantages in using narrow wide chain rings and only 1x set up require N/W rings?
 
#7 ·
Rings for bmx, generally available down to 34t for 104bcd, in steel or alloy. But narrow wide would work fine with 1/8 inch chain. Cogs probably anywhere (I know Miche makes them), almost everything other than traditional threaded is for some type of cassette spacer conversion anyway.
 
#10 ·
They make cogs for everything. Some people build their own custom cassettes with cogs and spacers. For example in single tooth increments for time trial bikes. Most single speed bikes these days use a regular free hub, a single cog with 2 large spacers.

While the 1/8 chain rings and cogs do last longer, it is usually a worn chain that causes most of the wear on the teeth. So 1/8 inch chain will also make your 3/32 teeth last a lot longer.
 
#11 ·
My commuter bike has a cassette I put together with gears going up from 11t in one tooth increments for the first 4 positions. It works great on the flat commute I have.

Not sure if this has been brought up, but similar and identical gear ratios can be obtained using larger cogs. It's matter of scale.

Reasons to use larger chainrings and cogs may be that because there is more chain wrapped around there may be less chance of chain drop ( of course this depends on chain tension as well ), it can run smoother, and it will wear slower.

I don't know how to develop the math to prove this off hand. It may be worth it for me to be thinking about this when I go and ride.

Chainring clearance to the ground is reduced, and weight is increased with larger chainring sizes.

My theory about larger rings preventing chain drop may be wrong.

One bike I have has a 40x 24 combination which rides good. It is heavier for it. It came out that way because that's what I had in the garage. I like the 1.67 ratio.

Sent from my LG-H910 using Tapatalk
 
#14 ·
I only run 1/8 KMC chains on my SS, along with a BMX chain-ring and Profile cranks. There is absolutely no problem running the wider chain on a 3/32 rear cog or FW (I use a White 18T Trials FW). In my experience the 1/8 chain does last longer, but I never collected data to prove this.

Also, BMX chain-rings are generally available from 25T on up, but maybe not in a configuration to fit non-BMX cranks.
 
#15 ·
I've gotten more than 5,000 miles on 1/8 chain (more than 10 years, so it could be much more than 5k). To be fair there is no shifting and loading out of chain line, and that is for road, gravel and occasional trails. But even on a road bike kept clean and lubed, I've never gotten over 1,500 miles on a 9sp chain, and 400 miles is about the upper limit for the 11sp trail bike.
 
#19 ·
I have approximately 5,000 miles on my 10-speed road bike chain. I never usually run them anywhere near that long but the whole drivetrain is shelled and I'm running it all into the ground. How much longer will it go? Don't know.

I agree with solo-x, most r&d and technology is devoted to 3/32 chains so that's where most of the quality is.
 
#16 ·
If we're going to go by anecdotal evidence, I'm well over 2k miles on an 11spd chain. I think I've lubed it 3 times, and it's never been cleaned. As it turns out, chain manufacturers haven't invested any r&d in 8spd chains for quite some time now. Newer chains utilize better materials, bushings, and production techniques.

Chains wear at the rollers. The difference between the rollers on a 1/8" chain and 3/32" chain is 1/32". So yeah, percentage wise the 3/32" chain is 25% less surface area to work with. So all things equal, in your case sapva, you should get 8yrs and 4k miles out of a modern 11spd chain. Except all things aren't equal and that 11spd chain uses better bushings, tighter tolerances, smoother surfaces, better lubrication properties, harder metals and would actually last longer. And it does all that while being about 1/2lb lighter.
 
#17 ·
11spd chain uses better bushings, tighter tolerances, smoother surfaces, better lubrication properties, harder metals and would actually last longer. And it does all that while being about 1/2lb lighter.
Sounds like something copied and pasted from marketing materials. Hardly think that any manufacturer would use different technology, tooling and materials for only the 11sp line of chains. But if you can get 2k on a chain I'm happy for you. Maybe you should share the brand and model with rest of us. For now, I'm sticking with common sense over a non-existent 2000 mile warranty. The half pound means nothing to me, or I'd never use 1/8 chain in the first place.
 
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