Shown to us at Bespoked Manchester, this is a singlespeed conversion kit for people who don’t necessarily always want to run their hub in a 12 speed configuration and want to go back down to single speed – or vice versa.
“A lot of people run single speed in the off seasons to practice and train and they didn’t really have a good way to do it. So we created this kit to convert that SRAM XD hub back down to a single speed kit.”
Assembly is pretty simple, without the need for loads of tools. A sleeve that slides on, and there’s a little cap that pops over the top. A wide variety of spacers are offered, to get that perfect chain line dialled in. These just slide on.
Then you add your cog. They are made from 7075 machined aluminium – designed to be lightweight but super durable.
The whole thing comes together with a simple lock ring. It can be put on with a bottom bracket tool or a flat wrench.
Wheels MFG offers a multitude of cogs spanning anything from 16 through to 23 tooth. All are 7075 aluminium, and there’s an array of colours available. These are machined at their HQ in Louisville, Colorado. A full kit retails for about $120 U.S.
There’s also a conversion kit for a Shimano HG freehub body, but there are updates on the way this year. A sneak peek was available at Bespoked:
“We’ve always offered a single speed conversion kit for it but we wanted to do a little bit of an update on this kit. So what we’ve done is on the outer ring we’ve had a little bit of knurling to kind of grab the crimp washer a little bit better. We’ve also created a full line of new aluminium cogs.
“They’re offered in the even tooth count profile in narrow to wide tooth patterns and these are also 7075 aluminium. We’ve given them a nice stylised design, and lightened them up a little bit. These will be offered in about seven different anodised colours. Tooth counts to start with are 16, 18, and 20 and we’ll be adding up through to 23 tooth probably in the next three to four months.”
I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones.
More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments.
I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.
An aluminium cog that wears out in a few rides is indeed fairly niche. Still, I’m sure it’ll find a home on some pointless ‘artisan’ bikes that never get ridden.
Crikey! This is a long way from the £6 DMR 16t cog and a bunch of cassette spacers that we used to use. (And still do).
An aluminium cog that wears out in a few rides is indeed fairly niche. Still, I’m sure it’ll find a home on some pointless ‘artisan’ bikes that never get ridden.
Or take the battery out of your rear mech.
My Endless Bikes Alu sprockets lasted surprisingly well.
Reverse components have had something similar for a while but with sensible steel sprockets. Still not cheap though