Hello

My nephew is working as a bike messenger, of course he keeps blowing his drivetrain!
-he puts in about 110 km a day all week…..

i have set him up with a no name single ring crankset, a 3/32 single speed chain, and a road wheel, with free hub, that i have converted to single speed with spacers and sprocket.

but i can see the sprocket wears quite fast, but also the front ring wears fast.

1/2″ × 1/8″ i believe is wider, and i know you can get some specific single speed chainrings, and also
a i believe a screw on shimano freewheel, – is that a stronger setup ?
-i know i would have to have build a new wheel/hub for that..

but basically i just look for the strongest, simplest setup 🙂

Thank you

fixed !

the chainset makes not much odds as long as the chainline is right and as long as everything is set up right so it doesn’t flex or wobble

KMC Z510 chains are great

fixed cogs are cheap and easy to replace – and you don’t burn out the rim cos you don’t need a rear brake, you do need a front brake tho, you can’t manoeuvre away from cars that are driven by knuckle-draggers

rob** everything from an (old skool 44:16) BMX.. those parts are always* solid

*ignoring halflink/fashion chains

**by “rob” I mean source and buy new obvs. 😉

Steel chainring. Aluminium wears fast even if you go for a fatter tooth profile.

Chainrings will only wear in 2 sectors, so after a while unbolt and rotate them on the cranks to wear the unused bits. Might need to file off burrs on sides of the “used” teeth. If feeling really mean then flip the ring over to wear the unused flanks on the rear of the teeth. And then rotate on bolt holes again 🙂

Chainring and sprocket with teeth numbers that aren’t a multiple of each other – that evens out the wear on the sprocket teeth.

People have different views on chains (replace or run into ground). Maybe have a few spares and rotate them each time you turn the chainring?

Don’t use BMX half link chains – I’ve seen lots with cracked sideplates.

Also if you go for a bigger chainring and correspondingly sized track sprocket you spread the load more, reducing wear.

I think the strongest setup is screw on hub + freewheel e.g White Industry, you can change the cogs and rebuild with the WI. I would check his chain tension as that can speed up tooth wear.

The freehub will be just as hardy as a screw-on freewheel (internally), so no need to rebuild for that. You just need a steel ring and a steel wide-base sprocket (On-One, Surly, something like that) and a steady supply of cheap chains. I would probably favour 1/8″ over 3/32″ for the wear (thicker rings and sprockets), although there is an argument that 3/32″ chains tend to be better quality (for the price).

And to minimise wear use a lube that runs quite dry but which is cheap and you can reapply easily – maybe something like Squirt?

I got a singlsepeed specific chainring from the Onone website. don’t know if they still do them. It has lasted well. The only other thing I would add is that I wouldn’t bother with sliding dropouts again for tensioning the chain. Mine was such a faff and chain tension was hard to manage which caused increased wear to the drive train.

bigger chainring and correspondingly sized track sprocket

^^ This – more teeth engaged with the chain reduces wear and tear on sprockets and chains 😆

Goldtec track hubs, Mavic Open pro rims, stainless steel chainring, fixed or White Industries freewheel, KMC Z SS chain & I’d go 3/32″.

where can you buy goldtec hubs these days?

BETD innit http://www.mountainbikecomponents.co.uk/items.asp?CategoryID=15&Name=Goldtec+Track+Hubs+%2D+Rims+%2D+Wheel+Build+Options

Unless he wants a fixed wheel or wider flanged hub I’d just use a normal shimano hub on a tough rim over a freewheel arrangement, spendy WI parts asside the freehubs are almost always better than freewheels, so you’ll get several sprockets to a freehub.

Asside from that its a question of preferance whether he prefers servicing shimano cup and cones or others cartridge bearings, IME both are about equal on a road bike.

Surly steel front chainring, Surly cassette sprockets for the rear. KMC chain.

(I use On-One on the rear, but someone else reported faster wear on them)

Oh, and mudguards and a chainguard. Cut the amount of spray hitting the chain and you reduce the problem.

Try and use tooth counts that aren’t multiples of each other to spread the wear more evenly. The same spot on the chain will engage the same points on both sprockets at the same time much less often, ie on my SS I used 33/17 rather than 32/16 or 34/17.

Kayla1 – is that not more dependant on chainstay length?

on one sprockets are better than surly imo.
steel chainring (surly make em)
kmc 510hx (610hx is 3/32″)

Why would it depend on chainstay length? If you have horizontal dropouts you can move the wheel back and if you have vertical dropouts you’d use a tensioner (I’m assuming) 😕 I just stuck the sprockets on and wound the chain device round to tension the chain which worked ok.

edit- like this-

Try and use tooth counts that aren’t multiples of each other to spread the wear more evenly. The same spot on the chain will engage the same points on both sprockets at the same time much less often, ie on my SS I used 33/17 rather than 32/16 or 34/17

I think I already said that 4th post in… 🙂

If chainstay length is critical / adjustment limited, then changing ratios in steps of 4 teeth (e.g. 4 teeth less on front or 2 off front and 2 off back) approximately equals removing or adding 1 whole link.

Shimano QR (freehub type) hubs can also be rebuilt around a solid axle for rock solid wheel retention and theft limitation. Splined rear sprockets can also be reversed to double wear (you can also do this with screw on fixed but might need to adjust chainline).

😆

Shows how much attention I pay!

I’ve got a Surly cog on my fixie. They are steel so hard wearing. It was about £20 so more expensive than normal. It’s been on for over 2 years and no signs of wear at all.