singlespeed crankset

Gavin

Yo homies,

I am come into a small amount of money of late, so I have decided to entertain the prospect of replacing my hideous, bent, soldered, triple crankset with a shiney new singlespeed crankset. As cheaply as possible.

So I can either get a cheapo mtb crankset http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=7600

and remove the smallest chainring and move the largest to the middle. I'll need new bolts and this will work yeah ?

Or I can go for a track/singlespeed crankset which I think are a bit more expensive. I've seen ones on ebay for around 50 dollars, 'bulletproof' cranks with chainring, but no shipping to ireland, or else shipping is a tad expensive.

Is there anywhere around in Dublin to get cheap singlespeed cranks, or is the best/cheapest option just to get standard ones ?

I don't think I need to worry about the BCD do I, as I can adjust the rear cog with spacers..?

Cheers,
Gav

Morgan

Is this for a road or mountain bike? What kind of hub do you have on the back? If it's for the road you might be limited in the chainring sizes available in 104mm bcd (if 44 isn't large enough)

Gavin

It's a mountain bike. I have no idea what hub it is, it's some bog standard thing I got with the wheel. It's a freewheel, not freehub, so I just have a bunch of spacers on at the moment.

Ah I got a bit confused there between BCD and the BB width. Yeah, I'm running 42-16 at the moment, so 42,44 would be ideally what I'm after. I didn't realise that it was difficult to get different size chainrings based on road/mtb/track BCD sizes.

Morgan

Spacers?- sounds like a freehub then. In that case it's very straightforward since you have full control over the chainline at the rear. You could even leave the large chainring on the outside. Then either get some single-ring bolts or just add some washers to the existing one.

Gavin

Yeah you're right, freehub, I got confused again. It's a sorry state of affairs really.

Ok grand. I shall keep an eye out on ebay as well for some nice cranksets over the weekend.

Cheers !

Bicyclegadabout

Every time I think I understand singlespeed conversions, something else comes up to boggle me......

If I were to convert my mtb to a single speed could I get:

One of these cranks (bottom of page):
http://www.hubjub.co.uk/stronglight/stronglight.htm
with one of these rings?
http://www.hubjub.co.uk/surly/surly.htm#ss

Stick them on, do some other stuff to the rear wheel, and be away with myself?

Morgan

No, the crank has a 104mm bcd, the Surly rings are 110 and 130 so they won't fit. Plenty of other rings you could use though.

You can read about the "other stuff" here

http://www.mtbr.com/faq/ssfaq.shtml

Bicyclegadabout

Morgan wrote: »

No, the crank has a 104mm bcd, the Surly rings are 110 and 130 so they won't fit. Plenty of other rings you could use though.

You can read about the "other stuff" here

http://www.mtbr.com/faq/ssfaq.shtml

The site sells them as if they go together. Me poor aul head.

Morgan

Oops you're right - I read "mountain crankset" and assumed 104mm (standard mtb bcd). It's actually 110 so it'll work fine with the Surly chainrings.

flickerx

"wheelandsprocket" on eBay seem to do the best deals (incl. P+P) from the USA

TinyExplosions

Penny Farthing on Camden street would get the bits in for you, not sure what the prices are like though..

As for chainring sizes:

As a rule of thumb changing the back sprocket by one tooth makes a difference of approx 4 inches, while added a tooth to the front chainring increases your gearing by 2 inches.

It is usually advisable to have at least 2 front rings and a few back sprockets.

So say for example if you have a 48 & 49 front and a 14/15/16 for the back you would have a good choice of gears for most occasions.

48x16=81 inches (good warm up gear)
49x16=82.7
48x15=86.4 Race gear
49x15=88.2 Race gear (not windy)
48x14=92.6 Very fit & strong
49x14=94.5 Too high

A full chart below and based on that and what is on your bike already you may choose different array of sprockets & chainrings

If you also had a 50 front ring then with those back sprockets you would also have 84.4, 90 (useful) & 96.4

Remember that track chains are thicker and anyold from ring wont do! Also track rings can be changed quite quickly -5 allen keys that screw straight into the armiture.

Rear sprockets come in two basic types. 1. screw on -which will require a chain whip to remove, and 2 a handier version where the body screws on and the sproket just sits on this and is held by a lock ring which requires that head set open ring type tool (whose name i have no idea!!)


As recommended by UK outdoor track......
81" for novices and if you're not fit
84" if reasonably fit and experienced....also intermediate riders if it is windy
88" entry level race gear for FIT riders or super-fit riders on a windy day
90.6" Race gear for very fit or experienced riders ....will be too high for anybody if windy.

http://www.aboc.com.au/tips-and-hints/track-bike-gear-chart

Ring Cog Gear
56 13 116.3
55 13 114.2
54 13 112.2
53 13 110.1
52 13 108.0
56 14 108.0
55 14 106.1
51 13 105.9
54 14 104.1
50 13 103.8
53 14 102.2
49 13 101.8
56 15 100.8
52 14 100.3
48 13 99.7
55 15 99.0
51 14 98.4
47 13 97.6
54 15 97.2
50 14 96.4
46 13 95.5
53 15 95.4
49 14 94.5
56 16 94.5
52 15 93.6
45 13 93.5
55 16 92.8
48 14 92.6
51 15 91.8
44 13 91.4
54 16 91.1
47 14 90.6
50 15 90.0
53 16 89.4
46 14 88.7
49 15 88.2
52 16 87.8
45 14 86.8
48 15 86.4
51 16 86.1
44 14 84.9
47 15 84.6
50 16 84.4
46 15 82.8
49 16 82.7
45 15 81.0
48 16 81.0
47 16 79.3
44 15 79.2
46 16 77.6
45 16 75.9
44 16 74.3

-courtesy of Hugh Byrne on the Track Cycling mailing list

Gavin

Jeese, I'm a pansy, I thought 42-16 was tough enough going through town. More exercise needed.

flickerx, thanks very much for that link ! I spotted a fantastic bling bling crank/chainring combo
http://cgi.ebay.com/SILVER-TRACK-FIXED-GEAR-ROAD-BIKE-CRANKS-CRANKSET-160MM_W0QQitemZ200223315575QQihZ010QQcategoryZ56195QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

Which will go quite nicely with my yellow bike and gold chain. 50 euro including delivery. Slightly more than I wanted to spend but I cycle the thing every day, so may as well get something with a little bit of quality.

Cheers !

Bicyclegadabout

Right so, let’s say I get that as well.
I remove my old *old* chainrings with my Lidl bike tool kit, stick this on, do some other stuff to my rear wheel (which I’ll look at again later), stick a new chain on it, and I’m away?

flickerx

Verb wrote: »

Jeese, I'm a pansy, I thought 42-16 was tough enough going through town. More exercise needed.

flickerx, thanks very much for that link ! I spotted a fantastic bling bling crank/chainring combo
http://cgi.ebay.com/SILVER-TRACK-FIXED-GEAR-ROAD-BIKE-CRANKS-CRANKSET-160MM_W0QQitemZ200223315575QQihZ010QQcategoryZ56195QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

Which will go quite nicely with my yellow bike and gold chain. 50 euro including delivery. Slightly more than I wanted to spend but I cycle the thing every day, so may as well get something with a little bit of quality.

Cheers !

Yo Verb man have you put in your order already with them? I might go halves with you on the postage for a second singlespeed crank and chainring too, if they could do us a deal

Gavin

No, no order yet. You want in as well Bicyclegadabout ?

I'll mail the guy and ask how much p&p will be for three cranksets + chainrings?

Gav

Gavin

Bicyclegadabout wrote: »

Right so, let’s say I get that as well.
I remove my old *old* chainrings with my Lidl bike tool kit, stick this on, do some other stuff to my rear wheel (which I’ll look at again later), stick a new chain on it, and I’m away?

Depends on the rear wheel. If it's a freehub wheel, no problems, you can align the rear cog easily. If it's a freewheel and you put a bmx freewheel cog on, you'll need to be careful on figuring out how to get the chainline correct.

You might also want to check that you've got a square tapered bottom bracket, or else you'll have to replace the BB too.

flickerx

hey verb sorry for not being in touch earlier in the day, wasnt near a computer in work. yeah ask wheelandsprocket how much on top for a second crank+chainring for myself, maybe gadabout wants one too. dont know if I'll be able to get to a PC much over the weekend until sunday night, but i can PM you then and we can arrange some sort of paypal funds transfer etc.

nice one

Gavin

Yeah grand, I'm not in a mad rush. I've emailed them asking prices. I might get bullhorn handlebars and a yellow chain (!!) off them while I'm at it.

I'll PM when they reply and we sort out something.

Gav

fish-head

TinyExplosions wrote: »

Penny Farthing on Camden street would get the bits in for you, not sure what the prices are like though..

Don't go near them, they took me for a complete ride with my first set of fixed wheels. Bastards.

flickerx

Verb wrote: »

Yeah grand, I'm not in a mad rush. I've emailed them asking prices. I might get bullhorn handlebars and a yellow chain (!!) off them while I'm at it.

I'll PM when they reply and we sort out something.

sound, they are very good with the service actually, when i was in touch before with them they threw pedals and some other stuff into the one box and only charged me for the p+p on the crankset

keep me posted

Bicyclegadabout

Hi Verb,

yeah throw me down for one please thanks. Might as well.

I was away for the weekend, apologies for the delay.