34
votes
Accepted
Are single chainring mountain bikes usual?
A 1x drivetrain (single chainring) is pretty much the standard now in mountain biking - you will notice the rear cassette is much wider than the classic 3x7 setup you are used to. The wide rear ...
- 30.4k
34
votes
Accepted
Was I just sold a used cassette?
In all likelihood, the cassette is new. The cassette is manufactured this way. The difference in teeth shape and depth is to assist the chain take-up when you change gears.
Look for wear marks on the ...
- 49k
24
votes
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What are the disadvantages of having an old, worn cogset?
As a chain wears out, the distance between links gets bigger (this is what chain wear tools measure). As this is happening, the chain will grind the cogs to match the worn chain (distance between ...
- 4,175
17
votes
Accepted
What are the ridges seen on sprockets and chainrings for?
They are there to help facilitate shifting. Basically, the ramps you see help when going from a smaller to larger sprocket by catching the side plates of the chain to help the chain be pulled up onto ...
- 46.1k
17
votes
Are single chainring mountain bikes usual?
My understanding is that performance-oriented mountain biking has evolved to take on tougher and more technical terrain. If you design a bike specifically for a 1x drivetrain, then all else equal, it ...
- 29.5k
15
votes
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Should the chain diverge that much?
Yes that's completely normal.
You have one chainring and it has a fixed position. You have 11 gears on the rear, and only one of those could have "perfect chainline" All the rest are ...
- 121k
12
votes
Accepted
How worn is this chainring?
Shows some wear, but looks OK.
All teeth look symmetrical and so do the spaces between them. Really worn teeth look like a swept back shark dorsal fin or develop a visible burr.
Do a Google image ...
- 75.5k
10
votes
Which jockey wheel on top?
Here's a photo of RD-M970 from behind. As you can see, the slotted (guide) pulley goes to knuckle and solid one (tension) to the bottom of cage. I'd align the arrows with chain movement direction that ...
- 5,699
10
votes
Accepted
How do I properly torque a track cog lockring?
A torque specification is not just a torque-spanner setting but a physical property. That is, there are many ways to apply the correct torque.
In this case it means more or less: pull it as tight as ...
- 9,610
9
votes
Accepted
Convert the number of teeth in a chain-based drive train to the number of teeth in a gates-based drive train
You just need the same tooth ratio. The fact that it’s a belt drive with a different tooth size/shape doesn’t change anything about it.
There will be some size/availability constraints (since you can’...
- 26k
8
votes
Accepted
Does effort require to pedal depend on the gear ratio or the gear inches?
Gear inches. Gear inches are, for better or worse, the most commonly recognized way of making the kind of comparison you're trying to make here, which one is harder to pedal. Gear inches are simply ...
- 81.7k
8
votes
What are the disadvantages of having an old, worn cogset?
I've done the opposite to a lot of riders - I had a chainset of unknown mileage and rather than guess, I simply rode the whole thing into the ground.
Shifting got progressively worse over time, but ...
- 121k
8
votes
Are single chainring mountain bikes usual?
The configuration is not unusual at all. It has even become quite common, the smaller front ring and the quite wide ranging cassette for decently spread gearing. It also brings a gain of weight, ...
- 8,259
8
votes
Are single chainring mountain bikes usual?
this bike has an 11-42t Microshift cassette with
11-13-15-18-21-24-28-34-42 cogs
typically previous 9-speed drivetrains used an 11-34t cassette
11-13-15-17-20-23-26-30-34T.
which was updated to 11-36t
...
- 4,170
7
votes
Can an individual gear/cog on the rear cassette be replaced?
According to the late great Sheldon Brown, yes you can change an individual sprocket in a cassette, at least for Shimano. Some cassettes have small bolts or rivets holding the gears together, but ...
- 2,661
7
votes
Accepted
What does marking like "aq/ar" on the sprocket mean?
This has nothing to do with dates.
Shimano introduced cassettes on their road racing groupsets first. I.e. Dura-Ace. The first Deore XT lacked this.
The first Shimano MTB cassette was CS-M732:
https://...
- 4,170
7
votes
Accepted
Possible to identify sprocket without taking the bike apart?
To answer the question as asked:
You'll have a Shimano Nexus gear hub, so you need a sprocket compatible with that. (Any reasonably competent mechanic should have been able to tell you that!)
...
- 75.5k
7
votes
Accepted
How do I remove the rear sprocket from a Gates Belt drive system
It's probably stuck because it's digging in to the freehub body splines.
Install just the lockring without any spacers. Use your cassette lockring tool to immobilize the freehub from turning, and use ...
- 81.7k
7
votes
Accepted
10-teeth/9-teeth Sprocket Efficiency Losses
Looking at the big picture, at 44kph on flat, for a rider producing 400W, drivetrain losses represent only 5% of the total losses (the rest being shared between aero 86% and rolling resitance 9%). ...
- 18.3k
6
votes
Accepted
What does "chain binding" mean?
"Chain binding" occurs when the chain is really tight around the sprockets. No set of sprockets is perfectly round and centered (especially if worn a bit), and if the chain is tight at one spot in ...
- 53.4k
6
votes
Accepted
What is this cogset body?
That's a freehub body.
Look on the hub for the model of hub you have, and then you can use that to find the appropriate freehub body model by looking at the documentation of the hub.
- 46.1k
6
votes
Accepted
What is the top sprocket?
In that context, Top sprocket is the smallest one on the cassette, which gives you the Top or highest gear. (You would think they would match terms Low and High or Top and Bottom.)
- 49k
6
votes
What is causing the chain skip after chain replacement?
Yes, the stretched chain wears the chain ring and sprockets to match its pitch. It's recommended to use a chain gauge (such as this one by Park Tools) so you can replace your chain before it's ...
- 17k
6
votes
Accepted
Upgrading Gates CDN to CDX-EXP
regarding the amount of teeth on the sprockets/crankset:
The ratio between the amount of teeth on the rear sprocket and crankset determines the gear ratio of the bike. Even though you have a gear hub ...
6
votes
Accepted
How to remove this Mavic spoke cover from the rear wheel?
I've not worked on this kind of wheel before, but it looks like the ball-end of the spoke is retained in a recess in the hub, and there's a big C clip stopping them from moving sideways (or up as in ...
- 121k
6
votes
10-teeth/9-teeth Sprocket Efficiency Losses
Studies, yes there are. Here are a couple of VeloNews links that give some unbiased information.
Technical FAQ - Calculating drivetrain friction losses
This link is one of Lennard Zinn's installments ...
- 6,089
6
votes
Convert the number of teeth in a chain-based drive train to the number of teeth in a gates-based drive train
Some completely identical ratios:
11 teeth in front, 4 in back
22 teeth in front, 8 in back
33 teeth in front, 12 in back
44 teeth in front, 16 in back
55 teeth in front, 20 in back
66 teeth in front,...
- 18k
6
votes
How would i go about removing this gear cluster?
You need two chain whips. One to hold the freehub forward and one to unscrew the smallest sprocket, like the old Shimano UG system.
If you only have one chainwhip, you can loosen the sprocket on the ...
- 13.5k
5
votes
50/34 vs 52/36 crankset for 11-32 cassette (shimano 105 5800FC)
50/34 with and 11/32 on the rear is going to be very spinny.
For me - the range is too wide and the gaps between the gears too big. But - this depends on the kind of riding you will be doing. If you ...
- 3,073
5
votes
Accepted
Bike broke, strange parts came out, and doesn't know where to find exact replacement
It is a derailleur pulley, and fairly worn out one at that. The easiest way to find a fitting replacement is to buy a set from an aftermarket manufacturer that comes with adapter shims for different ...
- 21.8k
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