6/19/2023 0 Comments Single speed cog![]() Don't do it! It's dumb and you're gonna hurt yourself on a steep climb. The weight penalty here is practically non-existent there is no benefit whatsoever to using a "Micro-drive" drivetrain on your one-speed off-road bike. I recommend that you pick a big cog out back (18 teeth or larger) and experiment to find a gear ratio you like by varying your chainring sizes up front. Your drivetrain will last longer and will skip less and will launch the chain fewer times if you use larger cogs and chainrings. ![]() Since you never leave that gear, every mile you spin is on the same few teeth. Wear life, too, is improved with more teeth. One tooth makes a huge difference out back with regards to preventing skippage. What my long-winded explanation is getting at is that more teeth are better when it comes to an off-road one-speed drivetrain. Considering that you don't shift, you'll be giving EIGHT teeth the full wrath of your wide load up the harshest vertical climbs you choose to attack. In the case of an 11 tooth cog, that's only 5 or 6 teeth at any given time! Unless your thighs are as big around as a Surly carpenter pencil, you will be able to make any low-gear transmission required for general one-speed off-road riding skip AT WILL, using an 11 tooth cog and its not so different for a 16 tooth cog, probably the smallest rear cog you might have on your one-speed ride. If you didn't realize it, there's only roughly half of the amount of teeth on your cog engaging the chain at any given time. Had you rode around off-road in a 22x11t cross-gear, without a whole lot of effort you could blow the chain right over the top of those teeth regardless of how new or old your components were. If it ever got so hard to pedal that you needed to stand up, you simply shifted to an easier gear. Furthermore, the time spent in these cogs wasn't ever under full-bore high-throttle. Let's face it, most of us never spent (or spend) much time in the 11- and 12-tooth cogs so they don't wear all that fast. The reason why it worked and still does is because you could get away with the smaller cogs for higher gears. Shimano copied and the rest is history - say hello to modern multi-speed MTB transmissions. Matching, lighter, smaller cogs and chainrings and shorter derailleur cages and chains gave the weight freaks something to jump up and down about, and the system actually sorta worked for the rest of us. While not a new idea, high-quality heat-treated steels allowed this design to be realized with some degree of success. "Micro-drive" was made possible at the time by the folks at Suntour by pushing the limits of cog size and making their cassettes with an 11t first position cog. "Micro-drive", a term originally coined and trademarked by the dear departed Maeda Corporation (Suntour), refers to using a system of relatively smaller chainrings and cogs to achieve a similar gear ratio and range as could be achieved previously only with larger chainrings and cogs. ![]() The "Micro-drive" concept is bullsh*t on a single-speed. In the interest of furthering public knowledge and reducing the number of confused-customer-calls we receive, here's some general information about one-speed drivetrains, how to set one up, and what to do if you've bought one of our godforsaken Singleators and can't make it work.ฤก. ![]() No worries, we love you, but just because one-speeds are simple and pure and beautiful and wonderful and all that doesn't mean you get to slap one together, neglect it and expect everything to work correctly. What's more is that a lot of you are new to the sport and haven't identified the idiosyncrasies of the one-speed drivetrain in general and how to build and maintain a good one. Despite the thorough instructions that are shipped with every Singleator, it has been called to our attention that not everyone understands exactly how to install one or what to do in the few instances that installation becomes difficult.
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