Originally Posted by
Bad Lag
The steel cogs in my freewheels seemingly last forever.
I'm not sure how many chainrings this bike has had but they are getting harder and harder to find and the cost keeps going up. I'd be willing to take on the small weight differential of a steel chain ring to get nearly infinite life. I'd still have the aluminum crank.
I'm not sure any 144mm BCD steel
road rings were ever made. There may be steel BMX rings, but likely only for 1/8" chain. But 144mm BCD rings are plentiful on eBay, both NOS and used, in a variety of tooth counts, sometimes at very reasonable cost. Just take care to get a
road width (3/32") ring rather than a track (1/8") if you need it for a multi-speed bike. If you're running a FG/SS drivetrain, 1/8" chain will run fine on either 1/8" or 3/32" sprockets and chainrings, so you can mix and match.