sensitivejonah

Hey guys I am a complete newbie and I am wondering why having a decent chainring is important on a singlespeed/fixie where shifting is not a concern. What is the point in having a nice chainring / how much do you need to spend to have a decent one. Thanks!

SquidPuppet

Good ones are quiet, smooth, and last a long time. Prices vary a lot.

Mumonkan

id say so

hairnet

I had a super cheap chainring once. After a while it looked like the meat of the teeth was being squeezed out the sides.

Leukybear 

Oof

That's actually one of the better endings too, I've seen and heard of them going into the rider instead.

Bandera

The point is to have a Round/Straight/True/Wobble-free chainring that resists deflection under heavy loads and high RPM.
Dumping a chain on a FG because the chainring lacked these qualities is why one selects a nice one instead.

-Bandera

sensitivejonah

Can anyone point me towards one that is nice and that wont break my bank?

hairnet

You need to determine if you have a 130 or 144 bcd crank and your budget.

Bandera

Indeed.
Also fitting a quality chainring (nice to know what size & whether 1/2 x 1/8 or 1/2 x 3/32) to a low quality crankset with inherent wobble & flex makes little sense. It's less expensive in the long run, and far more functional straight away, to purchase to a good quality basic square taper crankset w/ the proper crankarm length, gearing and BB.

Instead of us just guessing how 'bout a pic of your machine from the drive side and a simple statement of:
What frameset, crank model, gearing, use and budget you have.

-Bandera

TejanoTrackie 

Probably the most important characteristic of a chainring for SS or FG use is roundness, because it greatly affects the chain adjustment, since you don't have a spring tensioner as found on a derailleur multi-speed system. This is especially the case on a fixed gear setup where minimal chain slack is desirable.

sensitivejonah

Thanks for all of the info guys!
I do not have a frame for this project yet. I am looking for one and will probably use a circa 74 Nishiki Sport 54 cm frame... I really would like to get away with spending less than 80 bucks on a crankset. I am more interested in how much I need to pay for a decent chainring and what brands are reliable etc. than a specific chainring.

TejanoTrackie 

It will cost you less to buy a decent crankset with a decent chainring than to separately buy a cheap crankset and a good quality chainring. For example, several of my fixed gear bikes have Andel cranksets which cost only about $100 and are good quality.

https://www.retro-gression.com/colle...track-crankset

hardboiled718

kinda wanna hear the story behind this destruction

sleepy

Huh.
I got an old Shimano 600 165mm crankset and a Sram 10 speed Force chainring or a 9 speed Shimano chainring to throw on a future build.
I'll let y'all know if it blows up on me.

Bandera

This.

'70's road frames w/ horizontal dropouts can make good FG road conversions, I ride one myself.
However not all road double cranks from the period are suitable candidates for FG w/ improper chainlines, swaged construction, 3/32" rings and a host of other issues.
The cost effective & functional choice: a good quality basic FG crankset.

As always, suit yourself.

-Bandera

Wendell F

+1 on this. Cost and performance would both suffer if you decided to say, put a Zen ring on noodly cranks. The Andels are a great deal and they're 144 BCD if you decide you want to go for a more porny fancypants ring in the future.

Mumonkan

downhill,
~20 mph,
hit small bump,
chain pops off cog,
chain gets lodged between cog and dropout,
rips chainring in half with a fabulous PING like a garand rifle 30-06 clip flying out,
locks up rear wheel,
bends entire rear triangle,
skid 40 feet,
laughter,
instagram

the sci guy 

Just tossing another option out there https://www.origin8.bike/products/?pi...s%20and%20Sets
I have an Origin 8 crankset on my SS. Nice silver color, has served me well for over 2 years. Plus two of the shops I go to often sell Origin 8 stuff so its nice to be able to see it and get replacements.

SquidPuppet

How is it a fella your age is familiar with the idiosyncrasies of the WWII Thumb Buster?

Mumonkan

any american worth his salt should know about the greatest* gun that ever came out of this country




*imo

TejanoTrackie 

Guess I'm not a real 'murican.

SquidPuppet

My Dad is a Korean war Vet. When I was a little kid we'd go camping in the CA/AZ/NV desert and do a lot of target shooting. Before we'd leave we would make a zillion water balloons and put them in a 55 gallon drum. When we got to the desert we'd leave them outside over the first night and they'd freeze solid. We hung them up on a sawhorse using clothes pins. March 100 yards away and blast them. They shattered nicely.

One of my favorite sounds was that TWANG when the clip ejected. I used to tell my Dad how much I dug the sound. He told me it was one of his least favorite sounds. I had to think about that for a while before it made sense to me.

Mumonkan

Yeah...

Truth be told i wouldve ****ing hated that gun if i had to use it in a combat scenario, for that exact reason.

My uncles were there too, one of them twice. Not many good stories came out of that.
The one that went once met his wife there but, ultimately that was a very tragic as well.

hardboiled718

Damn, good thing it didn't turn out worse.

veganbikes

It wasn't a bad gun in the least but certainly in terms of usage I would go 1911 or M-16 because there have been so many variants over the years and they have had some serious use. Would I own a Garand, heck yes, but I do already have an M-14 and M1 carbine so do I need one, not really. It is certainly a solid weapon that got the U.S. through World War Two but Garand thumb is no fun.

In terms of chainring I would go for Sugino Messenger or Surly if you are running 130bcd. You can thrash around a Messenger and it won't let you down.