I recently built up a beater for riding around the city and to the bar, and wanted to keep it simple, so I set it up single speed. For cranks, I slapped on an old pair of suntour triple-ring cranks I had laying around, using just the big ring (46) and 14 in the rear (the chainline was perfectly straight, btw). On the second ride, while coming up a hill, the big ring just folded over and I nearly went over the bars.
Since it's a beater I didn't want to put much cash into it, so I found a brand new pair of shimano alivio cranks on ebay for cheap. Since the big ring was only 42, I thought maybe these would work. Third ride, same thing happened. WTF? I see guys on track bikes with way harder gear ratios -- are single speed rings thicker than regular rings? Or is it just that the rings on the cheaper cranks are a softer metal? I mean, I'm a fairly strong rider and all, but come on -- I've been riding mountain bike for over ten years and have never seen rings fold over like that before. Anyone else ever experience this? any suggestions?
Since it's a beater I didn't want to put much cash into it, so I found a brand new pair of shimano alivio cranks on ebay for cheap. Since the big ring was only 42, I thought maybe these would work. Third ride, same thing happened. WTF? I see guys on track bikes with way harder gear ratios -- are single speed rings thicker than regular rings? Or is it just that the rings on the cheaper cranks are a softer metal? I mean, I'm a fairly strong rider and all, but come on -- I've been riding mountain bike for over ten years and have never seen rings fold over like that before. Anyone else ever experience this? any suggestions?