Hello! I am working on building up a 1x set up and noticed that the cranks I sourced have a little bit of overlap where the chain will sit on the chainring. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with this and could offer input or advice.
I’ve considered filing down the spider part of my cranks so they could fit without overlap.
Will this overlap wear on the chain in a way that will age the other drive train components faster than usual?
Will filing the cranks’ spider be detrimental to its performance?
Should I just look into sourcing new cranks?
Thank you!
by sam_and_me_now
9 Comments
Install it and see if the chain is hitting that overlap. If your lucky you might get away with it.
I have filed (actually, used a power sander) a crank spider to create clearance for the chain. When these cranks were made, no one was putting such small single rings on them. You’ll have to take off more material than it first appears — the bevel around the front side of the ring will likely be your guide. Put some chain on there and see.
After the initial sanding, I used finer grades of sand paper to smooth it out, to make a clean finish. Optional.
If you want to put the time in you could remove that little bit of material from each spider arm. That or size up a couple teeth or look for new arms.
You’re probably fine filing the spider down a bit
Just get a 40 tooth chainring?
Get the file going!
I’d just get a 39-tooth chainring unless there’s some compelling reason you absolutely positively must have a 38.
You could file the arms or size-up the ring. You should also give a critical eye to the chain line from the ring to the cassette. Moving the ring to the back side of the spider might give you a more centered line.
Thanks everybody! The maximum/minimum speed difference at 90 rpm for the cassette I’ll be running seems fine for a 40t, so I will probably go forward getting a larger chainring