Sprocket help..

[robwizard]

So the sprocket that came on my cruiser is tripe. The chrome was never chromey to begin with and over years of neglect it has, surprisingly, not got any better. I thought I would just grab a new one, second hand one piece sprocket will be easy to find! Nope. Stuck again..

I have however found a few nice looking sprockets which come attached to square taper cranks off old town bikes. My question is double barreled. Firstly what is a more authentic beach cruiser crank setup? One piece or cottered? And secondly will a cottered sprocket fit a one piece crank and vice versa?

Cheers

 

[Bicycle808]

Basically every cruiser made in the states from the 1930s through to present day (excepting a few26" BMX cruisers with 3piece crans) had a OPC as standard equipment. I've noticed that some popular-in-the-UK BMX sprockets (eg, Renthals, which are made in the UK) have the proper-sized 15/16" (23.8mm) bore for a OPC, and you'll use a "hat" spacer to trim it down to 22mm or 19mm for typical BMX cranks. Here's some quick'n'dirty searches:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_o...nkw=one+piece+sprocket&_sacat=57262&_from=R40

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_o...nwheel&_nkw=one+piece+chainwheel&_sacat=57262

These, of course will mostly have an old-school BMX look to them. I don't know what int'l shipping is like on a very flat package hat's maybe 8" square, but you might see if any of us Yanks will facilitate an old Schwinn or Wald sprocket if you foot the shipping expense....

 

[Bicycle808]

PS- most cottered sprockets are attached to the crankarm. In some cases, the cottered crankset will have a n attached spider, with 5-bolt chairings that attach to the spider. Similaly, it is possible to buy a spider (or, if you're a retro bmx guy, a powerdisc) that will attach to the OPC just like a sprocket would, andthese tend to be 110mm 5 bolt patterns, with many powerdiscs having ten holes, thus allowing for either 110mm or 130mm chainrings to be fitted.