For decades, smarter engineers at bigger companies than ours have tried to reinvent the bicycle sprocket, with limited success. In the ‘70s Addicks made BMX chainrings from plastic. Result? Disintegration and bankruptcy. Shimano followed suit in the late ‘70s with Dura Ace 10—the first micro drivetrain for bicycles—and a few years later with Biopace—Japanese for “egg-shaped,” it seemed at the time. Neither innovation survived. Today one BMX company makes spline drive sprockets, and another makes a sprocket that only fits their proprietary spindle size. When sub-30-tooth sprockets became the fashion in BMX, function was relegated to variables like tooth size (1/8” or 3/32”), tooth count and
material. In our opinion it doesn’t make sense to add cost or complication to a solution in search for a problem. That’s why we make the Ola sprocket in every size from 22 to 30 teeth, and why our CNC-machined 7075 alloy sprockets are drilled to fit both 19mm and 22mm OD spindles with a supplied steel hat-shaped spacer. These ideas have been around for 25 years, and they will be around for 25 more. Unless, of course, BMX gearing gets so small there’s no longer any teeth on the sprocket, then we’ll all just ride Razor scooters.
www.snafubmx.com