The Ultimate Product for Strength Training
Track sprinting is an event of strength and power. At the elite level It isn't uncommon for tactics and mind games to take a second row seat while the rider able to make the first jump and pump out the greatest amount of Watts is the winner.
One method of training for maximum strength and power on the bike is by doing efforts on massive gears (much larger than you would ride on race day). For the top level track sprinters, they could be setting a flying 200m time on a 145” and dropping down to a measly 135” for a match sprint. If 145” is a race gear, and you're needing to train on larger gears up closer to 200”, and your frameset can only fit an xx tooth chainring, the only way up is to go down some teeth on the rear sprocket.
Check out the Velobike Gear Calculator to measure track bike gear ratios and time estimations from your speed and cadence.
Since we developed the world's first 11 tooth track sprocket specifically for this problem, we have now gone one step further to launch a 10 and 9 tooth track sprocket.
We aren't the first to make such a sprocket. Sugino made something similar that now seems to be discontinued. The gold anodized aluminium sprockets threaded on just as normal, but spaced the teeth outside of the lock ring threads. A clever asymmetrical tooth profile guides the chain across and into the trough of the tooth. The Sugino sprockets had a flaw however. Being made of aluminium, they tended to get chewed up a bit. I have heard of a few even shearing off due to the softer nature of the material.
Taking the insights from the Sugino product into account, we have developed our own 9 and 10 tooth sprockets that solve the need for larger gear ratios for track sprinters. Made from a high grade stainless steel, the sprockets feature a similar innovative tooth profile that distributes chain roller point loading to multiple teeth around the sprocket. The greater distribution of forces reduces noise, sprocket wear and chain fatigue under high power environments. Similar to the Sugino sprockets, an asymmetric tooth profile helps guide the chain across and into the trough of the tooth, reducing the chance of the chain skipping or falling off.
Check out the 9/10 Tooth Sprocket page for more information.