CHOOSING THE BEST BMX SPROCKET

Choosing the best BMX sprocket for your bike can be a pretty simple choice these days but the more you dive into BMX the more you pay attention to the finer details and that’s where your choices open up when it comes to BMX Sprockets. We put together the following information to help you make the right choice when buying your next sprocket.

Colony Blaster Sprocket

WHAT GEARING SHOULD YOU RUN

25/9 GEARING

This gearing with a 25 tooth sprocket would be the most common gear ratio within BMX as it suits most styles of riding. Small enough to have clearance with grinding and also a comfortable pedalling pressue. It’s also the size gearing used on almost all freestyle BMX bikes nowadays.

Division Vitara Guard Sprocket

28/9 GEARING

I would say this gearing with a 28 tooth sprocket is gaining more and more popularity lately primarily from the growth of bowl riding as the heavier gearing gives you more speed in a shorter length of time.

“I run 28-9 gearing cause you’re pedaling less but gaining more speed where as a 25 I feel you’ve gotta pedal more to gain speed” - Pat Fallico

23/9 GEARING

I personally ran this gearing for many years, the main reasoning being that I did a lot of crooked grinds so I wanted maximum clearance so that I had less chance of catching the chain or sprocket whilst grinding. It’s not a common size, especially these days because frame geometry has also changed over the years so you can find plenty of frames that have a bottom bracket height that cators for this same issue. Guard sprockets have also become more common which helps with grinding. I know run 25/9 with a Division Vitara Guard sprocket

GUARD SPROCKETS

BMX Guard sprockets are becoming increasingly popular, especially in the street riding scene as they not only protect your chain, they also give your sprocket teeth a much longer life. Not only that, it can also help with smoother grinds such as opposite crooked grinds. They can also be beneficial for transition riders as they will do the same thing in regards to protecting your sprocket from impacts such as hanging up on an air

Colony Menace Gaurd Sprocket

REAR SPROCKETS/DRIVER

You will almost always find that a rider will be running a 9T driver on the rear. Through testing, it's become the most trusted size rear sprocket hence why it's the front sprocket that is usually changed when you want a different gearing ratio. You will find some people offer 10t drivers and even 8t from time to time but it's just not that common.

Colony Wasp Cassette Hub

CNC MACHINED BMX SPROCKETS VS FORGED SPROCKETS

Generally sprockets are CNC machined from 7075-76 Alloy like the Cult DAK Guard sprocket. With CNC machining you can create a more detailed looking stem and are able to remove meterial in areas without compromising strength as it'd done using precise computer equiptment.

Where as forged sprockets such as the Colony Endeavour are forged from a raw block of material using heat and pressue so you can't get as clean and detailed of a look compared to CNC machining. 

Colony Endeavour Sprocket

We hope all this information helps you when searching for your next BMX Sprocket. In this day and age pretty much any sprocket from a trusted BMX brand will be strong and durable so a lot of it can come down to what you like the look of once you've decided if you want a guard sprocket or regular spocket. We've got a great range of both that you can check out here.