Lots of BMX parts seem to be creeping onto MTB’s these days. And for good reasons, BMX seems to have its priorities right, durability, price, and then weight.

The Shimano DX sprocket is only really of interest to singlespeeders. If you’re running a single cassette sprocket and spacers, you really want to get one of these.

It costs £2.99, cheap enough to buy a new one every week, but that’s exactly what you won’t need to do with it. Its designed to fit a DX BMX hub but will slide straight onto a mtb cassette body, and comes in 14, 15, 16, and 18 tooth. The 16’s perfect to run with a 32 at the front for the standard 2:1 singlespeed ratio.

So why bother using this sprocket instead of one nicked from an old cassette? Because this one’s designed for the job – NOT SHIFTING. To make cassettes shift oh so smooth, Shimano make teeth shallower, narrower and take away metal from the side of them to make ramps. Not with the DX sprocket, the teeth are longer and thicker than a normal sprocket, so there’s more metal and contact area, meaning less wear. The lack of ramps stops the chain constantly trying to shift meaning you won’t keep dropping your chain. Also the splines are set up so that when it does eventually wear, you can flip it round and in theory and have a brand new sprocket, but i haven’t tried this yet- it might not work too well.

If you’re running a singlespeed with a spaced sprocket on a mtb hub I strongly reccomend investing in one of these, it’ll last longer and…. um thats all, its solid cheap and reliable just like all things ss should be.

Rating: 5/5

P.S Halfords do them if you’re having trouble finding one.