Product Review: Quiet Cog... Aka Superstar

I was never too happy about the noise of my drivetrain. For me it was too noisy and I always wanted quiet one. I even went to see a local track bike mechanic and he did a test ride and confirmed that there was nothing disturbing or unusual with the sound of my drivetrain. Cog was Phil Wood (17t), chain HKK Vertex blue and chain ring Campagnolo (48t).

After reading about EAI Superstar polished cog I decided to give it try... Got it yesterday and I've put it on the bike straight away. For fair comparison I haven't changed anything else and chain has not been re-lubricated . Simple change... old cog out, new one in. Cog Is the same size as old one (17t), looks much smoother and shinier than Phil Wood.

EAI Superstar sounds far less noisy than Phil Wood cog. So, if you are not quite happy with the sound of your drivetrain and there are no problems with it (chain line not straight or doggy/rusty/not lubricated chain) try EAI Superstar polished cog. In my case it reduced a noise quite a lot... It's not dead quiet but it's whisper quiet compared to the old one. In traffic I am not able to hear anything coming from my drive train any more. When there is no surrounding noise I could just hear it.

I also have a Phil Wood cog that is pretty and shinny, but the most noisy out of all my cogs. Funny thing, my most quiet cog is a cheap Surly one!

Maybe it has nothing to do with finish and metal type, but rather the design and pitch of the teeth and the width of the cog and how it matches up with your chainline.

I've tried a handful of cogs, and it's not always the most expensive that are the quietest or smoothest.

I love it when my bike is nice and loud. Makes me feel like a big man.

I try not to be bothered too much by drivetrain noise but sometimes it really does irk me. After a fresh lubrication things are nice and quiet but give it a day out on the road and it can be pretty noisy. I never really thought of the cog itself as a contributing factor. I've got a Dura-Ace which is in perfect shape but I wanted to bump up the tooth count from 15 to 17 one of these days. Might just give the EAI a shot.

Should we be changing cogs every few thousand miles (like we do chains)?

Do the tools they use to check chains for wear on road bikes at the shop work for 1/8 inch chains?

I took my cheap generic $15 cog (origin 8 or Pake or something) and mounted it to my angle grinder with a large washer, then polished each side of it with wet sanding paper and a bit of water... 400grit 600grit 800 grit, 1000 grit 1500 grit, and then ran it over a leather strop with jeweler's rouge. polished the sides of that thing out to a mirror finish, then giving the inside of the individual teeth a very gentle once over with each grit of sanding paper wrapped around a chopstick.
after an hour of putzing around and 20 minutes of polishing, my rear end was dramatically quieter, just the sound of the tires on the pavement.
I'm still slow, but I like shiny things.
Getting the chainline perfect to begin with, the getting the rear wheel mounted perfectly straight, and a well lubed chain are the most important thing.

Try an HKK chain, Campagnolo steel cog and MKS chain tensionner, it's a bit expensive to began with but no noise and hardly any wear. I have this set-up on my bike for 3 seasons and no problems what so ever. I tried different brands of chains over the years and nothing comes near to an HKK. My 2 cents.