Popping my fixie cherry

[trickylad]

Considering my first ever fixie build but haven't got a scooby really about how to go about it.

My knowledge extends as far as no mechs single crank and front brake only. Embarrassing really what goes on the back hub god only knows.

Anyone of you clever folk spare me the time to drop me a few hints?

Cheers all.

Trickylad

 

[eastcoaststeve]

White Industries Eno hub makes chain tension a snap, and it can be used wiith a freewheel on the other side if you decide fixed isn't your cup of tea. Love mine.

cheers.

 

[beagle]

The rear hub has a fixed cog and a reverse threaded lockring on it. You need a hub that's supposed to be fixed, you can't convert a free hub by changing the cassette like you can with single speed.

You need an eccentric hub (as eastcoaststeve says), eccentric BB or horizontal dropouts to get chain tension, running one of those mech hanger tensioners isn't a good idea on a fixed bike. Magic ratio will work but the chain will get slacker as it wares.

Apart from that, it's the same as single speed (except you can't coast, obviously).

 

[lewis1641]

i am plucking up the courage to try this on my sloty dropout inbred. i have bought a bolt on sprocket from velosolo. it bolts to a 6 bolt disc mount.

http://www.velosolo.co.uk/shopdisc.html

 

[one-eyed_jim]

Considering my first ever fixie build but haven't got a scooby really about how to go about it.

Probably the best place to start is Sheldon Brown's site:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/fixed.html

Just about everything you need to know is there. For off-road specific advice, Will Meister's 63xc.com is good:

http://www.63xc.com/gregg/101_1.htm

Hubjub is his commercial site:

http://www.hubjub.co.uk/

The London Fixed Gear and Singlespeed Forum is also a likely source of advice:

http://www.lfgss.com/

 

[trickylad]

Thanks both. Very much appreciated. Will do some research when the wife's not looking.

 

[PIGEON]

If your dropouts are like this:

I probably wouldn't bother because it makes things much more expensive/difficult. What you want are dropouts like these:

With the latter you can adjust chain tension by moving the wheel backward.

About the brakes, different people have different opinions. I personally ride my fixed bike brakeless, which in my experience is marginally safer then a front brake only. Emergency stops are obviuosly pretty difficult without brakes, but performing an emergency stop with a front brake will likely throw you over the handlebars. So either way it's conciderably more dangerous than a normal bike with 2 brakes, but having a front brake made me overconfident while in reality it doesn't allow for more efficient emergency braking. I need to be reminded of the lack of stopping power all the time, and a brake lever on the handlebar doesn't help at that. If the chain snaps at high speed without brakes though, you're f***ed :?

Lastly note that you do need two cranks, but only one chainring

 

[trickylad]

Drop outs are like the former not the latter. Is that why I've seen pickle's Karakoram with a chain tensioner to make things easier?

Hmmmmm :shock:

 

[lewis1641]

pickle's karakoram is single speed with a freewheel, not a fixed gear.

you can use a tensioner on a singlespeed but not fixed

 

[velomaniac]

If you run your chainline as inboard as possible you can use a ghost gear to tension a fixie with vertical dropouts.

A 'Ghost' gear is a chainring whose teeth engage with the chain but otherwise is in no way attached to the bike.

The chainline needs to be inboard because the chainring needs to be able to be adjusted one tooth at a time backward toward the rear sprocket until tension is achieved without colliding with the chainstay. The chainring needs to be bigger than the rear sprocket in order to engage the chain and not touch the rear sprocket.

The whole thing looks really smart as you roll along. Recently I did 4 laps of the Strathpuffer lite course on my SS mtb with this arrangement of tensioner with no problems