Shimano Biopace - Single Speed?

[letmetalktomark]

Hi,

Has anybody ever run a single speed bike with a shimano biopace front ring.

I cannot make up my mind if it would make any difference with it being elliptical (thinks back to maths at school)????

If it would make a slight difference would a sprung chain tensioner take up the slack?

One other…….

The singlespeed cassette jobbies are typically listed as being 8/9speed – does anyone run one on a 7 speed free hub?

Thanks,

Mark

 

[LQQK]

If you can use them on a fixed gear i'm sure they would work on a single speed. This is off the Sheldon Brown site...

"People are often astonished to learn that I ride Biopace chainrings on fixed-gear bikes. They imagine that there will be tremendous changes in chain tension as the chainring rotates. In practice, this is not the case. A 42 tooth chainring will generally engage 21 teeth against 21 chain rollers, regardless of its shape.

There is a slight variation in tension resulting from the varying angle between the two straight runs of chain as the axis of the chainring rotates, but this has not generally been of a sufficient magnitude to cause any problem in practice for me."

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

 

[hollister]

we were just talking about this
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=305187

 

[crogthomas]

Biopace

I use Biopace chainrings on both a fixed gear and on a hub gear bike (which obviously has a single rear cog) with no problems at all. The circumference is the same as a round chainring so it seems to make little or no difference to chain tension. Go for it.