Mountain Biking - SS time!!!!

Today at work(if working at a bikeshop is work) I was cleaning out the warehouse for my boss and I found a decent set of rims, and a nice Schwinn frame that is my size(it's 3-4 years old). I asked my boss if he wanted the stuff...nope!!!! He said I can use whatever I need to build my SS!!! Wooo hoo!!!

:beer:

Good luck. Once you ride it you may snub your other bike(s.)

I've set up a fixie for the winter and I'm having a real hard time convincing myself to go back to the roadbike on the long weekend rides as I'm having so much fun on the old beater.

Make sure to give us the details once you're done with the build.

:)

Excellent. I helped 3 people towards their conversions last week.:beer:

sweet. i think all i need to do for my SS build is a longer/flatter stem. that and align my rear cog.:beer:

I got it finished today!!! It is friggin awesome!! I put a bike rack on it for carrying stuff, and I'm getting some fenders for the rainy season. I'm not sure what the ratio is, I think it's a 32/12 or a 32/13, I'll check later. On the ride home the chain was a little loose, so it popped off a few times. When I got home I dug around and found a rear der. and hooked it up so it pushes the chain down( I couldn't hook it up normally because I made the chain small, so there wasn't enough to thread through the der). Now all problems are cured!!!! Now I just need a few pair of baggies and I'll be set.

got mine done today too, its fun to ride. still a few bugs in it though. my frame is horizontal drop so the tension in the chain causes the wheel to shift. turns out the wheel axle doesnt sit all the way back, so i had to keep it a little bit out on both sides, but doing so the skewer isnt contacting the flattest part of the surface on the drops. hopefully i'll get mine figured out soon.

btw good luck on your SS;)

I hope you guys find yourselves spending plenty of time turning your own wrenches on your SSs.

I'm doing maintenance that I never thought I could pull off on my fixie because the whole machine is so simple even I can take it apart and put it back together again (hopefully a little better than before.) :)

I just rebuilt my rear hub yesterday and then swapped my gearing from a 44X21 to a 48X21 which will go to a 48X18 whenever the new cog comes in and, hopefully, eventually a 48X16 by the time the early racing season starts.

This hasn't turned out to be as cheap as it was originally planned though. This fall I've already replaced the stem/handlebar, put on a new chainring, ordered two new cogs, put on new Tufo tires, replaced the chain, ordered some new tools...hey, the frame was free. :D

it's never as cheap as you thought it would be, is it?:p

i still can't get the rear wheel to seat correctly in the drop:mad:

What kind of dropouts have you got?

My Trek has finally been built up into an SS, and handed over to the wife...:D

Can't wait to go out for our first ride together...

Rich

p.s. Hey, singlespeeders unite!

Originally posted by Brian_T
What kind of dropouts have you got?

horizontal drops... the tension of the chain keeps bringing the wheel out of alignent/seating.

I don't know if they would work with your particular dropouts, tFUnK, but BMX makers also make chain tensioners for horizontal dropouts. Their main purpose (I think) is too help reposition the whell if you have to take it off, but they might help keep the wheel in place as well.

They are small pieces of aluminum with a hole in them through which the axel passes. On the back is a sliding piece attached to an allen bolt. When you tighten the bolt it pushes the slider forward and pulls the wheel backwords. They work great on my Redline Monocog and are cheap to get, but again not sure they would work with your dropout/axel setup.

Originally posted by MiniBullitRider
I don't know if they would work with your particular dropouts, tFUnK, but BMX makers also make chain tensioners for horizontal dropouts. Their main purpose (I think) is too help reposition the whell if you have to take it off, but they might help keep the wheel in place as well.

They are small pieces of aluminum with a hole in them through which the axel passes. On the back is a sliding piece attached to an allen bolt. When you tighten the bolt it pushes the slider forward and pulls the wheel backwords. They work great on my Redline Monocog and are cheap to get, but again not sure they would work with your dropout/axel setup.

thanks, you got a picture or a website i can look at to see what they are about?

Use a reaer der for a chain tensioner, that's what I'm doing. It can be an old piece of junk! Surly makes a chain tensioner to, but I don't know a whole lot about it.

Originally posted by fubar5
Use a reaer der for a chain tensioner, that's what I'm doing. It can be an old piece of junk! Surly makes a chain tensioner to, but I don't know a whole lot about it.

thats not what i need. i got horizontal dropouts with no derailleur hanger. probably going to go with a non-QR axle to remedy the problem.

Here's a few links for you tFUnK

Here are mine
http://www.fizzzbikeshop.com/v2/product.asp?ID=CTPL0001&catID=CT

Circular Ones. . . Interesting.
http://bikezoneinc.com/site/showitem.cfm?Category=177&searchtype=Category&Catalog=39

Not the discos, although they do look interesting.
http://www.offcamber.com/Product_Reviews/Discos.html

Anyway. I think you get the idea. I would just go to where ever the local BMXers hang out when they break stuff.

good links, thanks! btw what is the size for standard mtb 3/8 or 14mm?

Originally posted by tFUnK


thanks, you got a picture or a website i can look at to see what they are about? Danscomp.com has what you need.

I'm not sure what size a standard MTB axel is. 14mm is pretty huge though. Type of thing you might see on adownhill bike with rear through axle. So I'd GUESS 3/8.

But the way, meant to mention it before. Non QR is, IMO, the best way to go with a SS rear wheel.

Good Luck. SS is so great. I'd even go so far as to fall back to early 90's and call it RAD.

Originally posted by tFUnK


horizontal drops... the tension of the chain keeps bringing the wheel out of alignent/seating.

I agree with the non-QR rear hub. For a short time, I had the same problem with my rear QR. I then switched to a bolt-on SS rear hub, and all my problems were solved.

you guys are saying that i need a new hub? cant just put a solid axle through the one i got now? i got an older wheel 7sp and it's got a solid axle and it's thicker than the QR. configuration is quite different than what's on my bike now...

Not an expert on the subject, so don't kill when I'm wrong, but I think QR and solid axles are the same diameter. They fit in the same dropout anyway (QR just being hollow and shorter to let the skewer do its thing.). So you could probably just get a new solid axle, put it through your existing hub, play the cone spacing game, and use some large nuts to hold the thing to the frame.

my QR and soild axles are not the same diameter. maybe i could go check up on that, maybe there is a solid axle that will fit through my hub. or i may go to the hardware store and find a long enough bolt and work with that.