Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Creating questionable and dangerous singlespeeds at home

Hello all,
I am in the process of crafting my first singlespeed from a Schwinn Traveler. I have stripped the bike and I guess I could leave the freewheel, but that wouldn't be fun. Could somebody describe the process in detail of creating a suicide hub (I will have a front brake on this bike, no worries). I assume I will need a spanner wrench, where can I find such a specialized tool. Are there any other specialty tools that I will need?
Thanks,
j

http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html

if your like me and eat rice for dinner everyday.
just take a handful and mash it up with a spoon.
then stuff it into the threads and everything else to jam up your cassette.
then go to your basement and dig out some crazy glue and glue that shiz up.

or... just fork out 150 - 250 for a REAL wheelset which is anything laced to formula hubs.
trust me, you don't want to risk your life/body on a POS suicide hub.

cough*nashbar.comforumlahubtomavicwheelsetonsale$150bucksaddpromotionalcodewd110toget10%offbutididnt sayanything*cough

thats the most useful bunch of mumbo jumbo i've ever read this entire week. thanks.
you should start up a thread titled that.

here's the link for the bizarro nashbar reply above.

cheap wheels! (http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=131&subcategory=1197&brand=&sku=13712&storetype=&estoreid=&pagename=)

i'd help you with the suicide hub, but i haven't ever had the guts to try one.

also, has anyone else ever noticed that nashbar's always freaking SPOT ON with their suggested accessories? that's something that has always impressed me.

noob question: what is a suicide hub?
Im guessing it has a reputation of failing at the wrong time

suicide hubs are standard freewheel hubs with a track cog and a bottom bracket lockring threaded onto them. since there is no reverse thread for a track lockring, the whole damn thing can come right off when you apply backpressure.

some people ride them with success, but i've heard enough horror stories to stay away from them.

edit - i don't know if that came out clear. on a freewheel hub, the threads are the same all the way across. on a fixed hub, there are 2 different sets of threads. one set for the cog and one set that is smaller and reverse threaded for the lockring.

noob question: what is a suicide hub?
Im guessing it has a reputation of failing at the wrong time


a suicide hub is when you take a track cog and thread it on to a non-track hub with or without a lockring of some sort to attempt to ride a fixed gear. Nothing short of a track hub with a track cog and a correct track lockring is going to give you anything even close to a safe bike, especially if you're dumb enough to ride without a brake. A track hub has two sets of threads next to each other. The cog threads on to the larger set, and the lockring threads on to the REVERSE THREADED portion of the hub immediately next to the cog. because the lockring is threaded in the opposite direction, the cog won't thread off when you pedal backwards to slow down.


the picture shows a track hub with the two sets of threads and the appropriate track nuts, which will actually keep a track wheel in place, unlike a quick release.

basically you take a road hub which doesn't have a threading for a lockring
and you thread on a fixed cog.
and when you thread on this fixed cog, you apply liberal amounts of loctite or similar stuff to lock up the cog.

This kinda works as long as you never back pedal or skid....
but if you do, and your loctite doesn't hold, your cog will IMMEDIATELY unthread itself off the hub which in turn f-'s you up.

and thats where the conventional track hub comes in.
with a track hub, you thread on your fixed cog. and then you thread on a lockring which has a reverse (left) threading. This prevents your cog from slipping off.

*edit*
^
|
|
| ditto what he said. :p

You can keep a quick release from slipping, you just need a good (read: enclosed cam) one.

Bolt-on is just easier.

Memo to self: double check rear wheel tonight!

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/givexmeoxygen/fe6c5467.jpg

^best definition of a suicide hub^

Wow 4 responses, thanks guys I now know the ins and outs of suicide hubs, stay away from them.

I would have thought locktight would hold. Dad bought a MG midget with knockoff wheels. One of the hub and wheels were stuffed and the previous owner (in their infinite wisdom) locktighted it on. It took a lot of hours to get the thing off (lots of wd40), you would have been stuffed if the wheel went flat while driving.

if you're gonna go suicide, use jb-weld

woah! orangie-red spokes! now those are cool.
and i'm liking that make-shift lockring haha.

woah! orangie-red spokes! now those are cool.
and i'm liking that make-shift lockring haha.

that make-shift lockring you are talking about was my attempt at making a ghetto spacer to keep my rear wheel in the drop outs.

if you're gonna go suicide, use jb-weld

i prefer red locktite, only comes off with heat, i've never used JB weld but the red locktite is till sticking in there on my conversion fixie, that has no brakes.

i dunno about suicide hubs...lots of people ride them with no problems, but it worries me. then again, sheldon brown endorses them. so that suggests to me that, properly done, they can be a viable solution to making a cheap fixed gear.

so...what constitues properly done? the fine points, you know?

This thread is admissable in the Law and Order episode where we get arrested for negligent homicide. I'm totally turning state's.

i dunno about suicide hubs...lots of people ride them with no problems, but it worries me. then again, sheldon brown endorses them. so that suggests to me that, properly done, they can be a viable solution to making a cheap fixed gear.

so...what constitues properly done? the fine points, you know?


i think in reading a previous thread about this, sheldon brown posted that he only endorses a suicide hub with both a front and rear brake.

i guess properly done would be some sort of thread filler, a cog, a BB lockring, and 2 brakes.

I fully endorse suicide hubs on bikes that do not get ridden. I see no harm in it.