Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - My fixie's tryin' to tell me somethin'

Don't you love the way your fixie talks to you? Last night my rear end was talking and I wasn't listening. I'd tightened up the track nuts two days ago, what was it whining about. I thought maybe it was just in need of some lube. I was hoping against hope it wasn't another Surley hub going into self destruct mode. I had one blow earlier this year and had to walk a bike home a mile.

It wasn't the hub, it was my fixed gear letting me know it was going to throw the chain, cause it could. A little chain stretch was just enough to allow the chain to pop the rear 17t, and foul up the crank, wedging between the crank arm and the BB tube. At least it wasn't a busted chain, there was a storm brewing. I had images of walking/pushing the bike home in a thunder storm.
Fortunately I got to ride instead.

Note to self, listen to the bike, it's telling me something.

Naisme..........now WHY did your chain pop out of the cog in the first place?

did you ever find out what caused that hub to break?

The frame is an old Schwinn World Sport, the drops don't go all the way back so the hub can and does after a few rides move a bit forward, that and a new chain that is being stretched gave it just enough wiggle room and it popped off.

As for why the hub broke. No idea. I have a feeling it has a little to do with my size, the way the wheel was built(I didn't build this wheel) and a faulty bearing. I had come around a corner, that put stress on the spokes that weren't faced the right way, the load spokes were backwards and that allowed a lot of flex in the wheel it jammed against the chain stays, but with my weight and the speed I was doing into the turn, along with my hammering through the turn well, it popped and I came to a skid.

i wonder if your problem was a one-time-thing type of deal... did you talk with surly at all about the hub? i use their hubs on the track, and i'm a hefty guy myself (somewhere around 200 i'd guess). the last thing i need is to take down the pack because my hubs failed. i could care less if i go down, but i'd rather not take anyone else with me.

your story sounds more like it was just a wheel that was built up poorly rather than a faulty hub. that's somewhat reassuring.

The frame is an old Schwinn World Sport, the drops don't go all the way back so the hub can and does after a few rides move a bit forward, that and a new chain that is being stretched gave it just enough wiggle room and it popped off.


If your hub is moving around in the drops, you need to eliminate that immediately. This is your problem.

Chain stretch will not throw a chain of after a couple of rides. You are talking about very small differences.

Are you tightening the locknuts down enough?
Do your bolts have enough gripy things (I do not know the term for these) on them?


the drops don't go all the way back

Do you mean you have vertical drop outs?

Communications snafus. The hub that got destroyed was on a totally different bike than the one that threw the chain. The chain thing is just user error, not checking my equipment after punishing it on long a55 rides and in the weather. The chain line on the World is iffy too. I just live with it, and remember to make sure all the bolts are tight. As for the drops they are definately horizontal, but Schwinn in all their wisdom manufactured the bike with drops that are filled in so a freewheel wheel would sit in the same position and not move around. That's a great set up for a road bike, but to get a fixed gear I like to have room to move my hub back and forth, so I took a saw to it and need to file it some more. Modifying love it.

For the Surly hub I still have no idea what happened except that it was a wheel that was built poorly, and a possibility that the korean (guessing) sealed wheel bearings were shoddy (it happens). I do know the wheel was built like a regular rear wheel, not as is suggested for building a fixed gear rear wheel, that is Asymetrical, not like your front wheel, okay at least not on a flip/flop hub cause you plan to use both sides, at least I do, so I'd had it in, essentially, backwards, and it blew, and I can't get the old cup out, and the nut that holds it all together sheered. I was going to drop by Surly, as they are in town, and see what they say.

My Surly hub that I built a wheel around (same time I bought the manufactured one) is still standing true, and I road the replacement today, 50 + miles, I'll see how it is when I get home tonight.

I have no problems with Surly, and I don't mean to desuade anyone from buying their hubs, they are really excellent. I have four fixed hubs, 3 are Surly, one is SuZue, and I don't like it half as much as the Surly.

Schwinn in all their wisdom manufactured the bike with drops that are filled in so a freewheel wheel would sit in the same position and not move around.


I am trying to visualize this but I am having difficulty.

On the chain being thrown problem, it sounds like you know you have some tuning up to do. Chain line will do that as I am sure you know.