Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - SS question - re-spaced rear axle....now what

This weekend, in an attempt to finally finish my dumpster-dive SS project, I took apart the rear freewheel hub on by SS, took off that cylinder-looking thing (the piece that had 2 thin washers on either side) that had been between the hub and the dropout on the drive side, loosened the caps on both sides of the wheel that held the bearings in the hub, and proceeded to unscrew the axle bar -- essentially shifing the entire hub to the left by an inch or two. Now, the chainline from the chainring and rear cog are near perfect, but the entire r. wheel iself is now sitting off-center toward the driveside.

Don't really know what to do now. From my limited experience in this and just from common sense, It doesn't look like I could ride the bike safely under this setup, and that is if I could ride a bike with an off-center rear wheel at all.

To this point, i've been able to do most of the work myself, only going to the LBS for things that I did not have the tools for (freewheen removal)...wanted to keep it that way. Is there something I can do to get the r.wheel back to center WHILE keeping the chainline i have now? Thanks.

Now you need to redish the wheel. You need a spoke wrench, don't bother trying to use anything else, you'll just round off the nipples. What you're going to do is tighten the non-drive side spokes so that the whole rim gets pulled over that way. You may want to loosen the drive side ones a little too, but my experience with old wheels is generally that the tension is so low you're better off just doing it all by tightening. Figuring out which direction to turn nipples can be a little confusing, but think about which way you would go if you were using a screwdriver pointing through the tire to turn the nipple and you'll get it right. Take it slow, maybe a half turn on each spoke at a time, and just keep going around the wheel until it's pretty close. Don't get too crazy about getting it exactly right, when it's within a couple mm go ride it for a couple of days and let it settle in and then finish the job. Some of the spokes may be stuck in the nipples, lubing them can help but if they're really corroded you may have to throw in the towel, there's not much cure for a wheel with a bunch of frozen spokes. They'll turn a little, but what you're doing is twisting the spoke, and at some point it's going to untwist itself and throw your wheel way out of true.

When you're done, you may find that the spokes are sticking through the nipples inside the rim and threatening to poke holes in your tubes. If you have a grinder you can take off the excess, or you can use a ton of duct tape ripped in half lengthwise to basically make a rim strip of doom. Former option is obviously better.

What you're going to do is tighten the non-drive side spokes so that the whole rim gets pulled over that way. You may want to loosen the drive side ones a little too, but my experience with old wheels is generally that the tension is so low you're better off just doing it all by tightening.

forgive my ignorance, but non drive-side??? how do I tell the difference between the spokes? .... and how much damage could I potentially do to the rear wheel (i.e render it compleyely unusable) if I take a shot at this and f-up? Thanks.

some spokes go to the drive side some go to the other.

you could render it completely unusable. Unless it's a nicer wheel though it's probably not worth enough to be worth having professionally redished. If you **** it up just buy a newer ss/fg specific wheel.

Google and read about wheel truing and wheel building. Go really slow and think about everything you are doing and you have a reasonable chance of success if the wheel is in decent condition.

What Dutret left out is that the "drive-side" is the side with your gears, chain, cranks, and chainring. AKA the right side. Non-drive is the left.

read up on what is needed for the job,what is expected, possible pitfalls and what can go wrong. Gonna chance it myself. its a used wheelset that I picked up for 20 bucks, and my LBS said it would be 30 to redish, so I'm just doin the math. . . . anyways, the wheelset is a 27" w/ araya rims and sunshine hubs, any idea what size spoke wrench I'm going to need for this...? thanks

RE: spoke wrench size it's hard to say for sure, you could take the wheel to the shop and try them, or you could buy one like that has all three common sizes on one tool (though I think only pedros makes one, and I find it really uncomfortable).

fiddled with the rear axle space last night and was able to get a decent chain line (1-2mm off) while not having to throw the wheel center off center much. Don't think I'll need a re-dish but what do ya'll think?

you always want the wheel properly dished.

if it's off only a little bit...that means it will take only a little bit of effort to get it right.


theoretically speaking, that is.