Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Will my track wheel fit the rear drops on my frame?

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nikos
06-28-07, 01:49 PM
So I had my cracked Litespeed frame fixed and now want to run it as a single speed. I have my Bontrager track wheels that I want on it, but is the rear spacing of the litespeed going to be to wide? I had a 9 speed cassette on the frame, the bontrager wheel is currently on my trek 460 that was running a 6 speed cassette = less spacing. Any thoughts or will a little cranking of the nuts be ok?

SyntaxPC
06-28-07, 02:17 PM
Put a magnet up to your frame; if it sticks, a little cranking of the nuts will be okay. In other words, you want to deal with re-spacing of your dropouts *if-and-only-if* your frame is steel. Otherwise you can always get a your wheel's hub re-spaced. This may require a new axle, but shouldn't cost you more than $15 or so if you get your LBS to do it.
humancongereel
06-28-07, 05:00 PM
litespeed? are they vertical dropours?

roadfix
06-28-07, 05:30 PM
litespeed? are they vertical dropours?Depends on the year. My recent Litespeed conversion has horizontal dropouts. It was an old Classic frame which I hadn't used in quite a while that I purchased new back in 1993.
roadfix
06-28-07, 05:33 PM
Put a magnet up to your frame; if it sticks, a little cranking of the nuts will be okay. A magnet will not stick to titanium. Titanium frames, like steel are very flexible so squeezing the dropouts a millimeter or two is fine. Best thing to do is to re-space the axle if there's room.
hockeyteeth
06-28-07, 07:13 PM
Bontrager doesn't list their track hub's specs, but I can almost guarantee that you will need to respace your axel. Add an even amount of spacing to each side of the hub though or else your chainline will be terrible.
el twe
06-29-07, 02:10 PM
Bontrager track wheels will have hubs spaced at 120mm. Your frame will most likely be 130. As was said before, you can re-space the hub or cold-set (is that OK for Ti?) the rear triangle.

I'd assume the dropouts are vertical though, so this isn't terribly useful. You could just run an old cassette wheel and pick up a BMX cog and a tensioner, though.
nikos
06-30-07, 07:39 AM
yeah, the drops are vertical - but the frame is already fixed - so, looks like a chain tensioner. Sucks, but oh well, looks like a lot of different tensioners out there, what would be the smoothest and something light. The ideas was to make this bike ultra light, something fun to add to the mix of my other single steel rides. By the way, this litespeed is aluminum/carbon seatstays - not ti.