Cyclocross Racing - please help me with these elusive ss cx questions.

so after flatting in enough races and having to take off my rear wheel with a wrench, i am determined to fix this problem....but i have some (stupid) questions:

1. are any of you running a quick release skewer in the rear successfully? and if so, is it alloy or steel? any slippage issues?

1a. if you are using a regular freehub with a cog (ie. not a ss specific hub), say, on a set of ksyriums, what are you using to space the cog properly...just those ss conversion spacers?

2. what cranks are you using? i'm currenly running an old skool square taper crank on one of my bikes but these are increasingly hard to find and i want something lighter.

3. i'm outfitting a new ss IF planet X with track ends and would appreciate your build recs!

holler.

1. i've used a qr with track ends and horizontal dropouts with success, on road and off, never racing. use a high quality (read, mountain, not super lightweight) skewer and clamp in on hard.

1a. yes, those ss conversion spacers are the best i've tried. old cassette spacers sometimes work, sometimes dont (some have little knobs that prevent them from being stacked against each other securely). in a pinch you can use pvc pipe, but you have to cut it such that the saw is perfectly perpendicular to the pipe (i.e. not using a hand saw) and sand or file down any protruding mess from the saw so the edges are clean and even.

2. i run 165mm bulletproofs. i would not recommend these for several reasons. if you're going the spacers/freehub route then chainline isn't an issue, so you can use any cranks you want. if you're only going ss (not fixed) then long is good.

3. if it was me i'd definitely not butcher an indy fab frame, especially not just so i can run ss. that's what tensioners are for, if you hate them that much then i'd find a magic gear or better yet use an eno hub. if you're set on doing surgery, i'd go with sliding vertical dropouts from paragon machine works, or at the very least track ends with a derailleur hanger attached. that's a lot of work just to limit your options.

thanks for the info. just to clarify this will be on a new IF with track ends, so no surgery necessary!



1. i've used a qr with track ends and horizontal dropouts with success, on road and off, never racing. use a high quality (read, mountain, not super lightweight) skewer and clamp in on hard.

1a. yes, those ss conversion spacers are the best i've tried. old cassette spacers sometimes work, sometimes dont (some have little knobs that prevent them from being stacked against each other securely). in a pinch you can use pvc pipe, but you have to cut it such that the saw is perfectly perpendicular to the pipe (i.e. not using a hand saw) and sand or file down any protruding mess from the saw so the edges are clean and even.

2. i run 165mm bulletproofs. i would not recommend these for several reasons. if you're going the spacers/freehub route then chainline isn't an issue, so you can use any cranks you want. if you're only going ss (not fixed) then long is good.

3. if it was me i'd definitely not butcher an indy fab frame, especially not just so i can run ss. that's what tensioners are for, if you hate them that much then i'd find a magic gear. if you're set on doing surgery, i'd go with sliding vertical dropouts from paragon machine works, or at the very least track ends with a derailleur hanger attached. that's a lot of work just to limit your options.

oops! pardon my tirade then :)

cheers man, i'd love to see a pic when it's finished.

I commute on a fixed gear with QRs. The key is making it tight as hell :).