Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Chainline Help NOOBIE

Before I hear it, I went to good ole Sheldon and did a search on here, building my budget single I just swapped out the old cassette on my bike and threaded on a freewheel, got a single crank and chain and my chainline looks horrible, I ran it on the stand and no worries, didnt derail, not that much noise and I have the chain nice and tight not overtightened but nice n snug, question is now if I wanna move the rear cog over to the right a bit would that work? do I need a new rim? I hear spacers spacers spacers cant find a good locally priced one and how would I use them? advice please here are the pics!! let me know maybe im Paranoid??

That's jacked up. What's your BB width?

lol havent even checked, I shouldnt even try riding with it huh?? would spacers on the rear axle help??

lol havent even checked, I shouldnt even try riding with it huh?? would spacers on the rear axle help??

No, that wouldn't help. Swapping your BB for a narrower one is probably the answer.

**** really??? I was gonna go buy spacers now, that wont even do it then? maybe worth a try??? seems like the chain is fine when I run the pedal.....

Where would you put spacers?

Are you able to swap the ring over to the inside of the spider?

Might just be perspective, but it looks like the wheel isn't centered.

well see thats why I posted this, how do the SPACERS work? ive seen some that screw onto the freehub then the cog sorta sits in between the spacers any ideas??

its a junky one speed crank without a removable ring its all together maybe I should try that??

Might just be perspective, but it looks like the wheel isn't centered.

I think this is right. The bottom bracket is likely OK, the chainring doesn't move on that crank but that's OK as well. I don't think you redished the wheel when you went from geared to singlespeed. On a geared bike, the hub flanges aren't centered relative to the wheel, they're over to the left to leave room for a full cassette. To go singlespeed you need to redish the wheel to move the rim to the left relative to the hub, and therefore the frame. The only tool you need is a spoke wrench that's the right size, won't cost you much.

This in and of itself won't help with the chainline. However, once you're redished the wheel you can move some of the spacers that are on the wheel axle between the cones and the locknuts from the right size to the left. This will help a lot. Depending on whether that rear wheel is an appropriate spacing for the frame (which it probably is since it appears you reused the stock wheel), you might could lose some as well. As far as I know, you can't use spacers on a threaded hub. If you had a freehub it's easy to layer spacers and the cog within the width of the hub inside the lockring such that the chainline is right, one perk to using such a hub. That said, don't give up on what you've got, it'll work fine.

Another thing to keep in mind is that if that's a steel frame, you can tweak it without compromising its strength. I recently had a similar problem where I couldn't dish the wheel enough to center it between the seatstays, and I discovered that the rear triangles were out of alignment. I laid it on the floor, kept my foot on the bottom dropout, and levered upward on the top dropout with a broom handle against the seat tube. Seems to have worked great. Sheldon has a paragraph or two on doing this as well- it's good you're aware of that site. I think old steel frames are not straight more often than you might think.

well see thats why I posted this, how do the SPACERS work? ive seen some that screw onto the freehub then the cog sorta sits in between the spacers any ideas??

They work with a cassette hub, not a freewheel hub.

http://www.pricepoint.com/images/styleImages/D_220%20GUS1C4.jpg

Before I hear it, I went to good ole Sheldon and did a search on here, building my budget single I just swapped out the old cassette on my bike and threaded on a freewheel, got a single crank and chain and my chainline looks horrible, I ran it on the stand and no worries, didnt derail, not that much noise and I have the chain nice and tight not overtightened but nice n snug, question is now if I wanna move the rear cog over to the right a bit would that work? do I need a new rim? I hear spacers spacers spacers cant find a good locally priced one and how would I use them? advice please here are the pics!! let me know maybe im Paranoid??

Dude, you didn't do enough homework. What size bottom bracket is recommended for that crank?

Your solutions are:
a) Do the math, spend the $25 for a new bottom bracket, install the bottom bracket, have a straight chainline, win,
b) Ignore a) and use spacers on your axle to get the chainline straight, then redish the tire to get the rim centered. This is a great deal of work for a suboptimal result,
or c) ignore all of us, ride it as is, and just try not to wreck when your chain falls off.

Please tell me you're riding that thing with at least one, and preferably two brakes. We've got a lot of kids in L.A. that think they're Ted Shred (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH5W1Z23wPg), and they've been sending themselves and others to the hospital, which is pretty dumb.

Brakeless Singlespeed = FAIL.

Hey this is the best info so far, im thinking of just buying a rear flip flop hub, then dealing with the chainline some more, any ideas on this??

Where can I find tutorials on re-dishing or moving spacers that are on the wheel axle, the current rim has a 700 tubular rear im thinking of just getting a track clincher for more durabilty especially on the rear. I live in a suburb of LA so ive seen those "Fixie" guys, young kids with EMO haircuts, no brakes and no helmets...I mean I wasnt born older, I was young too but a lil smarter, nice to be young huh? I am running a front brake and this is my leisure bike here and there not too crazy about sprinting etc etc........thoughts on that track rim guys??

A new hub will not solve the chainline issue. A BB will.

Hey this is the best info so far, im thinking of just buying a rear flip flop hub, then dealing with the chainline some more, any ideas on this??

Where can I find tutorials on re-dishing or moving spacers that are on the wheel axle, the current rim has a 700 tubular rear im thinking of just getting a track clincher for more durabilty especially on the rear. I live in a suburb of LA so ive seen those "Fixie" guys, young kids with EMO haircuts, no brakes and no helmets...I mean I wasnt born older, I was young too but a lil smarter, nice to be young huh? I am running a front brake and this is my leisure bike here and there not too crazy about sprinting etc etc........thoughts on that track rim guys??

You can fix this problem by throwing money at it (maybe $200 for new wheels, bottom bracket and crankset), but that probably doesn't make sense for a budget bike. I don't have any experience with respacing and redishing, but it's essentially a wheel building skill. If you want to do it yourself (at the risk of the wheel) you probably can. I thought Sheldon's site had info on how to do it. Your LBS would probably do it for around $20.

To get better help here, you should say what your rear dropout spacing is, what your bottom bracket shell size and threading is, what crankset you have and what type and size bottom bracket you are using.

Dude, buy a NEW BOTTOM BRACKET.

If you are going to run it fixed with a track rim, it's even more important that you get your chainline straight.

If you live in an L.A. suburb, cruise over to the Bike Kitchen, the Bike Oven, or the Bikerowave, and talk to one of the folks volunteering there about what you're trying to do. It's free to ask questions, and for $5-$7/hr, they'll show you how to do the work yourself.

It would really help to know what kind of crank you've got , and what spindle length bottom bracket is recommended for it.

Once you get that sorted out, you can run it singlespeed or fixed.


Hey this is the best info so far, im thinking of just buying a rear flip flop hub, then dealing with the chainline some more, any ideas on this??

Where can I find tutorials on re-dishing or moving spacers that are on the wheel axle, the current rim has a 700 tubular rear im thinking of just getting a track clincher for more durabilty especially on the rear. I live in a suburb of LA so ive seen those "Fixie" guys, young kids with EMO haircuts, no brakes and no helmets...I mean I wasnt born older, I was young too but a lil smarter, nice to be young huh? I am running a front brake and this is my leisure bike here and there not too crazy about sprinting etc etc........thoughts on that track rim guys??

I don't get why people buy new parts altogether just to avoid simple wheelbuilding jobs. Wheels are not complicated things. I'm no master mechanic, but I've built a number of wheels, and reworked old wheels, with no problems whatsoever. I'm not even sure that you could take out that much misalignment with a new bottom bracket, and if you did it would be a workaround, not an actual fix.

So, you can certainly buy a new rear wheel, crank, cog, spacers, and bottom bracket if you like, but if it were me I'd spend $15 on a spoke wrench and a cone wrench and fix what I had.

If you live in an L.A. suburb, cruise over to the Bike Kitchen, the Bike Oven, or the Bikerowave, and talk to one of the folks volunteering there about what you're trying to do. It's free to ask questions, and for $5-$7/hr, they'll show you how to do the work yourself.

This is the best advice offered. Get off the internet and bring your bike over to one of these places.

You might as well check the rear triangle for alignment while you're at it. Once that's confirmed to be not ****ed THEN do either/or both of the following as necessary

1) Reduced bb width
2) Dishing as much as safely can be done without compromising spoke tension

That wheel would have to be dished EITHER way, since the OP just spun a bmx freewheel onto a wheel that was originally designed for a multispeed freewheel.

If you want to do it for cheap, can you move the drive side lock ring to the non-drive side and then just change the dish? I've done that on a huffy that I got for free and put a single speed freewheel on... Bad idea? I mean, I know it looks bad because the hub obviously isn't centered in the dropouts...

update!!

Rear track rim $120 and my line is as straight as a arrow!!!!!!!

It's always nice when things work out that way. Are you riding it fixed or freewheel?

This is why budget conversions always turn into moneypits...unwillingnes to do simple tasks like re-spacing and re-dishing.

Well I figured why not just buy the rim with the track axle so if I wanna go fixed I can do it in peace, since my last rim was a QR, also the rear I had a was a tubular so now I got a Clincher, YES!! Happy New Year!!

p.s. im running it Freewheel now its on my old school Shogun Pursuit frame gotta get used to this funky position...

Also, if it's an asymmetric spindle on the bottom bracket, couldn't you just flip it? I've done that also.