Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - two questions...

so i've got a flip-flop on my road bike now, it's a 120mm hub on a 130mm frame; i'm using two 5mm hub spacers to get the spacing right and when i took the wheel off this morning the drive side spacer fell off - it had broken in two right down the middle. did i have the bolts cranked down too tight? anybody else have this problem?

also, at the same time i noticed that all of my chainring bolts were loose, and i'm thinking that if i had kept going without checking they may have worked themselves all the way off, which understandably makes me pretty nervous. any ideas as to why this happened?

Yea, I've broken spacers by tightening too much. Just so happened to be drive side, as well. Paranoid that the wheel would slip under too much pressure, I guess.
Just maybe you didn't tighten the chainring bolts enough, too tired from cranking down on the hubnuts ;) .
Or, they had too much grease on them (or none at all), or your hands had too much grease and couldn't grip the allen key and the crappy parktool chainring bolt tool.

yeah.................... should i maybe put some locktite on those chainring bolts? and how tight do you crank those hub bolts down? i really don't wanna think of anything slipping on me.

the thing about the chainring bolts is that they were all loosened about the same amount. i haven't touched them for a looong time, other than to check the tightness. the flip-flop hub is new, though, i've been running ss for a while. could that have something to do with it? i'm confused.........

the thing about the chainring bolts is that they were all loosened about the same amount. i haven't touched them for a looong time, other than to check the tightness.
Odd... sounds like a merry prankster...


the flip-flop hub is new, though, i've been running ss for a while. could that have something to do with it? i'm confused.........
How old was the spacer? When tightening them, I'd just snug em up real good, then give another decent nudge. Just don't tighten so much your hands turn red! Also, try to find spacers with serated edges so they kinda bite into the dropouts, then the nuts don't have to be so damn tight.

the spacer was brand new, with the little serrations too. maybe it was just a defect or something. i'll be hitting the LBS for a new spacer tonight so we'll see where i end up.

Shouldn't the spacers be UNDER the axle nuts, not between the axle nut and the drop out?

That would kind of defeat the purpouse, I think. They're used to position the cog inside of the dropout, and keep the rear triangle from having to be bent in.

I've broken axle nuts before - that's less fun than a spacer.


Oops - I meant the lock nuts by the hub. My bad.

I ruined a chainring one time by not checking the bolts though - they will eventually come off. I didn't notice until the third one, when the chain came off and the ring got really bent. It was one of my first fixies.

Make sure you're using the shorter BMX ones, too. Also, locktight wouldn't be a good idea, IMHO. What happens when you want a different chainring? New crank? Checking them regularly is a better way to go. You should be cleaning and checking your drivetrain pretty often, especially if you are riding fixed (moreso for us brakeless kamikazis)...