JKing

Hello all wise and great bike mechanics,

I recently converted my old 94 Raleigh mountain bike to a single speed with the forte kit and a new chain. The rear wheel has about 2 years on it and is a cheaper mavic with a deore or LX hub if I remember correctly.

The only problem with the bike is that under hard pedaling the chain seems to skip as if I was shifting under hard acceleration. I have checked the chain alignment and it looks good and tracks dead center on all cogs/chainrings when cycled on the stand.

I can't say this is a new problem as the bike was in sad shape before the conversion. Am I correct to think this may be caused by the rear hub freewheel assembly? Can this be easily rebuilt or should I just pick up a new rear wheel? I only paid $50 for the existing wheel at LBS so its not like I have any real money in it.

Thanks for any help.

droptop

are you using the old chain? chains tend to stretch over time, and when using a new cassette with an old chain can wear it out very quickly. the reverse is also true.

theneener

If you used your old chain ring up front there is a chance that it could be skipping, up there due to ware. However if it is the cassette body I would go back to you LBS and ask for an old shinano rear hub that you can yank the cassette body off of. My shop has a box full of old hubs that we give away from time to time.

BloomBikeShop

I had the same problem once on a SS conversion on an old bike. It skipped for a while and eventually didn't engage the rear hub. If I were you, I'd do what theneener said now and save the aggravation later.

But another thing to keep in mind is that the drivetrain would be smoother with a singlespeed chainring up front (one without the ramps and pins, since you don't need to shift the chain.)

operator

What?

Those only come into play when the chain is being shifted up onto it, it has no bearing when the chain is not being shifted, which is every SS/fixed setup.

JKing

That's what I was thinking, is this a simple swap (no specialized tools needed) or should I just have LBS do it? I have the tools to build a bike (just finished a double-cross) but am limited on tools I would only use once a decade.

BTW, it is running a new chain for those skimming through the first post

BloomBikeShop

That's not really the point. The point is that a singlespeed ring is better for a singlespeed, for the thicker, standard teeth. (Maybe I should have just said "shaped teeth" in the first post, but the point is the same.)