5b00

Will I drop a wheel, throw a chain, and die if I ride a bike with an almost magic gear? My chainstays are a bit too long for my chainring/cog combination so the axle isn't fully in the vertical dropouts, but the quick release is still clamping onto a fair amount of material.

I imagine the quick release may be the biggest issue here... though independent of that it also looks pretty sketchy to see the axle suspended mid-dropout.

Leukybear 

Yup.

Danzaxbonanza

Half-link?

mihlbach

post a picture.

nuhtowel

If I were you (This is probably not the accepted thing to do around here) I would just jam it in the drop out and the chain will be super tight, but eventually it will stretch out a little and then it will fit perfectly.

Scrodzilla

+1

Ultraspontane

https://www.google.com/search?q=ecce...w=1280&bih=885

or

https://www.google.com/search?q=ecce...w=1280&bih=885

Scrodzilla

That's most likely overkill if he's already so close to having the magic ratio.

/halflink

adriano 

as it is, too tight.

jdgesus 

+ ½

LesterOfPuppets

I'd never put the chain on cog and CR before putting the wheel into vertical drops, personally.

1. Secure wheel.
2. Mount chain.

5b00

Thanks everyone, I figured a half-link or different ratio might be the way to go.

Doesn't there need to be some slack to be able to put the chain together? If it's set up to be tight enough, then it'd be difficult to mount it. NB I'm using a master link, not pins.

Nagrom_

Bolt on drop out conversion.

LesterOfPuppets

I got multispeed chainring, singlespeed cog and Sram 850 chain and can wheel the chain onto the chainring even with a combo I had that was so tight it was difficult to turn cranks. Now I'm running a looser combo and it's pretty easy to wheel it onto the CR. Hoping it's still possible with a SS chainring and it seems like it will be possible with all the slack I have.

Might be no big deal to get chain on first but seems like a bad idea to me, especially with some dropouts that aren't all that vertical. Will be tough to get axle all the way into dropout, then first jump and axle will be pounded into dropout, then... all kindsa ugliness can happen at that point.

I'd go for halflink if you like your current ratio. Try wheeling the chain on and if no go, thread the chain first just make sure axle is settled.

Ultraspontane

What about chain wear? More fiddling with half links? He'll be riding around with a sloppy loose chain for weeks waiting for it to wear to the point that it will fit snugly after removing the half link.

I have to back my rear wheel up in the dropouts at the end of each week to compensate for chain wear. If I had to mess with breaking the chain and adding removing half links every time, my head would fall off and grow in the ground like an onion. My teeth would fall out and hair would grow in their place.

Nagrom_

If you're chain is stretched a full half of an inch, you'd have dropped your chain and died already.

Ultraspontane

Exactly. And you have no choice but to wait until the chain has stretched a full half inch, or the wheel isn't going back in the dropouts when he decides to remove the half link.

So it's either wear out your chain way past the normal tolerance to a full half inch of chain stretch and remove the half link, or buy a new chain every month to keep things snug.

Nagrom_

If you wear out a chain in a month you're doing something wrong.

hairnet

All this does is remind me of all the brakeless kids I see riding around with squeaky crunchy unlubed chains. They're ****ed if the chain ever snaps

Ultraspontane

What? Like riding your bike farther than to the coffee shop every day? You realize that chains gradually wear, right? Its not like your chain is brand new for a while, and then one day it just flips over to "worn out". That chain will probably start to feel loose after a week of serious riding.

This is why you need an ebb for vertical dropouts. I learned this after converting a Nîshiki Olympic to SS. If you don't have one's its a huge PITA and you're constantly going from so tight that you can't get the axle into the dropouts to so loose that the chain is clanking against the stay when you ride over bumps, and there isn't anything you can do about it.

Scrodzilla

adriano 

your axle is slipping. your chain isnt stretching weekly.

Benson

Thats why you get a single speed specific frame with track ends or horizontal drop outs.

Ultraspontane

If my axle was slipping, I'd be losing wheel alignment, which I'm not. Chain tensioners ftw

adriano 

not necessarily.