Originally Posted by
Andrew R Stewart
I think you'll find that remanufacturing the hub is a lot bigger a task then getting a proper single speed crankset/BB is. The proper front set up will allow a closer to the stay ring and the resulting shift to the center of the bike of the rear cog placement. Additionally a spacer or two behind the rear cog will further offer up a couple more MMs of hubshell movement to the NDS.
BYW you say the hub is a standard road one? It looks like you're running a threaded cog and not a single cog freewheel. Is this so? If so I hope you run wheel brakes on this bike. Andy
Road hub that was converted to track by lathe. I've cut LH threads on the end of it. - no kludges here.
Cranks are for single speed/track/fixie, Chainring is on the inside of the spider. I can shorten the BB by 4mm leaving a chainline of 42.. better but will get me more distance from the cog to the right dropout. Increasing chainline puts more stress over the BB and decreases stress on the right rear hub bearing (in this case it increases the loads on the NDS bearing since the hub moves as a whole... well.. i plan to change that.)
Many areas in a bike can be better engineered to better suit loads, and if implementation is not too hard* why not go for it? I think my engineering skills are up to the task of designing a better hub for my bike, afterall I R&D car parts for the last 10 years.
*clarification: each has it's own "hard" evaluation. For me a quick lathe job and some wheel-building does not seem such a wild thing to do. For others 3d CNC a block of Al is very doable, and for others anything involving a file is over their skills or confidence.