Originally Posted by
GavSmart
rustystrings61:. Do you mind me asking why you decided specifically on the 20T/22T for the freewheel/SS option, and 17T/19T for the fixed gear option?
Not at all! I have loved fixed-gears since 1998 or so, and experience of the local roads in my area has shown me I am happiest with around a 70-in gear for pavement and a 60 to 64-in gear for gravel, fire roads, farm roads, etc. Because I had ridden singletrack woodland trails in this area on a single-speed converted mountain bike geared to 48-in, I knew that would be a suitable gear for accompanying my then- middle school aged son when he ran trails before the start of cross country running season. I played around with gearing charts and worked out that 44/42 chainrings combined with a 17/19T Surly Dingle cog would get me my preferred fixed ratios, and paired with the WI Dos Eno 20/22T would get me around 52-in for singletrack as well as a very relaxed 60-in freewheel gear for just moseying along.
Originally Posted by
GavSmart
It's also interesting to hear about QR vs Track Nuts. I must admit (in my ignorance maybe!) that I recently thought "heck this would be so much easier with a QR lever!" when I was dropping out my rear wheel in a repair stand, for something so simple as cleaning and replacing a brake disc rotor. I've read a little about QR vs Track Nuts so just decided to upgrade things to really good set of quality track nuts, but it still left me with the feeling that it was lot of work, mainly getting the tension and alignment right when putting the wheel back, for such a simple operation? I love to hear others thoughts on this too and welcome all ideas 
Accordino to legend, Tullio Campagnolo was moved to create the quick release because the wing nuts on his rear wheel were frozen and he couldn't manually change gears during a race c.1927. Allegedly he muttered to himself, in Italian, "Something must change in the rear!" A STEEL quick release with an internal cam designed to lock a wheel into a conventional forward opening dropout will work just fine for fixed and single-speed use. The later more from-frou variants meant to hold a wheel into a vertical dropout may not have the necessary clamping power, but the older steel ones work great. I've used Campagnolo, Atom, SunTour and Shimano skewers (and surely others) with no issue.
That said, IF you have track nuts, just find a good 15mm wrench and carry it. My old Gitane's rear hub doesn't lend itself to replacing the axle, so I just carry an old Park 15mm "peanut butter" wrench originally meant for crank bolts, but there are lots of good 15mm wrenches suitable for this out there. It's slower, sure - but I get the concern and the relative ease of "walking" the hub into position to dial in the chain tension. I have not found that to be an issue for me, but I can respect the idea, if that makes sense.