How do you get the chain on a QR fixed wheel properly tight?
 

Hi,

I've run fixed gear bikes with both QR and track nuts without any problems. My only trouble is that I find it much easier to get the chain correctly tensioned with the nuts, as you can walk them back.
Am I missing something or is it much to harder to get as much tension with the QR as you do with the track nuts?

Please don't just slate QR for fixed wheels and suggest just using bolt-on. I'm genuinely interested in any neat solutions any one has for tensioning a QR fixed chain.

Thanks a lot

George

I've never really found it to be an issue, you don't need the chain that tight. I just pull back on the wheel and lock down the quick release. 9 times out of 10 it's tight enough.

I guess you have front opening horizontal dropouts? If you got mudguards on the bike with good sturdy struts,
you can pull the wheel back by squeezing it back closer to the fender.

I dont think I want Chain overtightened..

Thought: no mudguard, have a chainstay bridge ... you could force a wedge in between the tire and the chainstay bridge.
tighten thing up that way, tighten QR lever, pull out wedge..

'banjo bolts' work better with rear opening dropouts .. but they work fine, then.

Facing the rear of the bike, I push the wheel backwards in the dropout while clamping down the skewer. easiest in a work stand to hold the bike in place, but doable otherwise. Most of the time it works.

Use a chain tug like the Surly Tuggnut:
http://surlybikes.com/parts/tuggnut/

Remember that the right tension is just no tension at all. You don't want any slack but the chain should never go tight at any combination of positions in the front and rear. You shouldn't need to walk the axle back to get that tight. I used to get that by grabbing the chain stay with my hand and then reach forward with one finger and pull the wheel back while at the same time centering the tire and rim between the stays. I'd then crank the skewer lever. I'd test by back pedalling and feeling for any tight spots where the crank could be felt to bind. If I found one I'd hold the pedal at the binding position and release the skewer and retighten using the same method. The slightly slack points you get are just something you have to live with since you do NOT want the chain to actually have tension in it all the way around due to a tight spot. When I switched to solid axles I walked the axle around but found it was too hard to avoid the tight binds. So I would find the tightest spot and then do the same thing with my hand on the chain stay and finger on the wheel. It made things far more automatic for getting the right (lack of) tension but avoiding any excessive slack.

Thanks everyone

Worth throwing in that old fashioned steel quick releases bite in to the frame and hold a lot better then modern versions, the older quick releases were used on frames that had sliding dropouts where as modern quick releases just keep the wheel from falling off when you pickup the bike [well not quite but you get the picture]

What works OK as a one-handed method is to wedge your hand between the front of the rear tire, and the back edge of the seat tube, which is normally a reasonably narrow gap. This puts rearward pressure on the wheel, and you can usually keep the wheel centered between the chain-stays at the same time, while using your other hand to lock the QR.

Keep a tennis ball in your spokes, wedge it between the frame and tire to tension wheel.

He nailed it. I don't think anything will be as good as a proper nutted axle but the tennis ball makes the best stab at it yet

if the chainrings are out of round then spin the cranks to the loose spot then tighten the qr. spin the cranks, test tension and adjust as necessary