79pmooney

Back to the fix gears. Why is there so much love for track ends? I can see them for those that want to use the screw adjust stops so they don't pull the right side dropout forward with massively hard starts (I've seen trackies with thighs the size of my waist) and those stops can be used to advantage to tighten the chain enough to rapidly kill bearings. (I am sure there are bearing out there that are dangerous and should be killed. Oh, am I confusing bearings with bears?)

The only drawback I can see to horizontal road drops is that they are usually too short and limit how many different cogs you can run without messing with chain length. But a longer dropout requires nothing more than casting/forging a slightly larger part. If we fix gear riders demanded it, it would happen. But no, we (all but me) drool over track ends; a much harder system to rapidly pull and flip a rear wheel with. And I see that almost no one with flip flop hubs actually flips them. Left side cogs are always clean! I had a bike made with a 2" long road dropout for exclusive fix gear use, I love it. I love that I can quickly flip the wheel on the road without touching the chain. And can run any cog from 12 to 23 (24 if I could only find one).

I call myself "a roadie forever" but half my lifetime miles are on fix gear road bikes. I have no trouble with track ends. But keep them at the velodrome please!

Ben

Velognome 

Well, both my British Road/Path Frames have Track Ends with fender eyelets so they are by no means track bikes. The Carlton's geometry is rather relaxed so there is no mistaking it for a track bike and the Holland has chrome socks, no need for those if it's never gonna see rain. So track or road use is not the issue, Track ends work better with fixed or flip/flop hubs, makes changes fast and easy. If you elongate a Horizontal Drop out one of two things can happen.

1. If you simply make it longer, you won't be able to remove the wheel, let alone remove a wheel with fenders on the frame.

2. If you forged a longer deeper DO, you lengthen the wheel-base and end up with a sluggish ( ok tour guys, a more stable) ride.

I think Track ends on Fixed gear bikes are rather useful.

Lenton58 

I think both Ben and Gnome have some made some cogent points. I for one side with Gnome on this issue.

After a ride on my SS, I sometimes sit outside my bike garage sipping my favourite mind-altering drink. I fantasize having the local frame-maker construct a road frame — much like my Simplon — with track-ends and the stays spread to accommodate appropriate hubs. (The radical wheel-dishing on multi-speed hubs is nerve racking for both me and my mech-guy).

My Simplon is ½-way between a 'crit' and a road racer — a sort of clubman of its time for those who could only afford a single machine, but wanted versatility. Perfect for me — either fighting Sendai traffic (2nd worst rep in Japan for rudness) or humping up and down the levee. Quick and nimble yet stable enough for anyone who has ridden racing machines for a while. Track ends on this frame would be perfection IMHO.

BUT — Ben is as right as is the success of my current ride with horizontal DO's. Works fine. Keeping a ⅛ th chain well-lubed, I rarely ever move the wheel except to overhaul the hub. A recent measurement showed very little wear on the chain after many kms.

I don't flip & flop, but my next single-cog drive will include a flip flop hub. After watching the keirin guys flip-flop on their road training runs*, track ends look like a good deal — to me anyway.

* (One of them explained to me that they change ratios to train in different modes. They push on smaller cogs to build power in those huge legs, and then they get down on small cogs to train fast cadence.)