I was referring to the one on the down tube. Great idea for keeping the tools there. I'm kinda considering that now and free up the saddle bag space, might give me a better lock mount option.

Oh. Well, that's pretty clever. I suddenly might have a use for my bottle mounts. Except someone'll probably walk off with the bottle.

Can I have a close up of your cog and whatnot? Can't tell from the one photo but it looks hideously complicated.

M.

I have trouble loving SS for riding on the road... it has to be fixed but then, I don't coast.

This is a 52/20 that gives me 72 gear inches which is a nice all round gear for the road, I used to run a 32:18 on the trail on my SS mtb.

The larger chainwheel and cog makes for a smoother running drivetrain that will also last longer.

Not that complicated. He looks like he used a Surley chain tensioner. Because the dropouts were wrong. That just bolts into the derailer hanger. Its not as complicated as it looks.

Oh yes, it is hideously complex. I had to work through several mathematical equations just to figure out how to make all of the parts fit and work together. Then there was this bolt I had to screw in! Talk about tough. I imagine it will require a lot of maintenance just to keep all of the parts up and running.

Aha! Looks much less crazy up close. Nice work! Maybe I'll look at that tensioner when I look into converting my bikes into hubs - bit by bit I'm abandoning derailleurs.

M.

That's hot.

I have been commuting mostly SS since last March on a Fantom Cross Uno at 39x16. It was great in the Bay Area and it is still pretty good on the hills here in NC. of course, now that I have worn through the brake pads, I am wondering if I can find a coaster brake hub

My son and I pulled together a ss with a double crank up front, FD and tension-er. So, now it's both a fast ss flatlander and headwind/hill climber. It actually worked out great and feels like a pure ss.

Edit: Now that I think about it, we used an old 6 speed RD, locked in the correct chain-line position, as a tensioner vs. one of the new tensioner components. A cheaper alternative.

Look at the Soulcraft Convert tensioner as well as the Surly. I like it for a few reasons:
1) It's super quiet because it uses a grooved urethane roller on very quiet bearings. Same roller/bearing setup that many MTB chainguides use.
2) You can use it as a push or pull tensioner. Push being the setup shown above, where the chain is pushed up toward the cog to create the tension, pull is where the chain runs around the outside of the tensioner.
3) It's a set & lock design, instead of spring tension. There's a push-rod lock, you set the tension adjustment when tightening the fixing bolt to the derailleur hanger, and then to release the tension for wheel changes, you click the release lever and swing the device out of the way. If you're riding road, this isn't much of a concern. If you race cross or MTB, a spring tensioned device can take a lot of bouncing around and you run the risk of throwing your chain.

The best SS tensioner you can get is a re-purposed road derailleur.

32x18 works out to a 48" gear. That's mighty low. The fact that you can average such a high speed is very impressive. You must be a great spinner. That's good for long term health. On flat terrain, if I had to choose one ratio, it would be a 66 to 72" gear. I understand you need something lower for climbing, and you made a good choice, but I guess I wouldn't do SS for a hilly area.

My current SS roadie is set up with a 42/17, which is about 67 inches. I find that it works well for the kind of sustained mid-grade (5 - 9%) climbing that I find out here in western Washington.
With it being a singlespeed, I don't have to worry about the sustained downhills the way I did when I was riding fixed. Not much sucks worse than trying to control your spin on a 67" gear on a mile long 9% descent.

I used to run 81 gear inches on my fixed gear and on long steep descents I would often exceed 160 rpm and often spin at 180... I had a brake because slowing down the cranks and the bike at that speed with your legs is brutal.

^ this. I got my first FG at 55 y/o, it's never too late.

I bought a dingle cog a few months ago. Still haven't installed it. It looks great, fixed two speed.

Spin it to win it!