Does anyone make one or has anyone seen one? All I've ever seen are the BMX style tensioners for rear facing drops, but you'd think (or at least I do) what with all the fixed gear conversions of old-style bikes with forward facing drops that someone would have come up with something for them. I guess the mechanism would be a little more complicated than the kind for rear facing drops since there isn't quite the same convenient place on the dropout to place the piece that remains stable while you turn the bolt to adjust tension. Still, I'm no engineer, but I can think of at least one way you might be able to design something that would work. Seems like something Surly would make...

Anyway, just a thought, as I'm in the process of converting an old Specialized Rock Hopper to a flip-flop fixed/free. I haven't built the flip-flop rear wheel yet, though, and I'm just temporarily running the freehub rear wheel from my other bike with a single cog. Even though I've heard quick releases get as good or better grip on the drops than tracknuts do, I'm still a little skeptical...

Cheers. ;-)

A quick search here should turn up a few threads on the subject. The short version is yes, you can make some work.

I'll add that I got some cheapo BMX tensioner to work on a pretty sketchy setup today. I swapped out my 16t cog on my rain bike for a 15t and had to drop a link. This left the axles about halfway out of the dropouts. I was understandably concerned and didn't have a chance to get a half link (news flash: Kip, owner of Boston Bicycle & Cambridge Bicycle has never heard of a half link, Broadway was closed, Community was out) so I grabbed that BMX tensioner I had floating around. It didn't have a short enough reach to use for the project I originally got it for.

Anyhow, fit it with the threaded shaft on the outside, then turn the little slotted block that the track end normally sits inside of so that it's braced cross-wise on the back of the dropout, thread it down, and voila: cheap tensioner for a horiz dropout.

Tonight I bought a half link at Broadway though so I can ditch that ghetto fabulous setup.

cheapos with the star.

what do you mean?

i think he means these:

i'm running one of these. i had to file off a "tab" on the back of it in order for it to fit flush against my dropout though. it seems to work pretty well.

anyone happen to have a picture of one of these in use? i can't quite visualize how that would work with forward drops. thanks!

I'm using one as well, and spent 15 minutes filling off the tab on the back. It works great with a quick release skewer even . I bought them as a pair here: https://www.danscomp.com/cgi-bin/haze...IL&item=440006. Here's a pic of it on my bike:

wow, sweet, i'll definitely have to grab a set of those.