Okay,

So I've dinglesped my spare bike. I left the 52/39 on the crank and put a 17t surly cog on the back with a derailleur as a tensioner.

The cog is mounted at 46mm chainline to match the outer ring (where the most time will be spent). Both rings have been used but never had an issue when I ran them with as 7 speed. Chain and cog are new.

Paul components markets their tensioner as a dual speed tensioner, and should be vertical in the small gear. My chain length is set to imitate that.

When I first got on the bike, it skipped in either gear. I fiddled with rear derailleur position and seem to have gotten it to stop skipping in the big gear.

However, at the extreme chain angles seen on multi speed bikes, how can I be seeing chain skip from my setup? I also don't see how tension can be an issue. I can stomp on my 11t without seeing skip. In my head that should be a more extreme scenario with about the same chain angle but less chain wrap.

I'm scratching my head here trying to figure out what I'm missing.

What size chain?

8 speed SRAM.

Wait. Is this a fixed gear or a single freewheel ? You can't use a spring tensioner with a fixed gear.

Chain and sprocket histories matter. Is this a new chain with a new sprocket? If the chain has seen use with a FW or cassette, it can be "stretched" and now longer run smoothly on a new cog. A new chain on a used cog can also give you issues.

Also, are your sprocket and cog compatible widths? You can run a wider chain on a narrow cog but not a narrower chain on a wide cog.

Ben

Chain and cog are both new.

Rings are used but ran fine before. That said I'll try replacing them and see what happens.

+1

Of course you can! Don't ruin a guy having a little fun....

However, it might be a rather short ride, before there is a learning opportunity.

The bike is singlespeed. I've been ss'ing on my mtb for a while now and realize that a fixie can't be run with a tensioner.

Anyway, I ran out and swapped my rings for a new one I have on hand. The chain still skipped.

However, I finally realized I could watch my cog and tensioner while riding. I noticed the skip that I'm feeling is the chain jumping up on the cog. It looks like a stiff link does, but I can make it happen with every down stroke so it has to be torque induced.

I'm thinking now it's gotta either be my cog or lack of tension. I've heard of surly cogs skipping with dual pulley tensioners so I'm suspicious of that and may try something different.

I do have a paul melvin (used) ordered that will hopefully have a bit more spring tension than my derailleur.

Thanks for the input folks.