alright well i saw this crazy old scwinn today that had a casette mounted solidly on the rear hub, no freewheel. The freewheel was in the cranks and delt with their engaging of the front chainrings. So could i use this hub on a fixie? I think itd be cool cuz then i could change gearing easily.

You probably could, but you'd be changing your chain length all the time. It might work best if you kept two chainrings up front.

Pics?

ill try and get some pics. Ive never heard of this freewheel setup before- has anyone?

You might try asking in the classic and vintage section - those guys know about all sorts of old bike stuff...

I have seen bikes with front freewheels, but I thought they had a rear freewheel too... Maybe I'm mistaken! I think the idea was that you could shift without turning the pedals, as long as the bike was moving (because the chain would keep moving, even though the crank arms would stop). I think it was a solution in search of a problem, so it was eventually given up on.

Could be a neat way to build up a fixie though.

peace,
sam

Lots of trials bikes run this setup (freewheel at the crank, fixed cassette hub). I don't know exactly why, but maybe someone will chime in. You can get fixed cassette hubs from Woodman components. You're right--with a cassette hub it would be very easy to change your gearing. It would also be much simpler to adjust chainline.

As I understand it, a couple of reasons. They want smaller cogs in the back for greater clearance, which is easier with a fixed rear. Also they want to be able to reposition/backpedal the cranks without moving the chain for situations where the chain might be resting on obsticles.

I think it was called a [I]Front Freewheel[I].

The idea was that the freewheeling occured at the bottom bracket so that you could shift the rear any time the bike was moving.

Matthew (Vintage) Grimm
Kogswell Cycles
https://kogswell.com

actually the clearance benefit is on the chainring, seeing as how it is much more exposed than the cogs ever would be.