Welding/Bolting track cog to freewheel body
 

Hello all,

This is a "cheapie fixie" question.

Last night I received a track cog and threaded it onto a freewheel hub, along with a lock ring. Went for a ride with a buddy who's got a real track hub. At the end of the day all my threads on the freewheel hub (or the cog) were stripped (I assume this, haven't actually looked closely). I'm set on welding the cog to the freewheel hub but am affraid that the parts are not steel. Would anyone out there know whether most cheapie hubs are steel? Are the cogs?

The other option for me may be to drill holes through the cog base and hub and bolt the cog on in place. Has anyone tried this? The cog seems to have enough of a base.

Thanks for any input!

if you still have threads loctite that jerk on there. no threads, go with jb weld.

The hub is probably aluminium, and the cog should be steel, but it's easy to check with a magnet...

There's a reason why these are called "suicide wheels"...

Jeez... Nashbar has a fixed gear hub for $30. Why not just do it right, and learn to build a wheel in the process :rolleyes:

because after buying the hub, spokes, and paying for shipping, you're 50 bucks into a wheel with a crappy (I'm assuming) rim, and gosh darn it, $50 is almost a keg!

Well, perhaps he can reuse his current spokes if his current hub isn't too different in size.

As to whether it's worth it? I refer you to absntr's astute comment above :)

Right, thanks for the JB weld suggestion. I don't think I have threads left :). Thanks.

Doh! But of course. Thanks for the hint.

Yes, all the comments are valid, but:

o I have four freewheel hubbed rear wheels (not good wheels, but not too shabby either).
o Nashbar (wow! that is a good price) charges $15 to ship via Canada Post... really don't know what that's about.
o suicide wheels: definitelly, but I do have brakes on the bikes I'm converting to fixed.

Thanks for the concerns and suggestions (Nashbar). Is there a Canadian equivalent to Nashbar? Don't think so :(. Too bad.

Okay, well I'm very glad to hear you are running brakes. Admittedly, I didn't use any lockring for a couple weeks after building my fixie (I did have a front brake). I'm kind of doubtful about the longevity of a cog attached to a hub with JB weld and NO threads. I wouldn't expect it to last long at all.

For what it's worth, you can make a freewheel hub somewhat safer for fixed gear by putting on the cog and then putting on an old bottom bracket lockring, which has the same threading. You have to get the lockring VERY tight against the cog, and if you do it will compress the threads enough to hold the cog a bit more securely. I would use some loctite with it. It's not as strong as a left-threaded lockring but it's better than nothing.

Too bad about the expensive Nashbar shipping :( Got any friends in the US who can help you out? Also, I've seen perfectly good fixie hubs go for $20 US on ebay.

insert bike here:
http://www.waytorussia.net/Services/...3mr/toilet.jpg

p.s. you can't weld steel to aluminum. you can supply yourself with a free face punch though. ker-yowch it feels great!

w0rd to JB weld.

It is insanely solid, and perfect for a hub that you don't like enough to pass on to future generations.

JB Weld mod here:
http://boozhoundlabs.com/austro-daimler/

jsn

i second the jb weld suggestion, i rode a setup like that for quite a while.

i also didn't jb weld the cog, i only did the lockring, and when the hub finally died i was able to cut the lockring into pieces with a dremel and pull them off with vicegrips, which let me salvage the cog.

Nice, that might be an idea for future conversions. This wouldn't work on my current hub however, as the threads under the cog are already stripped, I will resolve to JB welding the cog ($10 on eBay, more worried about the cog wearing out than the hub *grin*).

Another thought, with permanently fixing the lockring I would have to make sure the cog and lockring are both as tight as possible, in this approach there seems to be more room for error then siezing the cog itself.

this has "bad idea" written all over it.

yup, you're absolutely right about that. in my case i still had good threads under the cog, and the lockring threads weren't quite completely stripped, so i was able to crank the cog on pretty tight, and get the lockring right up against it.

drilling some holes in the cog and the hub and bolting it on is a good idea, has anyone ever done it?

6 years later, i wonder what happened to OP and his bike

He died, went to heaven, then gave us flying squirrels

You rang ?

http://www.itsnature.org/wp-content/...g-squirrel.jpg