fixed gear vertical drops?
 

Hey,
I'm thinking of taking an old bianchi frame and converting it to a fixy. Only problem is, it has vertical drops. Can it be done? Any adapters (like a no-railer for a SS) needed? Thanks for the input in advance.

ENO hub: http://www.whiteind.com/ENO_web/eno-index.html

do not run a tensioner on a fixed gear drivetrain to take up slack chain UNLESS you NEVER skid and run front and back brakes. the slack pushed back into the tensioner will cause problems. not good ones either.

The only way to do it without the ENO Hub (which is a dynomite product, BTW) is to luck out and find a magic ratio, or else file away at your dropouts (not recommended). There is a link that helps find a cog and chainring that will work for a given chainstay length, search for it.

*edit* If you are into that frankensteining isht and don't mind filing, you might also try filing on your axles. If you flatten out the same side of each end, you can get a little bit of adjustability in your vertical drops. Again, like the dropout filing, highly NOT recommended. Just trying to be comprehensive.

why don't you recommend it?

Most will say that if you don't shell out the large sum of cash for the eno hub + wheelbuild cost, it isn't worth the time/effort/frustration of trying to find a magic ratio.

The ENO hub is well worth the money if you're trying to build a decent rig with vertical dropouts. About as well made and designed piece of gear as you'll find anywhere.

I was messing with one of those hubs. Man it was nice. The bearings were so smooth that when I rotated the hub body the axle stayed at the bottom due to the small weight difference from the off-set. They are buttery.

Are we ever going to get that "Standard answers to standard questions" sticky thread going. Its' a shame [165] lost his authority and with it his power to make things sticky.

In my spare time I've been working on: http://kili.metanovus.com

Anyone can chip in a few words, start new articles, put some thoughts down.

Yeah, apologies for the standard question. I did actually search quickly to make sure I wasn't repeating. Sounds like the eno hub is the way to go. Although its hard to turn down a good filing.....

I feel like someone oughta make a product that is a horizontal dropout that bolts into vertical drops, such that the horizontal dropout (or track end) sits just below the end of the vertical one. It could be a single, machined piece of metal. It would raise the back end of the bike up a little and make the rear wheel be much farther from the bridge, but it would be for fixed-gear conversions, so a rear brake wouldn't matter.

Does this make sense? Is there some obvious flaw to this idea that I'm not thinking of?

GGDub! It's me! Did you ride in today? Going through Mt. Royal was a beech. Say hi to Maria...

A chain made of halflinks would also help. Like this:

http://hubjub.co.uk/shadow/shadow.htm

You'd need to weld it on, bolts wouldn't really hold it that securely that way. It'd also RADICALLY change the geometry of the bike.

magic ratio webpage
http://www.peak.org/~fixin/personal/fmu/php/fixmeup.php

I wouldn't recommend filing on dropouts or rear wheel axles because those are two things you do NOT want to mess up (rear wheel and frame being your two most expensive bike parts). And you can't undo a bad filing job.

ANOTHER way to do a sketchy job of it (that Sheldon did on his old Bianchi, if I remember correctly):
With a QR rear hub, cut off the axle part that the dropouts rest on. Use an old Steel QR. With just the QR going through the dropouts, you get about 1/2" of play to use for tensioning.

pinkrobe = d. Mills? You're buying a chorus? They're paying you too much. Basically skied down the hill yesterday and today. Learned something new last night, a ride through vic park will result in many hooker come ons.

See: http://sheldonbrown.com/vertical for a range of strategies for this.

See also http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed for lotsa fixed gear info and propaganda.

Sheldon "Tried 'Em All" Brown

here is one that would work

eno laced to open pro


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEBI%3AIT&rd=1

has anyone sucessfully converted a vertical drop bike using a full half link chain?

well, with a normal chain and just a half link you could get the same result and cheaper hehe

I've got horizontal dropouts, don't know if with a half link you can "fine tune" enough to run any gear with vertical dropouts, I doubt it, but it should help a bit. And its a cheap method.

I've found (in the only two instances I've tried) that a half link + a little bit of dropout filing will get the job done.