JunkYardBike

So, I've read Sheldon's site and numerous threads here. However, I haven't seen mention of something I found on an internet retail site: freewheel spacers. Is this a possible alternative to redishing and respacing in order to improve chainline? I know the added benefit of redishing and centering the rim is to make it stronger, but this seems a simpler route to take, if legitimate.

endlesscycles

They'll fit. You can go a few mm to go outboard with the fw, and 2-3 with the BB to go outboard with the c-ring.
Really, cassette hub is the way to go for perfect chainline.

pyze-guy

Misfitpyscles has good conversion kits, 13.50 for spacers and a cog.

I use spacers and have a perfect chainline.

Easy to do and a s/s doesn't nees a perfect line. The problem arises when ramped cogs and chainring are used with a deraileur chain. Chain throws are common even with a tight chain and perfect line. I have never redished a wheel for s/s. Conversion is cheap, efficent and effective.

JunkYardBike

I'm doing this on the cheap, so I'm using an availabe freewheel hub, not cassette. Just haven't seen anything on the boards about freewheel spacers.

pyze-guy

Forgot you were talking about freewheel hub. Sorry, don't use them.

odie91

How is that so?

pyze-guy

Because you can have the chain ring on the inner or outer side of the spider and adjust the cog to match with spacers. Check the pic I posted, if I needed to move the cog towards the dropout I could switch it with a specer, if it needed to move in to the hub, same thing. Also no redishing of wheel. Just drop the chain on the chainring, align on the freehub to get a straight line, then use spacers to place the cog in that spot.

mascher

I've only used freehub ss wheels, but I'm afraid of redishing and spacing, and I've never done it without a problem. I used the Misfit conversion spacers too - the guy who runs it told me that in his years of SSing he'd never "needed" to redish and respace a wheel, and that in his opinion it was only necessary if you rode extremely gnarly singletrack (avoid possible wheel problems that will cost you a 20 mile walk back) or if you were world cup level strong and fast.

My Philly bike has a chainline more than a cm off on middle of a cassette, another conversion was less than that but still off, never threw a chain on either (riding city streets and gravel paths mind you).

JunkYardBike

Thanks for all the responses. It's going on a road bike, so it will be streets only (well, I guess roadbikes can ride gravel and dirt, too). Because there is so little information to be found about freewheel spacers, I wonder if it's not a good idea, or just that very few people are running single speed freewheels. I'm also wondering if there is enough thread on the freewheel hub to allow many spacers at all.

mascher

I would guess it's a really finicky thing for people using disc rear wheels in time trials (maybe with a fixed cog, hence the extra room for the spacers and the correcting chainline problems - just a guess, I know nothing about bike racing), and that if you're doing that, you're probably not pinching pennies to modify your chainline when you could buy a new 3000 buck set of wheels and a 5000 buck frame.

Retem

you can get a ss cassett hub at trashbar for 35 bucks and it has disc brake see disc bolt on cog conversion ss fixed flip flop

Landgolier

If you can run a freewheel on fixed threading, you can run a freewheel with a pretty fair-sized stack of spacers and have it be on about the same number of threads. There's nothing wrong with this, just not many people out there doing it.

JunkYardBike

Thanks. I decided to order the spacers. I'll see how it works out and post pics here once I'm done with the conversion.

Grand Bois

I respaced and redished and still needed a spacer to get the chainline perfect. My chainring is a 52, so I don't have clearance for a shorter spindle.



It's a whole lot easier with a cassette.

ApolloCVermouth

Isn't there a lot less room on a freewheel for spacers? In the road hub I respaced/ redished there was barely room for a BB lockring. Is there more thread on a MTB freewheel hub?

Landgolier

Umm, you're probably clear on this, but the spacers go on the other side from where the BB lock ring would. The idea here is that you don't need to use all of the threads, you can eat up some of them with spacers. I'd be totally fine with a freewheel on like 4-5 threads, I don't have a hub in front of me but there are usually 8 I think.

ApolloCVermouth

OK, I see. I was thinking fixed. I guess you could do this with a freewheel but not a suicide conversion.

JunkYardBike

Thanks for the tip, Landgolier. I'll be using the inner ring on a double, a 40T, so hopefully it won't take too much to align the chain. I'm assuming the 52T Dirtdrop used was the outer ring on a former double crank? Unfortunately, complicating matters is that the spindle is way far out on the driveside, but very short on the non-drive side. So flipping it probably wouldn't work. It does look like I could get the 40T closer to the stay, though.

Landgolier

"Standard" inner double spacing is 41mm as per Sheldon, but I haven't found that that's any more standard than any other bike part, especially on older/cheaper stuff. If the bottom bracket is ok and the goal is low cost, I wouldn't necessarily try to get it all done with spacers, but rather use the spacers as a way to get things closer so you have to do very little redishing. Who knows, it might even work without any redishing, but redishing an old wheel a couple of mm is no big deal so long as the nipples aren't corroded to the spokes. If they are, and you can get it to within 3-4 mm with spacers, split the difference and call it a day. Chainline 2mm off and wheel with 1 1/4" tire 2mm off center (using axle spacers) is a better setup than 87.6% of the bikes people ride every day all over the world.

odie91

aren't those cassette freehubs wider than the 120mm often used on older road bikes? are there usually spacers that i can remove that would allow me to fit it onto my 120mm bike? i've been tempted to buy a freehub wheel on ebay, but am afraid it won't fit...

Aeroplane

Most cassette freehubs are 130mm. Most freewheel hubs will be 126mm. You can respace a freewheel hub, but not a freehub. However, if your frame is steel, you can probably have the stays cold-set to 130mm to accept a freehub wheel. Just remember, a freehub wheel can't be run as a fixed-gear, and a flip-flop (or duplex) hub can, and won't have to be respaced, and you won't have to have your frame spread.

Grand Bois

A Surly Fixxer will convert a Shimano freehub to fixed and I understand you can space it any width you want all the way down to 120mm. I haven't tried one and I don't know anyone that has.

https://www.speedgoat.com/product.asp...=260&brand=245

pyze-guy

I used one for a while. Worked well and I never had a problem with slipping or stripping, but I've heard that hard skids can strip them. Axle spacing on them is for 120 to 135. Easy to use and install. Only issue was it worked free if not really wrenched on with the hex wrench. Used a little blue loctite and never loosened again.

Aeroplane

Then also keep in mind that the Fixxer costs $65. That, plus the cost of a freehub wheel, is way more than an flip-flop or duplex wheel, which can also be run fixed or free.

fatbat

You could probably also use a bb lockring on the inside as a spacer, assuming that you're running a freehwheel and not a fixed cog.