I just bought this bike off of Ebay (yes, i know) because my bike got stolen recently and I needed something cheap to get me around. So it comes in yesterday and I take it to the bikeshop to get my chain installed and what not. Fast forward to 20 minutes ago I go for my first test ride and it was not good to say the least. Im pedaling along and apply some back pressure to stop and whoops....there goes the cog. Now this is definatley my fault for not checking this out but I just figured that my "fixed gear" bike would work as such. The hub brand is "Zeus" so can I just pick up a standard english lockring? While its in its dismantled state could I pick up a IRO cog and lockring to put on there? Im just learning the mechanics of these bikes and I just want to make sure I get everything right. Thanks for any replies.

Heres my situation in a pictorial form.

oh jeez. does the hub have stepped threading?

Looks like a freewheel hub to me, IE, not a fixed gear hub. You'd need a bottom bracket lockring, if it will fit. And Red Loctite. Lots of Red Loctite.

610? you in the lehigh valley?

i cant really tell the exact situation from that picture.... is it an actual track hub? or just an old 5speed hub that had a cog threaded on? are the threads at all damaged now? If it is a track hub youll use a track lock ring.. remember its reverse threaded. If it is a 5speed hub, you can get away with using a bottom bracket lock ring if you cog is large enough that the chain doesnt hit the lock ring. But yea, give us a little more info and well help out more...

I can't tell from the picture, but I think you may have a normal freewheel hub without any provision for a lockring. Round here folks like to call that a suicide hub. It's very dramatic . If that's the case you can either try to fix that thing on there in one of the many ways discussed on this forum in the past (search "suicide hub") or just thread on a freewheel.

If it is a track hub with reverse threaded lockring threads, just get a lockring and put it on there nice and tight. Since Zuess priamrily made campy knockoff parts you'll probably need a campy threaded lockring. Phil, and EAI both make them in that threading.

Perhaps a bit off topic but since I run a front brake and sometimes use back pedal pressure to slow down, I never use a lock ring. My back pedal pressure is never stronger than my forward pressure. I know it's a cheap $10 part and I have several but I swap cogs frequently and removing lockrings has become a hassle due to my laziness.

I've heard the adage "lockrings=rookie rings" a few times.

That's probably only relevant to the track.

Thanks for the responses...Heres another pic of the threads. Im guessing its probably just a freewheel hub because the cog was just threaded right on. Would it be better for me just to buy a new hub and all that jazz? I dont really feel like ghetto-rigging this thing.

A little further south... West Chester area.

looks like a real track hub to me.

clean those threads off!

That's a track hub. see how there is a second set of stepped threads?

It looks like whoever installed that cog used a butt load of never-seize on the threads. not a bad idea, as long as you use a lockring, but I can't see why you'd use that without one on the street? The forseeable results have already happened.

My guess is this bike was set up for the track where back pressure is not an issue. Find the correct lockring, and put it on there good and tight.

looks like a track hub to me, but those threads look DONE from here

i think the threads look ok to me. maybe not pristine, but i've run worse. all that crap on them is probably anti sieze like mattface said.

The threads had a lot of grime on them but after a cleaning nothing looks stripped.

So since Zeus made Campy knockoffs should I buy italian threaded? Ive been trying to find info on Zeus hubs but Im not getting much.

why is back pressure not a concern with track racing? no skidding? just slight reverse pressure to slow down rather than skid/skip?


the lockring on my pista continually loosens and i have been put in some precarius situations since i ride it around alpharetta in peak traffic times.

I'd go to a fg friendly LBS and try out a few lockrings to see which fits.

no slowing down.

word is that many track coaches say not to apply any back pressure at all. ever.

i guess that makes sense, people push much bigger gears on the track.

edit: yup, try both kinds of lockring. the thread pitch is the same for italian and iso/english, it's the diameter that's different. if the english doesn't fit at all, then it's italian. if they both fit, but the english feels more snug it's english.

Because noone has brakes to stop quickly in front of you.
If they crash close enough that they haven't slid to the apron no type of backpressure is going to save you
You always have at least 500m to stop. Even from 45mph your not going to spin off your cog like that.
backpressure in a paceline ****s up everyone else and is dangerous.
why waste energy slowing down when letting your legs spin around is going to help you recover instead of building up even more la.

^I *think* I have seen trackracers on TV do more than one lap after crossing the finish line (ie. slow down very slowly) That backs this theory.

I've heard that most tracks require a lockring.

some not most. I think someone posted last time this came up how a bunch of messengers and whatnot have had trouble spinning off cogs at kissena.