I have been building this fixie project and I am almost done, really all I have to do is take off the outer ring and space over the chainring. however, I have trouble getting the chain tensioned right. I stretch it fairly tight, about ideal, but when I then try to tighten the nuts, the wheel slides forward in the drop outs. These are on an old bianchi, with front-entry horizontal dropouts. If you look here, and scroll about halfway down, you can see what I mean by that...basically, what i am saying is that they aren't track ends.

I cannot seem to hold it while tightening. any tips? I keep getting this terribly loose chain...

when you pull the wheel back, hold it with one hand and tighten one of the bolts, then the other one, making sure the wheel is lined up between the chainstays. alternate between loosening and tightening the bolts and pushing on either side of the wheel until you get the right chain tension...you want to push on the wheel where it's closest the the BB and just work it back that way.

oh, and make sure you have track nuts, or some form of serated nuts to hold the wheel in place once you're ready to ride it...otherwise it'll slide forward on you.

I always keep one hand wedged in between the tire and the seatube while tightening things up. I chinch it up a little on each side. If this doesn't work for you, try getting a set of track nuts. The nut actually tightens onto an attached rotating washer that bites into the dropout.

Hope this helps.

DAve

You also might use chain tensioners. Surly makes them, as does MKS. Bensbike, a seller on ebay, caries the latter brand. I have yet to see a use for them but some frames may require them.

Keep in mind that the chain only has to be tight enough to keep it from falling off of the cogs. Some people test this by tapping the chain with a wrench while the rear wheel is spinning. This is to try and simulate some sort of jarring that might occur during a ride. If the chain is too tight, it will feel like you are pedaling in sand.

I would try and focus more on the alingnment of the rear wheel rather than a very tight chain. You will be amazed at how loose you can run your chain. Eventually you will find a preference for the tension, especially if you are messing around with geeky fixie tricks. Keep the rubber side down!

I do what auk does, basically anyway. I wedge squish one of my hands in between the chain stays in front of the rear tire and use that pressure to push it back and center it while I alternately tighten up the nuts. When you get used to it, it really locks the wheel in place.

I use 2 methods. The first one is to jam a broom handle or whatever inbetween the wheel and thechainstays/BB shell. Second way is that you get the drive side just beyond hand tight then switch to the other side, do the same thing and then go back and crank on the drive side again and so on.

its a fixie. you can't use a tensioner on a fixie.

Ican't really jam my hand between the seattube and wheel, becuase it has really long chainstays, I have agood 2" between the wheel and the seattube. I might try those "real" track nuts. right now I have cheap wal-mart type nuts on there.

On the subject of chain tensioners, don't you mean something like the Surly Tuggnut instead of that thing that replaces the rear derailler for SS's?

I'm currently building up an '80s Peugeot mtn bike (w/horizontal dropouts) as an off-road fixie and I'm having trouble with chain tensioning. It seens that when the crank is rotated the chain gets either too tight or too loose, there's no happy medium. I don't have this problem on my road fixie.

I'm thinking of buying a Surly tuggnut but they're kind of expensive and I'm wondering if it would be worth it, since I'm going to be riding it off-road. Would this help?

Re-position your chainring to various settings on your crank arm. Chainrings are seldom perfectly round. That, in combination with a crank arm that is less than precise will make for a frustrating tensioning experience. If you are using a quick release on your rear hub, that can slip under the extreme pressures of f/g use. Some people get away with it but they probably run steel ones rather than aluminum. Off road use puts a lot of pressure on the mounting system. Sheldon Brown, the guru of f/g, has an article on his website at www.Harriscyclery.com which explains the procedure for "exactly" positioning the chainring so that it is perfectly centered on the crank, thereby lessoning the chance of tight/loose chain. Good luck.

fixedgerhead

I believe skitbra meant "Chain tug," not the spring actuated tensior devices. That being said, based on the dropouts on the rear, MKS would not work; they are made specifically for track ends (and they will NOT work on all frames...)

Check here: https://64.191.20.129/showthread.php?t=50512
for another discussion on this same topic

Yea, that's what I meant.

What fixie riders call a "chain tug" is what bmx riders call a "chain tensioner". Check out www.danscomp.com or www.albes.com for cheap bmx chain tensioners that might work for you.

save your money. chain tugs only work on track ends.