Lockring not on properly?
 

my new single speed with flip flop hub.


http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...3/DSC_0008.jpg


Im using it as a freewheel right now but on the other side of the hub, the lockring came off the threads. its still there but not screwed on properly
is that safe?

I have brakes and im not riding fixed right now so it should be okay right?

yeah, if you're using the FW side of the hub, it doesn't matter if the lockring comes loose on the other side. You might want to tighten it on just so it doesnt stay loose and rattle around back there, though. Enjoy your new bike. Try riding on the FG side sometime (but tighten that lockring if you do!)

^ATX is correct.

If you ride the fixed side before tightening the lockring you can strip the hub though. As long as you are riding the SS side no worries.

Righty tighty lefty loosey does not apply to pedals and fixed gear hubs.

That's not what he's asking.

The loose lockring on the left side isn't going to be a safety hazard, but leave it flopping around like that and you risk damaging the cog/lockring threads on that side. Tighten it on, or remove it.

...or bottom brackets.

Oh crap!

It applies half of the time doesn't it?

Well yeah. And a stopped clock is right twice a day, which is at least one time more than me, usually.

...except Italian

Why is this? I don't think my lockring even touches the cog- it's just there to catch the cog if it breaks loose and starts to unscrew. Therefore, I wouldn't think a loose lockring would affect the cog and the hub threads, you just wouldn't have a failsafe. I'm not saying you're wrong, I've seen stripped hubs, but I never really understood how that happened.

Are you sure about that?

If that is true, and I doubt that it is, something is installed incorrectly. The lockring is indeed there to prevent the cog from unscrewing, but it should threaded all the way on so that it is flush against the cog and tightened. This will prevent the cog from breaking loose altogether.

I don't know, what do you think? I wouldn't ride it around like that. The jostling around could damage the threads. Its worth noting that it would have taken you less time to remove it or thread it on than it would have for you to start this thread.

That was my original assumption about how it worked. I threaded the cog all the way down, then ran the lockring on and tightened it against the end of the threading. When I rode it, it had play when I'd switch from forward pedaling to resisting- the cog was bouncing back and forth between being threaded as far as it could go, and being unthreaded to where it hit the lockring. I took it by the LBS and he showed me the trick where you wrap the chain around the bottom bracket and wrap it the wrong way around the cog, so you can grab the wheel and get good leverage to tighten the cog.

Since then it's been great. The LBS didn't touch the lockring. He had the above concept of how the lockring works. It's a Formula hub, nothing unusual. It's possible that I'm wrong about how the bike is set up, but I doubt it. I built it. I should say that the lockring is exceedingly close to the cog- it looks pretty much like it's touching, but I don't think it's holding much torque against the cog.

This is true for the most part if you do not solely rely on backpedaling for stopping power.

I run fixed cogs on my spare wheelsets with no lockrings. As long as you're using a quality cog properly secured and running a brake there is not a problem in running sans lockring. Even with occasional heavy backpedaling I've never had a fixed cog without lockring come loose on me.

To me, that just defies logic.

You mean the no lockring part?

Well, a cog is just a threaded nut. The lockring is part of the hub for a reason.

True, but if you know your equipment well and their limitations, you can get away with many things. :)

If you're not using the fixed gear cog, I'd just remove it and the lockring and store them somewhere for future use.

The idea as I understand it is, the torque applied to tighten the cog = the amount of torque required to break it loose. Therefore, if you use the leverage of the wheel to torque it down, you've got about 14" of lever, as opposed to the 7 or so you'll have with the crank. So, if you really run the thing on there, it shouldn't ever come off no matter what you do riding it. However, theory does not always cover what can happen in practice, so I'll always want the lockring in place.

[QUOTE=ismellfish2;10140122] The LBS didn't touch the lockring. QUOTE]


Any reputable mechanic would tighten the lockring. And any hack would tighten it if it was there. Perhaps they did it when you weren't looking.

You're only half there. It only takes roughly twice the force on a 7" lever to overcome the force applied to a 14" lever. And the lever is still the wheel anyway.

From your other post indicating that the lockring looks to be touching the cog, I suspect that the lockring has been tightened.

It seems that way, but it can work. I recently switched out my 19 cog and it would not come off; I tried, skidding, backpedaling, a chainwhip, and rotafix. I finally went over to the lbs because I needed a second guy to hold the wheel while I used a chainwhip + pipe extension. Maybe if I rode on it long enough the repetative back pressure could loosen it up, but maybe over many miles.

I can only guess it was so tight from taking the bike on some long climbs around here.