Background: After a frustrating ride involving my wheel being pulled off center a few times, I have decided that I want to get a pair of chain tugs. I have already decided that the tuggnut and MKS tugs are a little too $$$$ for my townie bike so now I am down to the generic part or BMX part.

My question is: Do the 3/8 inch BMX tugs fit the 10mm bolt-on axle (specifically the Redline ones)?

I searched and searched and only found a couple iffy answers from 4-5 years ago. I know that 3/8 inch converts to 9.5mm and change but according to these guys it DOES work.

Thank you in advance.

I thought BMX's came in 10mm and 14mm axels.

I bought a nice 10mm redline chaintug before.

According to the product description, these come in 3/8 inch and 14mm sizes. Do the tugs on your bike have a model number or some other form of identification on them?

Edit: I think that 3/8 inch is going to work because Amazon describes the Surly Tuggnut as being able to accommodate a 3/8 inch axle size.

So, I was in the exact same boat as you. I looked around online, found some brands I liked the look of, and went to my LBS to order them. The guys at the LBS told me they thought that if I pulled the axle out of alignment that the nuts were too loose, and that the fix was just to keep them tight. They said that if I had a chain tug on there, it would probably just break, and that those things are mostly just for tensioning the chain in the first place. I can tension the chain fine, but it does slip every so often.

So, I'm just trying to recheck the torque on the axle nuts every week or two using a ~12" flare wrench. I also pulled the wheel and made sure any paint left in the dropout where the axle nut clamps was rubbed away. I carry a small adjustable wrench in my backpack too. Maybe the guys at the LBS are wrong, but my impression of those guys is that they both know what they're talking about and are entirely honest (the advice that they gave me did cost them a sale). So- that's not what you asked, but I thought it might help.

In any case, you definitely don't need two chaintugs.

Adding chain tugs instead of properly installing the wheel is not a good solution.

I see what you are saying about the axle being to loose. In fact, a few people in previous threads told others to go out and get some higher quality axles/nuts. As for me, I want my SS to be absolutely trouble free so I have decided that chain tugs will be the way to go if this happens one more time. The only reason why I would go with two chain tugs is because for the most part, they come in pairs. The only ones that I have seen as a single were the NJS and Surly Tuggnut ones. It is funny because they give you half of what others are selling and charge twice as much! I have no doubt that these are of a higher quality, but at the same time I cannot imagine spending that much on such a simple device.

Don't get me wrong. I am torquing down the nuts as hard as I can without standing on the wrench. The driveside just creeps forward during hard efforts at the edge of my capability (i.e. uphill). Of course I try my best to get a perfectly straight wheel with proper tension whenever I take off the rear wheel.

Is that what you mean?

Your wheel shouldn't be creeping forward, even under "heavy" use like climbing hills.... how are you tensioning you wheel/chain? Are you creeping it back one side at a time?

Origin8 makes some cheap ones... I have no clue on the quality.... they may be "cheap"

I ordered some just to make things easier on myself, and hopefully save my aluminum dropouts some wear/tear.

I use double chain tensioners on all my fixed gear bikes.

It makes chain tension adjustment soooo much easier.

I consider it immoral to tighten anything on a bike more than "pleasantly" tight.

Try the non-MKS chain tensioners at this Businesscycles link:

https://businesscycles.com/trtool_chaintugs.htm

I know that it shouldn't be creeping forward, but it did and I cannot have it happen again. The whole reasoning behind getting the SS in the first place was to have a dependable bike. I feel that a tug would do just that as well as give me the ability to make my wheel 100% perfect in tension and centering (as opposed to what a new-to-horizontal-trackends rider can do).

Yep, I do it one side at a time. I pull it to where it should be, centered and tensioned. Then I tighten down the non-drive side. After that, I pull back and tighten the drive side and make sure everything is centered and the chain is tensioned.

You read my mind. I was just at the site you mentioned (2nd choice for tensioners) and I REALLY hate cranking down on anything on my bike.

The websites I was looking at did not make it clear if these came individually or in a pair. Could you let me know when they come in?

I have been using those cheapest chain-tugs and they have been very reliable. (kinda cheap looking though)



I replaced the nut with wing nuts and that makes the pair even more useful. But end-guards (is that how they call em?) deform easily and become rather cheap looking. ... Then again, you could grab these by dozens anyways.

Probably don't matter but these things can go into the ends in crooked angles if you are not careful. This ticked me off, so I am using Tuggernut right now. ... But I think I am going back to the cheapo tug, soon.

P.S. These should not cost more than 5 bucks. Busine$$cycle's price is a bit highish. Note also, they don't work all the time, you can't pull too far. Also, if your wheel-base is tight, it might not be able to reach out. ...

That is what I was worried about with the "generic" kind. If I went with the "lollipop" style, I would make sure that they have the part that slides into the track end. I just feel more comfortable going with the other style similar to the Tuggnut. Thank you for your input!

edit: Good advise on the wingnut mod! I couldn't seem to find anything like that besides the tuggnut but I will definitely look for some wingnut bolts at the store when I buy some tugs.

did you respace the frame (like a 130 spaced road frame to 120 track width)

if you did a drastic resizing, it could be possible that your dropouts aren't parallel (so the faces where the nuts tighten are not parallel between left and right). an un-parallel dropout could be the result of some sort of crash too.

if they aren't parallel then the slight change in distance between the dropouts over the length of the dropout could make proper tightening of the nuts impossible and can cause the creeping you see.

if this doesn't make any sense, it's late and i'm tired.

no no, it is a new complete bike. I am just not used to having any issue with the wheel being pulled forward as a person who has been riding geared road bikes for about 9 years now.

Just torque down the bolts. It's metal. You're not going to hurt it.

You will, however, hurt yourself by having a wheel flop around under you.

is your chain tension too tight? maybe it's binding up so bad on a tight spot that it's pulling the wheel forward?

otherwise just crank down on the bolts i guess. can't think of any other reason

Don't listen to that. For one thing, your ends gonna get chewed up. Ends are hardened steel, but that doesn't mean it's indestructible. It can get chewed by axle nuts and axle lock nuts which are as hard. More importantly, tightening the crap out of it, you might crack the axle lock nuts. That's gonna be a booboo to fix, because spares need to be ordered and stuff.

... I ought to know. I chewed up my ends. ... And destroyed my axle lock nuts. I had to replace em.

Right on. After years of work on bikes and cars I know better than to over-torque nuts and bolts.

For those who are confused of why this is happening, it has only occurred twice to me during hard efforts when I probably took up some slack momentarily before stomping on the pedals. This is not a common occurrence for me.

re: just cranking them down.... some frames are aluminum That's the whole reason I bought the tensioners... to save the aluminum.

I bought the origin8 tensioners from an ebay store. They came 2 to the pack, for about $9 shipped. They actually aren't labled as origin8 (in person, but they are in the auction)... but they work great. They look identical to the picture in every respect, except the white origin8 label. The only issue i had was that they wouldn't allow me to use the forward most 1/4in of my dropouts because of the part of the washer that slides inside the dropout. I simply took a dremel to it to get some more movement. The slide in front of the bolt no longer goes all the way to the edge. I think I took off about 1/2 of it... still plenty to keep it in place. They appear high quality, and I'd buy them again.

buildyourbike is the seller.
https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=290402038367

I use these and they work just fine.



https://www.danscomp.com/440057.php?cat=PARTS

i bought two Sinz chain tensioners(bmx world) and theyre great, although i had to use a half-link chain link for my 47x16 gear ratio. but theyre really nice and you can fine tune them like none other. i also have a huuuuuge Primo one but that looked like i was armor plating my chain stays. the Sinz ones were about 15 for a pair.

surly's look stupid

Chain tensioners are not used to hold the wheel into place. It is most likely slipping because the track nuts are not tight enough.