I've just about assembled everything I need to build up an old Trek 520 frame (126mm rear spacing) as my first single speed build. Wheels are on their way, as are some 3mm spacers to widen the rear hub the necessary skosh. I have a Sugino Mighty Competition (151BCD) pista crank and Miche's weird/cool rear cog carrier. What would be an appropriate bottom bracket to reach chainline nirvana? British bb shell, According to the Velobase entry, it's ISO taper.

Also, eveything is 1/8". Do people have a favorite chain (sturdy, quiet, not flashy)?

Thx,

Skip

The 109mm Sugino 75 ISO BB or Protype BB will work with that crank.

KMC K710-SL is a good, long-lasting, quiet, inexpensive chain.

An ISO taper crank on a JIS spindle will sit farther outboard by 4.5 mm so you need to adjust for this.

My educated guess is that if you use a JIS spindle you will need a track spindle (109 mm) that will equate to a 113.5 width that will give you a pretty decent chainline... I have found this to be the case when I have installed older Sugino cranks to bicycles that have JIS bottom brackets. If you find an ISO spindle or cartridge bottom bracket then you will be able to get closer to chainline nirvana. Cartridge bottom brackets that are ISO will be Italian and will usually say Campagnolo, you can get these with BSA threading.

If you can find them and are willing to spend the coin, Suntour Superbe track bottom brackets are also ISO and have an adjustable chainline... I think I have one but it might be Italian threaded and they use a proprietary bottom bracket tool.

How does this apply to what I posted above? Both BBs I suggested are ISO.

The Protype is an English-threaded 109mm ISO cartridge BB.

Just throwing out more info than what is needed in case someone else is wondering...

Gotcha.

I forgot to add Sugino as another option... I agree on the KMC K710 as being great chain.

It is too early to be dispensing advice... I need more coffee.

Two middle-aged men bonding.

Thanks guys...

I should perhaps point out that I used to ride a Schwinn Madison, but always with the freewheel side. It was stolen before I got up the nerve to try it fixed gear. This one will be built fixed, so I won't have a choice. I guess I'll look for a big, empty parking lot to try it out... :-)

See? I'm not always a dick.

Yeah, we noticed you needed your morning coffee too, some of the youngsters will start imagining you're human

my choice would be a KMC 101 Devil

yeah, sometimes you're an a-hole. haha. How is SD treating you? Please tell me it is a horrible place and I shouldn't quit my job and move there.

That's what I use too. He said he wanted sturdy, quiet and non-flashy which led me to believe he didn't want to pay $35 for a chain.

I'll let you know when we move there in November. You should probably quit your job and move there anyway.

Its the quietest chain I have every used, much more so than even my 710sl

The whole "quiet chain" thing is very subjective. The D-101 on my Bare Knuckle is extremely quiet on a Sugino 75 ring/EAI cog while the one on my 725 is quite loud on a Zen ring/EAI cog.

In my experience, Izumi ECO chains are a little noisy but the one on Angie's Vigorelli is dead silent.

I prefer the kmc z510hx chain. It looks more like a traditional chain than the 710 chains, and is certainly much cheaper than the d-101. Is it flashy?...depends of how much you clean it i suppose.

The european kmc website has some interesting dowloads about chains.

www.kmcchain.eu

Thanks for all the input. I went with the Protype BB and K710SL chain Scrod recommended. The BB worked great. The chain turned out to be a bit short (100 links when I needed 104). I'm inexperienced in this regard, and hadn't even considered that there were chains out there less than 110 links or so. No problem. It's up on CL where someone will buy it from me (not worth the return shipping).

I checked the QBP catalog and saw that it comes in a 112-link length as well (or so I thought):



so I asked my LBS to order me one. I went to pick it up today, and whadya know? It was also 100 links. He had a SRAM PC-1 which was 114 links, so I bought that. I use SRAM PC-8xx chains on all my vintage derailleur bikes when I need new chains, so I'm confident this will work for me.

Got everything buttoned up this evening, and here's the result. A quick spin around the neighborhood. I hope I don't kill myself on the way to work tomorrow. Should I stick with the flat pedals or slap on the Looks I'm used to?

Yeah, you've got to watch the number of links, particularly if you're using a converted roadie. You can get the right length but mostly, the shops stock chains for bmx which don't use as many links.

I've used the PC-1 chain and like it, despite the bad press it gets. It's not as long lasting as some of the better chains though - it'll do nicely then suddenly 'stretch' on you.

My LBS guy pointed me at the KMC website. Clearly QBP has an error in their catalog.

First ride to work this morning. This will take a little practice. No coasting. Ever. The most interesting points occurred when I would stand up from a stop, then sit back down. Like most people, I'm used to coasting just a little as I sit. I can see where if I had gotten going a bit faster and tried that, I could get thrown over the handlebars.

I think my gearing is a bit high (47x16) for urban commuting. If I replace my cog with a 17T, that will move the axle forward by roughly 1/4", right (horizontal dropouts)? Or 1/8"? (Let's see, it will add 1/2" to the circumference, 1/4" to half the circumference, so more like 1/8" top and bottom. So 1/8". I think.) The axl is sitting fairly far back in the dropouts now, so I think I can add a tooth back there without any problem.