$0 single speed "conversion"?

This topic has 63 replies, 15 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 2 months ago by vvill.

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January 19, 2013 at 8:48 pm #960562

baiskeli
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@dcv 38217 wrote:

Didn’t know where else to post this, this is pretty cool.

They are not wearing helmets.

January 20, 2013 at 2:47 am #960538

vvill
Participant

@hozn 41045 wrote:

I recommend the Surly setup — good quality stuff; the cogs work with 8-speed chains and have wide bases. Some of the cheap conversion kits require SS chains (heavy!) and have narrow bases that will chew your freehub body up (well, especially if alloy). I am 95% sure that I have that set of Surly hub spacers zip tied together in my parts bin that you can have (from my first ss-converted mtb). And I may have a lightly used 16t or 17t cog. Send me a PM or email if interested.

Thanks for the reply! I ordered my own set of stuff, can’t wait to try it out. (I need to get new brake pads though, the front ones are worn through after this week’s commutes.)

January 25, 2013 at 3:13 pm #960878

vvill
Participant

Hmmmmmm well. Mostly a success. The tall Surly cog though doesn’t seem compatible with the KMC X8.93 chain. I ended up just shortening my old stretched Shimano chain which fits in the tall cog teeth fine.

But now I have a new shortened KMC chain that I don’t have a use for, and an old chain on a new cog.

January 25, 2013 at 8:39 pm #960915

hozn
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@vvill 41660 wrote:

Hmmmmmm well. Mostly a success. The tall Surly cog though doesn’t seem compatible with the KMC X8.93 chain. I ended up just shortening my old stretched Shimano chain which fits in the tall cog teeth fine.

But now I have a new shortened KMC chain that I don’t have a use for, and an old chain on a new cog.

That is odd. I have used a few of those chains with surly cogs (they are nice and cheap!). What size cog is it? (And is it otherwise special?)

January 25, 2013 at 10:35 pm #960921

vvill
Participant

Nope just the standard 3/32 Surly cog, size 15T.

The chain had trouble engaging each tooth, even with just gently turning the pedals (by hand) on a bike stand.

Yeah I thought it was odd too but when I did some Googling I found a few forum posts about it. Some people apparently took a file/grinder to the corners of the teeth to make it work.

January 26, 2013 at 1:49 pm #960963

hozn
Participant

@vvill 41705 wrote:

Nope just the standard 3/32 Surly cog, size 15T.

The chain had trouble engaging each tooth, even with just gently turning the pedals (by hand) on a bike stand.

Yeah I thought it was odd too but when I did some Googling I found a few forum posts about it. Some people apparently took a file/grinder to the corners of the teeth to make it work.

Interesting — and good to know for the future. I have definitely used 2 different KMC X8.93 chains with my Surly chainring & cog setup on my horizontal-drop SS MTB, but I have probably just been lucky. Maybe also the larger cogs are less likely to have this issue (18t/20t) due to angle of the cog teeth (??) … that is just spitballing, haven’t applied any science there

January 26, 2013 at 3:35 pm #960967

OneEighth
Participant

Phil Wood cogs.
I have ridden with several sizes of Surly cogs and—for me—the savings per cog aren’t worth the cost in ride quality or chain wear.

January 29, 2013 at 1:19 am #962202

vvill
Participant

Thanks, but aren’t Phil Wood cogs just for track hubs? I just have a standard Shimano/SRAM splined 130mm wide hub right now.

@hozn 41750 wrote:

Interesting — and good to know for the future. I have definitely used 2 different KMC X8.93 chains with my Surly chainring & cog setup on my horizontal-drop SS MTB, but I have probably just been lucky. Maybe also the larger cogs are less likely to have this issue (18t/20t) due to angle of the cog teeth (??) … that is just spitballing, haven’t applied any science there

It could well be that it’s a problem with the smaller cogs. Makes sense anyway.

For now I am just going to make sure I carry an 8 speed quick link and chain tool with me whenever I ride this bike. I cleaned the chain as well as I’ve ever cleaned the chain (which is to say, not much – but it’s no longer black) and it looks in decent shape still, even if it is a bit stretched.

February 3, 2013 at 4:15 am #961609

vvill
Participant

My conversion is no longer $0. I suppose this was inevitable, but it’s cheaper than a new frame.

February 3, 2013 at 4:40 pm #961602

Jason B
Participant

Congrats on the wheel, you may not be invited to anymore track stand/tattoo competitions the bike rats have under the 66 overpass, but you will have some serious tension.
But seriously, check out this invaluable eno video dcv sent me on this thread (sorry haven’t figured out the how to embed yet. btw, is that a matching white cog???ooh la la!
http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?3629-Short-19mm-wrench&highlight=Wrench

February 3, 2013 at 4:45 pm #961600

dcv
Participant

@vvill 43014 wrote:

My conversion is no longer $0. I suppose this was inevitable, but it’s cheaper than a new frame.

I saw that ENO wheel on CL on Friday, and almost emailed the seller to buy it. Are you going fixed?

BTW you just opened pandora’s box – you will start noticing all the framesets on CL that you can convert to fixed, especially the CF ones.

February 4, 2013 at 12:46 am #961582

vvill
Participant

@Jason B 43022 wrote:

Congrats on the wheel, you may not be invited to anymore track stand/tattoo competitions the bike rats have under the 66 overpass, but you will have some serious tension.
But seriously, check out this invaluable eno video dcv sent me on this thread (sorry haven’t figured out the how to embed yet. btw, is that a matching white cog???ooh la la!
http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?3629-Short-19mm-wrench&highlight=Wrench

Heh, thanks. I will need to figure out how to take the wheel out for flat changes etc. The cog it came with is just a Surly 16T 1/8″. I guess it’s an older ENO hub (no splines).

@dcv 43023 wrote:

I saw that ENO wheel on CL on Friday, and almost emailed the seller to buy it. Are you going fixed?

BTW you just opened pandora’s box – you will start noticing all the framesets on CL that you can convert to fixed, especially the CF ones.

I’m planning to start out running it SS for my morning commutes and then depending on how I feel, trying FG for my return commute or some lunch laps at Hains Pt. My closest calls/accidents that are my own fault seem to happen more in the AM and I know I’m often still waking up when on the bike then too. I’m in no rush though, I just got this now because it seemed like a good deal for the future.

I may have opened pandora’s box but I see it as costing a lot less than a new bike! I was seriously considering a Wabi but I’ve been enjoying my cheap hybrid’s ride (on a decent wheelset) so much I didn’t want to buy something online and then feel like it wasn’t as good as what I already have. And now I can try fixie without as big a commitment, and if it doesn’t take at least I have a nice SS without a tensioner.

February 4, 2013 at 1:50 am #961578

ShawnoftheDread
Participant

@Jason B 43022 wrote:

…you may not be invited to anymore track stand/tattoo competitions the bike rats have under the 66 overpass…

Please tell us more.

February 6, 2013 at 11:23 am #961400

dcv
Participant

Hey VVill, this would go nicely with that wheel: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/bik/3585172968.html

February 6, 2013 at 3:16 pm #961387

vvill
Participant

@dcv 43242 wrote:

Hey VVill, this would go nicely with that wheel: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/bik/3585172968.html

Ha, I actually already saw that last night!

I *am* thinking if I get a frame it’ll be a CX one, or just basically anything roadie-like that can take larger tires. That frameset is very close to my road bike actually – hydroformed Al, carbon seat stays, carbon fork.
But the hybrid I’m riding now can take 32s already so I am thinking of doing “just a couple” of upgrades on it, and calling it a day. My CX bike covers the hybrid’s previous duties well enough (kid towing, other utility stuff) so I think I’m holding off on anything new for a while. Trying to, anyway! I’m curious how light I could get this thing – since the fork is steel I could lighten that easily.

I’ve taken off the lockring on the ENO wheel and cleaned it a bit but that’s it so far. Trying to get some use out of the Surly cog/spacer kit I also only recently bought, although they will most likely end up with a new life on my beater MTB which I’ll convert to SS too one day.
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