Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => Freewheeling => Velo Fixe => Topic started by: Hot Flatus on 08 February, 2012, 08:13:33 pm
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Thinking of fixing my carbon Trek frame. Has vertical drop outs so this hub seems like a practical solution.
Anybody used one and has an opinion
Anybody got one they'd consider selling? 130 oln
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Never used one, got an opinion. :thumbsup:
Proprietary splined cog interface on the newer hubs looks like a bad idea. Try a magic gear instead.
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Yes, with you on that except that finding a magic gear could be as expensive as paying £35 for the White cog, unless you are sceptical from an engineering point of view?
The ENO hub is surely a more workable option, no? Don't really care about the expense if it works well.
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Didn't work for me. The eccentric rotated under heavy torque, slackening the chain. I finished a Dun Run on it but the chain looked as if it belonged on one of the boutique fixies from FGG by the time I got to the beach. This was despite roughening and degreasing the ends of the "axle" and mullering the bolts down as hard as possible.
Then I sold the frame and bought something with track ends.
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I've got a White Industries freewheel and it's beautifully engineered. Was talking to the mechanic at my LBS who was praising the WI eccentric hub that one of the other mechanics had.
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If you've got a tape measure and a stack of cogs and rings to play with then finding a magic gear is no problem. Mechanically, I've got no problem with the splined interface, but I'd prefer all the parts on my fixed gears to be interchangeable.
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I don't mind having a different bike for each gear ratio I plan to use ;)
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Didn't work for me. The eccentric rotated under heavy.
FTFY
:demon:
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Ah...riding after six pints of 80/- ale gets it every time.
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If this thread passes him by, it could be worth PM-ing Mike because I'm fairly sure he's got one of these hubs.
(I take it you couldn't shift the Trek frame in the end?)
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What's the deal with chain wear and magic gears? Good or bad? (this came up on Cyclechat the other day too)
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(I take it you couldn't shift the Trek frame in the end?)
The only effort I made was one post here, and really, I think it might be worth more to me than what somebody else would reasonably be prepared to pay for it.
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Got one on my work/hack bike.
On the whole i like it, but have also had issues with it rotating under load. I'd intended to turn up some different axle ends for it, but haven't gotten around to it yet, so it vacant be that much of an issue.
Mines the original type with std threaded sprocket thread & lock ring.
I think it's a good solution. I had a bike that I liked, wanted a fixed. Seemed like a good solution and a saved an old bike from the scrap pile.
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What's the deal with chain wear and magic gears? Good or bad? (this came up on Cyclechat the other day too)
With proper horizontal dropouts, my fixie chains get unacceptably slack (i.e. visible droop and noticeable lash in the transmission) within a month of winter commutes. With decent lube and clean, dry road conditions chain wear is negligible, so a magic gear is more likely to be successful on a good weather bike. Some people file the dropouts a bit to give a tiny bit of adjustment.
If you run a full-bushing chain and your chainline is spot on, the risk of throwing a chain is minimised and you might be willing to tolerate a slacker chain for the convenience of a magic gear. You get lash at the pedals well before the chain is actually too slack to come off. You can test whether it's dangerous by trying to push the chain off the sprocket with a suitable stick or screwdriver (don't use your fingers!!!) while slowly turning the pedals.
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If this thread passes him by, it could be worth PM-ing Mike because I'm fairly sure he's got one of these hubs.
Indeed. I fixed a cheap chinese Ti frame last year so I could try TTing on fixed, it was awesome. Needed tweaking every half dozen or so rides but it only takes a couple of seconds. I used to take a long allen key in the repair kit just in case (I broke a couple of cheap multitools trying to tighten it en route). Mines got the standard threaded hub & lockring too. I've just changed the bike back to geared but dont want to sell the wheel but you could borrow it, if you like?
It didnt seem to slip on short high torque sprints or hills, more just a time & distance thing. this was on a Ti dropout, dont know if it'd be different on another material.
well worth the experiment, IMHO, just to feel how light a road bike can be without the dangly bits!
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If this thread passes him by, it could be worth PM-ing Mike because I'm fairly sure he's got one of these hubs.
I've just changed the bike back to geared but dont want to sell the wheel but you could borrow it, if you like?
That's a kind offer, thankyou.
I'm going to hold fire for a few months anyway as this will be a summer thing. There was one on eBay but it got delisted today.
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I ran one of the older model ENOs for a while - no problems. But then I'm light and gentle.
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I ran one of the older model ENOs for a while - no problems. But then I'm light and gentle.
heh, I'm neither ;D
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What's the deal with chain wear and magic gears? Good or bad? (this came up on Cyclechat the other day too)
If you've got a calculator, a stack of sprockets and chain rings it's often possible to find a workable magic gear. Feels great when you finally hit on a workable combination.
Until 250 miles later, when it all goes slack and you can either replace the chain, or go through the whole cycle again....
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Have several frames using same - no issues.
Didn't work for me. The eccentric rotated under heavy torque, slackening the chain.
Always have hub centre on arc line below the horizontal through fixing centre(*); forward drive will want to rotate it clockwise then, increasing tension as hub centre moves further from BB...
(*) i.e. usually somewhere between 6 - 9
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What's the deal with chain wear and magic gears? Good or bad? (this came up on Cyclechat the other day too)
If you've got a calculator, a stack of sprockets and chain rings it's often possible to find a workable magic gear. Feels great when you finally hit on a workable combination.
Until 250 miles later, when it all goes slack and you can either replace the chain, or go through the whole cycle again....
I ran a magic gear on my Airborne for several years with no such troubles. The secret seemed to be to use a chain and sprocket that already had a few hundred miles on them so that the initial settling-in was done before they were fitted. After that there was enough leeway in the dropout to cope with chain wear.
It was a mainly fair-weather bike though, though I did a couple of 400km audaxs on it when it rained quite a bit.
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If you haven't already done so, take a look at eBay in the States, as ENOs appear to come up more regularly there. I passed up the offer of buying one from there around half price, a few years ago.
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Have several frames using same - no issues.
Didn't work for me. The eccentric rotated under heavy torque, slackening the chain.
Always have hub centre on arc line below the horizontal through fixing centre(*); forward drive will want to rotate it clockwise then, increasing tension as hub centre moves further from BB...
(*) i.e. usually somewhere between 6 - 9
I tried that too.
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Want to sell yours Roger?
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I sold it a couple of years ago when I bought the Inbred frame.
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I tried that too.
Slackness no matter what, then?
YA J R "Bob" Dodds AICMFP ;)
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It's that bottom-bracket breaking power!
Roger must have been a Catholic priest in a former life.
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ISTR you were a choirboy :smug:
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Not me, gov. Botty intact.
I think you might be confusing me with Bobb.
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On closer inspection, I see that the chainline is different for each side of the hub. 43mm for the fixed side and 47.5 on the freewheel.
Baffling ???
Also seems to rule out using the Record double
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I also thought that was odd, but on the one occasion that I flipped the hub and rode it down the road on a freewheel (illegal; no rear brake) it seemed to work fine. Freewheels are usually wobbly enough to tolerate a bad chainline.
Bear in mind that the quoted chainline is probably wrong anyway; mine was much wider than 43mm on fixed, but not as wide as 43mm *plus* sprocket would be (50mm or so). Maybe the current model really is aimed at 50mm to match HT2 cranks?
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Well I haz a nice sleek black 32h DT Swiss rim, but a matching black hub won't be here for another month. I suppose a sensible way to proceed would be to measure the rear chainline then fit a suitable crankset. I have a Truvativ track c/set, so roughly 42mm chainline, but no scope for BB adjustment as it is external. Could fit spacers to the ring I suppose. It seems the Record double is out of the equation as I think the outer ring gives a 46mm chainline, so the inner will be way less with no way of moving it out. Unless anybody knows a way? I've never done anything like this before so have very limited knowledge.
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I think I may invest in one of these (funds permitting) - thinking being that once bought, any bike you have is fixable. So if you always seem to end up with a spare bike that you can't sell it can be fixed.
The parts alone would probably pay for it (Brifters in particular). Get a 135 as well and then you open up the MTB world as well
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I've got one of the older hubs with normal fix/free threading (135mm).
I've had no problems with it moving out of adjustment, other than having to hold it still with a small adjustable when tightening the bolts. My chainstay/chain length was such that the axle positioned in the lower rear quadrant, where rider weight or pothole impact would tend to tighten the chain. Length adjustment was occasional rather than frequent (every two months (ish), or on puncture).
Chainline was right with the chainring on the middle ring position of a Stronglight Impact chainset.
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Well, after several months of faff, I hope to have one in my hands pretty soon. Black ones are hard to come by it seems. Have a DT rim all ready.
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Did you get one in the end? What do you think of it? Thinking about fixing my Ti race frame and regardless of what I said about magic gears upthread, they're not really up to the job - so some kind of eccentric might be on the list.
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Yes I did and it is brilliant.
Very easy to adjust. You have to do the bolts up nice and tight. Incredibly smooth bearings and I reckon very much better quality than Goldtec (which I don't rate).
Shop around
As for the Trek itself, I used a Campag record double with a different length Bb ( can't remember which, but I worked it all out..,durrr, perfect chain line but chain wheel (velosolo single mounted on inner position) just clears the chain stay. The fact that the frame is featherlight carbon means I can get away with 48x16, ie a tooth or two smaller than normal.
It is my favorite bike and a phenomenal ride.
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Ta. Sounds promising. Hubjub seems cheapest, though I might be able to get one from the US.
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Jeez....was it really 7 years ago :o
Anyway frame and hub are still going and it is my favourite bike by a fucking mile. Such fun. I dont know why people are riding round on heavy lumps of steel, I really dont.
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Hah. I did get one - second hand from LFGSS, I think. It was stolen only a few months after I got it (along with the bike it was fitted too, and all my other bikes...) so I replaced it with an even heavier lump of steel. :thumbsup:
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... why couldn't I have known about this before this looks flipping ace :facepalm:
Could have used my first Boardman as the town bike!