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The chain a bit loose and a worn out cog on a single speed can be damaging. When the cog get worn out they tend to start doing the spiraling effect that will mess with chain tension and eat the shit out of your free body. End result is usually you getting a knee to the stem or handle bar- I hit the handle bar. I think I am gonna invest in a cog that actually has more surface area on the free body but also the tolerances are much more precise- the cheap stamped out cogs don’t cut it if you push a hard gear and have to climb a lot. It was my fault for being cheap.
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hot damn you got some white legs. and blonde hair and freckles, like gnome. glad to hear you rode though.
Danger Will Robinson!!!!! DO NOT overtighten your chain!! You will blow out the freewheel (BMX f’wheels) ‘way before it’s time if the bearings can’t move freely…the chain should ALWAYS allow the tightie/loosey cycle happen as the wheel turns or the bearings aren’t gonna be happy and your next problem will be a freewheel that acts as if it was as old as I am. Chains are usually the culprit, not the f’wheel. (good thing ’cause they’re cheaper!) Also be sure your chainring is stout enuf to handle your massive amount of torque, or the chain will “walk” off the chainring at the worst possible time (max torque) and this hurts like hell as I can testify, ’cause your knee will hit the bars real hard. I had a wimpy ‘ex road chainring that did this..I got a Spot c’ring…problem solved- no more bashed knees! This was in ’98 but nothing has changed since then except I got old and Spot chainrings got hard to find. Salsa’s are OK but they’re made in Asia now-BOO!
Freewheel? Are people still using those?
Well Joe, I’m not sure if I’m a person or a fossil, but yes. Paul WORD. I have two, a 26″ and a 29″ wheel. I’ll bet they get passed down to my grandkids. And the chain on cassette hubs shouldn’t be overtightened either.
I hear ya. Mostly my bikes have freewheel hubs, including my one and only shifty bike, an old steel HooKoo. Best thing: A freewheel hub converts to fixed easy-peasy. So that’s what I did. Much more fun that way.
I had a free wheel once. Its braking surfaces were worn so thin you could almost see through them, it wouldn’t hold true and twanged a spoke about every other week. I threw it in the landfill and now I mostly run wheels that I paid for.
I had a freedrink once. Then I had a bunch of others. Then I kilt a boatload of car drivers, Gubment mis-understanders, and a whole shit pile of other people who were interfering with my right to be a douchebag.
Oh wait.
I was just channeling lj.
Never mind.
So mikey-Where do you stand on flipflop hubs?
(Gets bowl of popcorn; retires to comfy chair)
Well, I spent two long years coming through Plantar Fasciitis, so I pretty much always wear proper shoes any more.
I met a white rasta dude once that claimed clipless pedals were a conspiracy foisted on an unsuspecting riding public by evil, mega-corporate pedal manufacturers, and advised instead that flip flops were in fact the ideal cycling footwear, so you could drag your inside foot through the turns. He might be a better person to ask.
FUCKER, you! Damn near cracked a rib laughing.
Just trying to help. At least someone around here is amused— I’ve been off the bike four weeks now, and no sir, I don’t like it. Not one bit. Hoping to get out tomorrow though… Keep the rubber side down, brothers.
I use a chris king hub with a aluminum free body but used a cheap stamped out 18 tooth cog and it now looks like a chinese star. Thumbs down on the freewheel action, those things are built like $39.99 dvd player. I don’t over tighten my chain, I just stretch them out bad in dozen rides. We don’t have long climbs, just steep quick goat climbs- it just takes one rock while you are pinning it up a steep climb to throw the chain if it’s a bit loose. Again, it’s my fault for not staying on top of it.
Not to pry, mikey, but did you get an owie or something? Been there. No fun.
caveman, what about the White Brothers freewheels?
Yeah, I apparently fuckered up my left calf by going too deep on our last day in Capitol Reef N.P. there at the beginning of June. Just a fifteen-mile canyon hike in deep sand under unrelenting desert sun. Bollocks. Getting old sucks a mile of dick. A two-part message to young people: 1) fuck you. 2) youth is wasted on the young; enjoy it while you can.
…them’s is ‘white industries’ freewheels, hubs, cranks n’ stuff you’re speaking of, senor, made by my old time friend doug white…
…white brothers are the fork guys…now owned by vance & hines, if you know motos…
I dream about White Ind f’wheels like I dream about Moots.
Thx for the belly laugh Mikey…and hey, one of my best friends is a white rasta dude-
but he’s in Jamaica now, had to get outta Babylon.
I dream aboot Rohloff hubs and Surly Travelers’ Checks, eh.
And having the means to make the most of such a setup.
Damn, if only I had been born rich instead of so good looking.