HLaB
Marie Attoinette Fan
Interesting stuff, I have to tighten my chain often; I'd put it down to it being a cheap fixie but maybe its not. Although I've had brand new, unworn chains unship 
How often do you have to adjust your chain?
- Thread starter swee'pea99
- Start date
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totallyfixed
Veteran
- Location
- The only county without a McDonalds
As per Dave, never unshipped a chain, nor dr_pink and we run 3/32, not to mention same chainring now for almost 43,000 miles.
zigzag
Veteran
answering to the op, yes, the chain wears pretty quickly therefore gets slack. i have to tension the chain every 150-200km (depending on the weather) and i use a chain tug so the axle doesn't move in dropouts at all. my derailleur equipped bike's drivetrain in comparison can be neglected for thousands of kilometers and work fine.
when i got back to riding single speed a year ago i forgot about the constant adjustments it requires; unshipped and broke the chain, bent the alloy hub axle.. not good!! don't buy into stories that single gear bikes are virtually maintenance free!
^^ it was a long scoot home after this..
when i got back to riding single speed a year ago i forgot about the constant adjustments it requires; unshipped and broke the chain, bent the alloy hub axle.. not good!! don't buy into stories that single gear bikes are virtually maintenance free!
^^ it was a long scoot home after this..
I don`t regularly, but I have forgotten to tension said chain and that is when I can have an issue. However I am hard on chains and sprockets so get relatively short life out of some combinations. I just put it down to my awesome Chris Hoy like legs
and mega wattage output on the sprints into work 
Rohloff_Brompton_Rider
Formerly just_fixed
Un shipping regularly!! It's a Russian roulette game that sweatpea and just a matter of time before yr face and teeth pay the price.
If that was happening to me I'd check the chain alignment, if that was ok I'd check the chain tension through out the spin I.e., every quarter turn and err on the side of caution and push it to the max tightness in the one tight spot there always seems to be.
First upgrade would be chain tugs, costs penny's and worth their weight in gold. Then I'd upgrade my chain ring (probably chainset) to a good quality one that is unlikely to flex.
If it was still happening I'd probably sell the frame because it could be that the chain stays are not strong enough and flexing under power, that said I'd probably run 3/32 8 speed chain with beveled side plates which will accept the chain line being out - if lance Armstrong can power up mountains on 3/32 then I don't think it'll be an issue for undoped mere mortals.
Edit: sprockets wear out quicker simply because they pass the chain more, in other words they spin 2 to times more than a chain ring. This is why even steel sprockets wear quicker than alloy chain rings.
If that was happening to me I'd check the chain alignment, if that was ok I'd check the chain tension through out the spin I.e., every quarter turn and err on the side of caution and push it to the max tightness in the one tight spot there always seems to be.
First upgrade would be chain tugs, costs penny's and worth their weight in gold. Then I'd upgrade my chain ring (probably chainset) to a good quality one that is unlikely to flex.
If it was still happening I'd probably sell the frame because it could be that the chain stays are not strong enough and flexing under power, that said I'd probably run 3/32 8 speed chain with beveled side plates which will accept the chain line being out - if lance Armstrong can power up mountains on 3/32 then I don't think it'll be an issue for undoped mere mortals.
Edit: sprockets wear out quicker simply because they pass the chain more, in other words they spin 2 to times more than a chain ring. This is why even steel sprockets wear quicker than alloy chain rings.
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OP
OP
swee'pea99
Legendary Member
Thanks for that, but I think for starters I'm just going to try being a bit more disciplined about checking & tightening. If that doesn't sort it, I'll look into more radical action.
rb58
Enigma
- Location
- Bexley, Kent
Is there any form of tug that will work on forward opening horizontal drop outs (i.e. my 1950's conversion)? I seem to have to tighten my chain every week (so every 150 miles or so).
If your wheel is sliding forward, there are tugs available if you look hard enough but they shouldn't be necessary.
Fit serrated washers to grip the drop outs, or use copper washers which will "squish" to suit and hold the wheel in place. Most commercially available copper washers are small and fine to be used as seals on diesel fuel systems or hydraulic equipment but drilling a 10mm hole in a 2p coin is a perfectly acceptable substitute if you can't find a source of full sized copper washers.
Smurfy
Naturist Smurf
- Location
- Smurfette's Kitchen
Tupenny pieces aren't copper alloy anymore. They haven't been for sometime, and I suspect if they were, the value of the coinage as scrap might exceed the face value, as copper prices have increased a lot in recent years. All modern 2ps and 1ps are copper plated steel. If you find an old 2p it will be easy to spot, they're quite soft compared to a modern steel 2p, and unless it's been polished it will by now be very, very dull.
