Nuts, tightness and sprockets

[Jonathing]

I've been riding singlespeed and fixed in various combinations for over a year now and I've got comfortable with it enough to want to personalise my experience a bit more.

Firstly, I've finally gotten around to removing the old (bmx style) singlespeed on my Langster. I hadn't used it for ages and am very happy riding fixed. Now I have an expanse of thread on my rear hub which is not being used. I was thinking it would be nice to have a different fixed sprocket there to give myself another option occasionally. Is it possible or practical to get a fixed sprocket say a 18t to fit the free side of a flip flop hub, presumably with some spacers so it sits central to the chain line, or would the lack of a lockring make such an venture infeasible?

Secondly, how do people tension their chain? Both my singlespeed/fixed have track ends but the Langster doesn't have tensioning screws. I can't hold the bike, pull the wheel back and tighten the nut (drive side first) at the same time, I find myself running out of hand about halfway through.

Lastly, I think I need new nuts. I've managed to nearly strip the ones on the rear wheel, it's getting very hard to get the wrench to engage when I need to take the wheel off. Does anyone have any suggestions what would be good ones to get?

Thanks.

 

[Theseus]

1) Yes you can run fixed on both sides. I run both 18T & 20T fixed on mine. You just need an old BB lockring to stop the free side one getting loose.

2) Sheldon Brown has the following advice ...

Some folks who are used to derailer bikes find it frustrating, especially with a nutted hub. This is usually because they don't know the technique of "walking" the wheel back and forth in the fork ends. Start by installing the wheel at approximately the correct position and tightening the axle nuts. They don't need to be super tight at this stage, but should more than finger tight. Check the chain tension and wheel alignment.

Most likely, the chain will be a bit loose, but perhaps the wheel is correctly aligned. Loosen one of the axle nuts and push the tire to the side so that the loose side of the axle moves to the rear, then tighten the axle nut you loosened.

Now the chain tension should be better, but the wheel is no longer centered between the chainstays. Loosen the other axle nut and re-center the wheel in the frame. This will actually tighten the chain a little bit more.

The key is to keep one or the other of the axle nuts tight at all times, and "walk" the wheel forward and back.

This takes a bit of practice and getting used to how much axle movement is needed to adjust a given amount of chain droop, but it isn't really hard as long as you keep one side secured at all times.

 

[Zoiders]

The shoulder machined into the hub body to take the freewheel will be symmetrical to the one on the fixed side.

The only thing that's different is the step cut section for the lock ring is absent, you won't need a spacer to adjust the chain line if you spin a fixed sprocket on there.