Unwanted contact between rear drop out and singlespeed freewheel on fixed/free hub

[Kutta Condition]

Hello All,

I'm am currently running a well-loved Masi 3V as a fixed gear with a
39/14 gear pairing. Recently, I purchased a set of 130mm fixed(metric
track)/free (english) wheels from Van Dessel with the hope of making
this sweet ride suitable for longer hilly treks. Ideally I would run
something like a 39/14 fixed and 39/15 free-- hoping that I wouldn't
have to change my chain length when I flipped the wheel. I couldn't
find the AC 15t singlespeed freewheel locally and settled on a shimano
16t to try this this arrangement. Alas, when I tried installing this
freewheel I discovered that the claws used for removing the freewheel
came in contact with the rear dropout. Doh! Any tips for making this
work? Are there any narrower standard english threaded singlespeed
freewheels? I'm not seeing a good way to add a spacer to the hub.

Thanks for your help!!!

Andrew

 

[Phil, Squid-in-Training]

Kutta Condition wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> I'm am currently running a well-loved Masi 3V as a fixed gear with a
> 39/14 gear pairing. Recently, I purchased a set of 130mm fixed(metric
> track)/free (english) wheels from Van Dessel with the hope of making
> this sweet ride suitable for longer hilly treks. Ideally I would run
> something like a 39/14 fixed and 39/15 free-- hoping that I wouldn't
> have to change my chain length when I flipped the wheel. I couldn't
> find the AC 15t singlespeed freewheel locally and settled on a shimano
> 16t to try this this arrangement. Alas, when I tried installing this
> freewheel I discovered that the claws used for removing the freewheel
> came in contact with the rear dropout. Doh! Any tips for making this
> work? Are there any narrower standard english threaded singlespeed
> freewheels? I'm not seeing a good way to add a spacer to the hub.
>
> Thanks for your help!!!
>
> Andrew

Add as many washers as needed to the rear axle (between the drive side cone
and locknut) to space the locknut out farther. You could also try adding
another thin locknut on top of the current locknut on the drive side and
running that... this doesn't seem like a hard problem to fix.

Or file down the removal "claws" and never remove the freewheel.
--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

 

[Qui si parla Campagnolo]

Kutta Condition wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> I'm am currently running a well-loved Masi 3V as a fixed gear with a
> 39/14 gear pairing. Recently, I purchased a set of 130mm fixed(metric
> track)/free (english) wheels from Van Dessel with the hope of making
> this sweet ride suitable for longer hilly treks. Ideally I would run
> something like a 39/14 fixed and 39/15 free-- hoping that I wouldn't
> have to change my chain length when I flipped the wheel. I couldn't
> find the AC 15t singlespeed freewheel locally and settled on a shimano
> 16t to try this this arrangement. Alas, when I tried installing this
> freewheel I discovered that the claws used for removing the freewheel
> came in contact with the rear dropout. Doh! Any tips for making this
> work? Are there any narrower standard english threaded singlespeed
> freewheels? I'm not seeing a good way to add a spacer to the hub.
>
> Thanks for your help!!!


If the freewheel is that far over, I really wonder about your
chainline. Many of these hubs are not track hubs with longer axles but
wide center section hubs with cogs at the end. I rec, a good trakj rear
flipflop, like Suzue,, with a 175mm solid axle that will eliminate this
problem and help your chainline as well.
>
> Andrew

 

[Kutta Condition]

Regarding the chainline -- thats a good point. I was suprised when
setting up the fixed side that I needed a thin spacer on the chainring
on the outboard side of the crank just to get the right chainline. On
the singlespeed side, the gear would be couple mm further out than the
fixed side, making this setup pretty close to the hairy edge on the
chainline. Ugh... If I were to do this again I'd probably take a
different route.

 

[Scott Gordo]

Kutta Condition wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> I'm am currently running a well-loved Masi 3V as a fixed gear with a
> 39/14 gear pairing. Recently, I purchased a set of 130mm fixed(metric
> track)/free (english) wheels from Van Dessel with the hope of making
> this sweet ride suitable for longer hilly treks. Ideally I would run
> something like a 39/14 fixed and 39/15 free-- hoping that I wouldn't
> have to change my chain length when I flipped the wheel. I couldn't
> find the AC 15t singlespeed freewheel locally and settled on a shimano
> 16t to try this this arrangement. Alas, when I tried installing this
> freewheel I discovered that the claws used for removing the freewheel
> came in contact with the rear dropout. Doh! Any tips for making this
> work? Are there any narrower standard english threaded singlespeed
> freewheels? I'm not seeing a good way to add a spacer to the hub.
>
> Thanks for your help!!!
>
> Andrew

Maybe this is obvious and doesn't warrant saying, but is the rear
spacing of the Masi 126? It's only a couple mm's on each side, but a
120mm flip flop might work better. Is there a friend's wheel you could
experiement with?
Maybe this is a sign that you should go fixie instead?

/s