Lock Ring or No for Road Fixie?

Fletch1 said:

Just coonverted an old road frame to a fixie for training. I am just running the cog in place of the freewheel with no lock ring as it is a road hub. Is a lock ring really critical? Without getting a track hub, is there anyway to rig one?
I am concerned about the cog backing off during slow downs. Is this a valid concern?

Yes there is a way........or a partial way! A bottom bracket lockring is the same thread as as freewheel but what you won't have is the left-hand thread of a true fixed hub lockring so you will really have to tighten the L/R against the cog. It works.

I run a cog with no lockring.

1) Keep the front and back brake for at least 100 miles of traffic riding.
2) Do some climbing out of the saddle at a very low speed.
3) Do not skid-hop.

That will get the cog friendly on the hub. For real, I switched the 16T to a 13T and the sucker would not budge. My bike mech and I wrestled with the wipchain and the wheel for a couple of minutes - even the chainwip broke - till we broke out the rubber mallet and finnally got it out.

If you are careful for a couple weeks and let the cog "get friendly" with the hub, nothing will go wrong.

I run a fixed gear with no lock ring but i hold the cog in place with JB weld. Imho you should have something holding the cog to secure it.

Why risk it? Just use a BB lockring.