OK. I admit it. Singleators suck.

Quoted message said:

Corvus Corvax wrote:

Agh. And I thought I was being so clever. Allow me to explain The obvious

Quoted message said:

Sigh.

CC

There is a simple solution my friend
mtbreview.comprodimg3.jpgOpen ↗

--
Slacker

In "]news:[email hidden],
Slacker <[email hidden]> typed:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Corvus Corvax wrote:

Agh. And I thought I was being so clever. Allow me to explain The obvious

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Sigh.

CC

There is a simple solution my friend

mtbreview.comprodimg3.jpgOpen ↗

So how's yours coming along?

On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 20:08:50 -0800, "Slacker" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Corvus Corvax wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Sigh.

Quoted message said:

There is a simple solution my friend

An even better solution: dekerf.comsolitaire.htmlOpen ↗

Michael Dart said:

Quoted message said:

There is a simple solution my friend

mtbreview.comprodimg3.jpgOpen ↗

Quoted message said:

So how's yours coming along?

Still need a few things. Cranks/chain guide, pedals, BB, headset, handlebar, saddle and shifter. Oh
yeah, and some tires.

I'll have my tax return first or second week of Feb, so I'm expecting to have it done mid/end of
Feb. Can't wait :-)
--
Slacker

jeffbonny said:

Slacker said:

Quoted message said:

Corvus Corvax wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Sigh.

Quoted message said:

There is a simple solution my friend

An even better solution: dekerf.comsolitaire.htmlOpen ↗

Let's not get silly now. BTW, what was that thing, a Gardner snake or something??
--
Slacker

On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 20:52:42 -0800, "Slacker" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

jeffbonny wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

An even better solution: dekerf.comsolitaire.htmlOpen ↗

Let's not get silly now. BTW, what was that thing, a Gardner snake or something??

Sorry, best I could do on short notice. Mine's a nice traditional fire engine red. jb

Corvus Corvax said:

Agh. And I thought I was being so clever. Allow me to explain.

I used to run a derailleur as a chain tensioner on my singlespeed. Cheap, effective, kinda ugly.
But I recently discovered, much to my delight, that my chainstays are just the right length to run
36x18 without need of a tensioner at all. Terrific! The problem is that I can't stand 2:1 for
riding on the street. It's just too low a gear. I'm fine with 36x16, though. But if I cut my chain
down short enough to run 36x18 with no tensioner, there isn't enough chain to run through a
derailleur in 36x16.

The obvious solution was to pick up a one-cog chain tensioner. I'd heard about the problems people
have had with the Surly Singleator, but the configuration was ideal for my purpose, and how bad
could they really be? Plenty bad, it turns out. My frame does not allow for me to use it in "push
up" mode, so I put it on in "pull down mode, and

Quoted message said:

piece of [censored].

So now I run a derailleur as a chain tensioner again. Sigh.

CC

It's too bad this thing hasn't made it to market (yet) makeashorterlink.commakeashorterlink.comOpen ↗
--
Slacker - the real one

Quoted message said:

The obvious solution was to pick up a one-cog chain tensioner. I'd heard about the problems
people have had with the Surly Singleator, but the configuration was ideal for my purpose, and
how bad could

they

Quoted message said:

really be? Plenty bad, it turns out. My frame does not allow for me

to

Quoted message said:

use it in "push up" mode, so I put it on in "pull down mode, and

Quoted message said:

piece of [censored].

Must be hit or miss, because my singleator works fine. It's a little noisy, but once I cranked it
down to max tension the chain hasn't come off at all. There are other tensioners out there
besides Surly.

-John Morgan

RE/

Quoted message said:

So now I run a derailleur as a chain tensioner again. Sigh.

What about sheldonbrown.comwhite hubs.htmlOpen ↗ ?
--
PeteCresswell

[email hidden] (Corvus Corvax) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Agh. And I thought I was being so clever. Allow me to explain.

I used to run a derailleur as a chain tensioner on my singlespeed. Cheap, effective, kinda ugly.
But I recently discovered, much to my delight, that my chainstays are just the right length to run
36x18 without need of a tensioner at all. Terrific! The problem is that I can't stand 2:1 for
riding on the street. It's just too low a gear. I'm fine with 36x16, though. But if I cut my chain
down short enough to run 36x18 with no tensioner, there isn't enough chain to run through a
derailleur in 36x16.

The obvious solution was to pick up a one-cog chain tensioner. I'd heard about the problems people
have had with the Surly Singleator, but the configuration was ideal for my purpose, and how bad
could they really be? Plenty bad, it turns out. My frame does not allow for me to use it in "push
up" mode, so I put it on in "pull down mode, and

Quoted message said:

piece of [censored].

So now I run a derailleur as a chain tensioner again. Sigh.

CC

This is for the Giant, right? Why not return the Singleator and have horizontal dropouts brazed on?
I was speaking to a guy near Prospect Park who said he'd do it for $70. Need I remind you that steel
is real? /s

(Pete Cresswell) said:

RE/

Quoted message said:

So now I run a derailleur as a chain tensioner again. Sigh.

What about sheldonbrown.comwhite hubs.htmlOpen ↗ ?

Someone here runs one of those and likes it. I almost got one to convert my old M4 frame, but then
found a nice deal on a 1x1 and went that route instead. They look cool, but for a MTB the flip-flop
design doesn't seem useful and just adds weight and cost. Not sure about the rest of you but running
a fixed gear MTB sounds dangerous to me.

Matt

[email hidden] (Corvus Corvax) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Agh. And I thought I was being so clever. Allow me to explain.

I used to run a derailleur as a chain tensioner on my singlespeed. Cheap, effective, kinda ugly.
But I recently discovered, much to my delight, that my chainstays are just the right length to run
36x18 without need of a tensioner at all. Terrific! The problem is that I can't stand 2:1 for
riding on the street. It's just too low a gear. I'm fine with 36x16, though. But if I cut my chain
down short enough to run 36x18 with no tensioner, there isn't enough chain to run through a
derailleur in 36x16.

The obvious solution was to pick up a one-cog chain tensioner. I'd heard about the problems people
have had with the Surly Singleator, but the configuration was ideal for my purpose, and how bad
could they really be? Plenty bad, it turns out. My frame does not allow for me to use it in "push
up" mode, so I put it on in "pull down mode, and

Quoted message said:

piece of [censored].

So now I run a derailleur as a chain tensioner again. Sigh.

CC

Well, the derraileur certainly works, it normally looks doofy. I tried some singulators but my frame
wouldn't take em either. I used a sram derr. for 3 yrs before just paying $100 for horizontal drop-
outs welded to my steel frame. Barring that, there are other options, but none as cheap as an old
derraileur with a good spring in it. However, you do sacrifice the oohs and ahhs and adulation of
the masses when they notice you on top of a grade with a SS. The derraileur makes a ss look like an
ordinary bike. O well.

paladin

"Corvus Corvax" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The obvious solution was to pick up a one-cog chain tensioner. I'd heard about the problems people
have had with the Surly Singleator, but the configuration was ideal for my purpose, and how bad
could they really be? Plenty bad, it turns out.

Yeah, I had big problems with the Singleator, too. I'm betting that you're using a regular
Hyperglide cassette cog with spacers, right? That could be one of the problems.

Soulcraft (makers of the Plowboy SS and Option 3 hardtail frames) has a sweet singlespeed conversion
kit called "The Convert." Have a look at the tall tooth profile on the SS cog included in their kit:

soulcraftbikes.comid57.htmOpen ↗

Quoted message said:

My frame does not allow for me to use it in "push up" mode, so I put it on in "pull down mode, and

Quoted message said:

piece of [censored].

Yeah, I finally got my Singleator working (in "push up" mode); but I had to micro-adjust the
chainline about 10 times to keep the damned chain from dropping off the cog at high speed. Doh! It
never really worked reliably. Supposedly, "The Convert" is more forgiving than the Singleator,
though I haven't tried one personally.

IMO, Hyperglide cogs are a bad idea for SS, so swapping that with something like a BMX cog or
Uniglide cog ought to help quite a bit.

Quoted message said:

So now I run a derailleur as a chain tensioner again. Sigh.

Hey, that works.

Rocketman

Paladin wrote:
I used

Quoted message said:

a sram derr. for 3 yrs before just paying $100 for horizontal drop-outs welded to my steel frame.
Barring that, there are other options, but none as cheap as an old derraileur with a good spring
in it. However, you do sacrifice the oohs and ahhs and adulation of the masses when they notice
you on top of a grade with a SS. The derraileur makes a ss look like an ordinary bike. O well.

paladin

Did you use something like Paul dropouts, or let the welder figure it out? I am interested in
doing this
--
Craig Brossman, Durango Colorado (remove ".nospam" to reply)

"Slacker" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

jeffbonny said:

Slacker said:

> Corvus Corvax wrote:

Quoted message said:

> Sigh.

Quoted message said:

There is a simple solution my friend

An even better solution: dekerf.comsolitaire.htmlOpen ↗

Let's not get silly now. BTW, what was that thing, a Gardner snake or something??
--

Look very closely at the paint job. It's obvious that's a BC bike!

paul

Craig Brossman <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Paladin wrote:
I used

Quoted message said:

a sram derr. for 3 yrs before just paying $100 for horizontal drop-outs welded to my steel
frame. Barring that, there are other options, but none as cheap as an old derraileur with a
good spring in it. However, you do sacrifice the oohs and ahhs and adulation of the masses when
they notice you on top of a grade with a SS. The derraileur makes a ss look like an ordinary
bike. O well.

paladin

Did you use something like Paul dropouts, or let the welder figure it out? I am interested in
doing this

A friend dropped off my bike at a high-end shop out in the country. A week later he picked it up and
I paid $90. He refit the chain, put the micro-adjusters to the dropouts, etc., and I love it. I
haven't had to readjust the chain tension, either, like most people do.

If you've got a steel frame, imo, it's the best way to go.

paladin

Paladin said:

Craig Brossman <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Paladin wrote:
I used

Quoted message said:

a sram derr. for 3 yrs before just paying $100 for horizontal drop-outs welded to my steel frame.
Barring that, there are other options, but none as cheap as an old derraileur with a good spring
in it. However, you do sacrifice the oohs and ahhs and adulation of the masses when they notice
you on top of a grade with a SS. The derraileur makes a ss look like an ordinary bike. O well.

paladin

Did you use something like Paul dropouts, or let the welder figure it out? I am interested in
doing this

A friend dropped off my bike at a high-end shop out in the country. A week later he picked it up
and I paid $90. He refit the chain, put the micro-adjusters to the dropouts, etc., and I love it.
I haven't had to readjust the chain tension, either, like most people do.

If you've got a steel frame, imo, it's the best way to go.

paladin

I do, an old Trek 970 with all those beautiful gussets. I need to find someone around here who will
do this work for me. I'm hoping to make strengh and climbing gains (while having a little fun) that
I hear everybody talk about w/ SSing.

--
Craig Brossman, Durango Colorado (remove ".nospam" to reply)

RE/

Quoted message said:

Someone here runs one of those and likes it. I almost got one to convert my old M4 frame, but then
found a nice deal on a 1x1 and went that route instead. They look cool, but for a MTB the flip-flop
design doesn't seem useful and just adds weight and cost. Not sure about the rest of you but
running a fixed gear MTB sounds dangerous to me.

I couple of years ago I put a Rohloff hub on my FS.

OTOH, I tell people that it's heavy, noisey, less efficient, expensive and that I recently bought a
second one for my hardtail.

It's definately not for everyone, but personally I'd never go back voluntarily...you get used to any
gear any time you want it really fast...

I just set up an MTB frame with a flip-flop singlespeed hub. Rode it in fixie mode last weekend and
would say that the thing is moderately dangerous just on a smooth paved surface.... I can't even
imagine it in the dirt - so I'd agree that the flip-flop design would be wasted on a 100% dirt-use
bike....but it seemed pretty cool to me to be able to use vertical dropouts and still have a nice
tight chain without resorting to an eccentric BB.

--
PeteCresswell

Corvus Corvax said:

Agh. And I thought I was being so clever. Allow me to explain.

I used to run a derailleur as a chain tensioner on my singlespeed. Cheap, effective, kinda ugly.
But I recently discovered, much to my delight, that my chainstays are just the right length to run
36x18 without need of a tensioner at all. Terrific! The problem is that I can't stand 2:1 for
riding on the street. It's just too low a gear. I'm fine with 36x16, though. But if I cut my chain
down short enough to run 36x18 with no tensioner, there isn't enough chain to run through a
derailleur in 36x16.

The obvious solution was to pick up a one-cog chain tensioner. I'd heard about the problems people
have had with the Surly Singleator, but the configuration was ideal for my purpose, and how bad
could they really be? Plenty bad, it turns out. My frame does not allow for me to use it in "push
up" mode, so I put it on in "pull down mode, and

Quoted message said:

piece of [censored].

So now I run a derailleur as a chain tensioner again. Sigh.

CC

I did almost the same exercise...my Singleator worked, but one of the bolt holes stripped out after
just a few adjustments...piece of [censored] I say.

Although, as you know, I did buy one of their bikes...the 1x1 is killer so far...

G