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It may be more than that - I too had one of these 3/32 half-links and whatever I did the 'stifness' could not be removed - something to do with the profile of the plates. My chain is a 3/32 and although I did manage to find a 3/32 half-link the one I ended up making myself worked better! It's quite easy but involves taking the plates and swapping rollers etc between a 3/32 and 1/8 link. To cut a long story short you may be better off buying a 1/8 half-link and making your own 3/32 one from it. If you need to know how I can post tips.

Is your chainline spot on? You can check it by measuring - a straight ruler from the centre of the seat tube to the centre of the chainwheel gives the front chainline (varies but normally 40 - 46mm). If your rear spacing is 120mm then measure from the inside face of the right frame dropout to the centre of the cog and subtract this from 60. ie 60-16 = 44mm. The two measurements ideally want to be within 1mm.

If all this is too much faff then crouch down and sight from behind through the cog and chainwheel - easy to see if the chain is going to one side.

As above the chain wants about 1/2" of movement at the *tightest *spot - you will (unless very lucky) have tight and loose spots, adjust the 1/2" for a loose spot and it may be too tight at a tight spot.

Lastly make sure the chain is a decent one, not worn and you are using a quality dry lube.

If all this is done your drivetrain really should be virtually silent more so with 3/32 than 1/8.

If the headset is really not too loose then don't make it bind up just to stop the bars turning - all this will do is 'index' the bearings and make it all notchy.

I always think wheels look best in all black on MTB's and all silver on roadie bikes. Just not quite right the other way around. Having said that I think the bike below is one of the best looking bike of any type I have ever seen:

Maxwell Duryea be careful with mavic hubs. i have cracked the freehub on two sets of DEEMAX's in the rear. the holes for the rotor bolts (in your case, cog bolts) is too shallow.

clever indeed though:)

Hmm, never heard of a problem with these - the only issues of disc mounts cracking I remember was on earlier (maybe Hope?) hubs where the holes do not go all the way thorough and people mounted bolts too long or maybe 'hydrauliced' the mount. The Mavic ones are about 7mm thick - 6 bolts spread the load well enough.

Hi Tommy - this is a cut and paste of a post I made on other forums about this, bear in mind this all relates to an MTB with different O.L.D.

Just done a couple of hours riding off road fixed in Epping Forest this morning BTW, great fun. But - I had forgotten the disc front wheels are also dished so I will probably scrap the idea for a street fixie - off road the flip flop cassette/disc mont works well as it makes a great do anything wheel - SS (with infinite chainline adjustment), 7/8/9 speed cassette, custom 2 or 3 cog set up, anything really. However, on road with a sleek fixie I think proper fixed/fixed non dished conventional wheels look much better.

Anyway, back to the 'how-to':

I used a cheap pressed steel cog that came with a SS converter kit. These are quite easy to drill. Mine is an 18 tooth. You need a standard 6 bolt dics to mark it up - lay the disc on top of the cog and center it up - make sure of this - eye up the centre edges of the cog against the centre circle of the disc and measure the distance in three places to check it is in the middle. Hold tight and draw the 6 round circles where the bolts go. Centre punch these and then using good quality HSS bits drill the holes. 2mm first all the way through and then a 5.5mm to finish. De-burr with a 7mm or similar and that's it. Mine ended up spot on - just take some time and care - worth a try for a few £'s specially if it is not for you. The washers are just to perfect the chainline.

A pressed steel cog is easy to drill and at around £3 each if you screw it up it doesn't matter - try another. The cog I drilled sits more central than the Surly cog on my cassette hub. A proper hardened track cog would be more tricky without a decent pillar drill.

Regarding chainline, the disc mount position is obviously fixed in the ISO dimension. It can be spaced out a little simply by fitting washers between the cog and hub. If mounted directly to the hub the chainline in mm will be around 52/53mm IIRC. This is easy to check on your bike if you have a disc hub - measure from the inside face of the drop-out to the centre of the mounted disc. Subtract this figure from 67.5mm and that is your rear chainline. Check this with your current front chainline and you can see where you stand (measure from the centre of the seat tube to the centre of the teeth). You can fine tune the front chainline by varying the BB/spindle length/chainring position etc.

Couple more pics here, just about the most solid way to mount a cog, far better than any lockring or similar system:

I saw one in the flesh and did not think much of the finish on the parts. TBH £400 is a lot of money for a PG frame with very ordinary components - compare it to the Fuji Track at around £275 online or even better the Lemond Fillmore at just over £400 and it looks even worse value and very weighty. Frames come up very big too...

I plan to buy either of the above, sell on most of the parts and end up with a much better basic custom build (handbuilt Formula/Mavic/DT wheels, Campag chainset, F brake, Nitto bars, etc) for around £500 - £600. If you shop around you will be able to build up a much better bike for not a lot more cash.

Another old BMXer here - happiest days of my life when BMX *was *life, we rode every day and lived for RoM skatepark every Sunday - days of Marco, Billy Stupple etc. Below is my old first generation Haro Freestyler. Finally had to sell it last year after it lay untouched since the early 80's. Went to a good home as a 'survivor' on the retro BMX forum. Couple of pics of me riding it BITD too - other guy is a young Dave Curry for those who remember him...

Another option I am toying with is using two wheels based around Hope front disc hubs. Bear with me... :) on my Chameleon I have a standard MTB (Mavic) disc/cassette hub - this allows me to use a flip/flop free/fixed arrangement using a drilled cog and the 6 bolt ISO disc mount.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/monsieurpoilu/scc7.jpg

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/monsieurpoilu/scc5.jpg

Obviously the O.L.D on a front hub is 100mm but the disc mount face places the drilled cog at a chainline of around 40mm. Because the cog is mounted against the face on six bolts it is easy to space this out with 1mm washers to give a perfect chainline to match the front chainwheel. And nothing is as solid as a fixed cog mounted in this way.

With the O.L.D on a typical track rear end being 120mm it would just be a case of using a replacement axle and a 10mm spacer each side.

Just an idea...

Hi Dan,

I'm new here too and like you a fellow Chameleon SS rider. Also looking to build up a road fixie. My plan is to go with Formula hubs, Mavic Open Pro's and DT DB spokes. Just a classic, affordable, quality wheelset. I have used Mavic rims and DT DB spokes for 17 years odd - only wish would be that Hope started making suitable hubs...

Make your own - details here on MTBR. I'm post #4 (Felixdale). The spoon idea was cooler though:

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?p=2234257&mode=linear#post2234257

Business Cycles is quite useful for hub info - good pics too - click on photos:

http://www.businesscycles.com/trcomp.htm

Some more pleasure for you then: :)

Fully understand the wish to stay original but* if it was mine* then I would love to got the stainless route too.

Gorgeous:

hippy [quote]pj "nice soma rush" isn't that an oxymoron?
:P

Oi! What's wrong with the Soma?[/quote]

I'd like to know too! - was that one anyone's here?

Wish they still did the green too.

It sold last night.

Thanks for the replies. Haven't heard any particurlalry bad thing about them but as ed' says too I have seen them under various names - why would they use an odd bearing size though (sounds like maybe a Condor 'excuse'?) - any decent bearing suppliers should be able to get a set of bearings to you next day...

Another **Q **regarding fixed hubs - (never used them before):

I have only had a SS MTB before with a cassette hub so chainline was simple to fettle perfectly - with a lockring fixed hub is there any leeway to add spacing washers? Does the lockring have to butt up against the cog? - presumably the cog then has to sit slightly proud of its thread?

It may well be sold by now I think - as asm says click the link and PM the guy.

These look to be spot on for me. I need silver, 32 hole, fixed/free flip flop with conventional sized cogs, and replacable cartridge bearings etc and all at a relatively bargain price (ie non Phil et al).

Can anyone recommend a supplier in the UK please or any other hubs that might fit the bill and price?

I thought some of it might be of interest here. Check the links above for details.

Oh, and if anyone buys it all flogs it on and makes a killing they owe me a free inner tube, lol...

A friend of mine on another bike forum (Retrobike) has a load of fixed gear for sale. Posting here in case any of you chaps are interested? :)

Please see the links below:

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16187&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16294&highlight=

Grass Track Frame and Forks in yellow (make unknown), seatpost to headset 21", downtube to crank 22.5", bottom bracket included.

Track frame, Columbus tubing, in white with blue/pink/green 'flicked' paint and chrome forks, Miche chainrings/cranks 165mm/50 tooth, Sachs chain, Campagnolio headset, Selle Italia Turbo saddle, Cinelli stem/bars 125mm, headset to seatpost 20", downtube to crank 22"

Wheels:
700c tubular
Front - Mavic 36 spoke with Maillard hub
Rear - As above with 15 tooth fixed sproket
Front - Mavic 36 spoke with Miche hub
Front - Arc En Ciel 24 spoke Super Champion with Campagnolio Record hub QR fixing
Rear - As above with close ratio 6 speed block (13,14,15,16,17,18 tooth)
700c tyre
Front - Alesa Alloy with Exage hub QR fixing
Front - Mavic 231 Profile PSP low-pro wheel with Deore LX hub

Cranksets:
Unknown make, made in France, 170mm cranks, 45 tooth ring
TA, made in France, 170mm cranks, 47 tooth ring
Shimano 600, 170mm cranks, Biopace 42 tooth ring

Chainrings:
Unknown make 52 tooth, 66 tooth, Miche 48 tooth

Fixed Sprokets:
15 tooth x3, 17 tooth x1

Very dubious I thought - bought over from Poland by the sellers. £100 each...

Hammo, I picked up some Campag - pair of brand new Centaur brakes for £20 (I'll keep the front, sell the rear) and a virtually brand new Veloce chainset for another £20 - happy with those, the first bits towards my first 700c fixie. There were no fixie hubs about but saw some lovely NOS Record freewheel hubs. Missed the cake - I was dragging my little boy around so couldn't lurk too long.

pj - don't you like the Soma...? :(

I would go with 3/32 every time. It opens up so much choice in equipment (endless bargain Campag chainsets/rings for one) and a basic 3/32 Sram PC58 chain is more than enough for virtually anyone. Campag Pista/Dura Ace Track 1/8 pukka stuff may be better and stronger for athletes buting a gut on a velodrome but the vast majority of 3/32 is better quality/smoother/lighter than the majority of run of the mill 1/8 stuff IMHO.

PS - I'm coming from an offroad SS perspective (Campag road chainset, Surly cog, PC58) - and fixed offroad too sometimes. Road use should be a lot less destructive on any drivetrain.

Distance selling regulations IIRC - if all dealing are done non-face to face. Not sure if this is obligatory for all purchases though - maybe it only applies to financial contracts etc?

Just got back - first time at one of these things but all very friendly. Not sure who was who but there was a nice Soma Rush, couple of Bianchi Pistas and a Charge Plug together. Anyone from here?

I got some bargain Campag bits so quite chuffed.