Re: Fixed Gear (Fixie) vs Single Speed Gearing

Phil Wood now sells a Philcentric BB for converting vertical drop out 
bikes to fixie:
http://www.philwood.com/products/bbpages/eccentric.php
For installation: http://www.philwood.com/philpdfs/philcentric.pdf

You still may have to use a half link to adjust the chain length.  I'll 
probably mess around with one later in the year, but I'm busy preparing 
for the Atlantic Coast Route on our tandem at the moment.  I'd like to 
get rid of the chain tensioner on my Big Dummy with Rohloff hub.  I also 
have an old frame with vertical dropouts that I'm considering converting 
with a flip-flop hub although I feel bad about no longer using Suntour 
bar end shifters.

Bob
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/bobandmary

Jeremy Kindy wrote:Here's Sheldon Brown's take on the subject:
> http://www.sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html
>
> "You CanNOT use any sort of pulley type chain tensioner on a fixed gear bike!
>
> You cannot use a derailer on a fixed gear bike, even as a chain
> tensioner, because when you resist the rotation of the pedals, you
> would bend the derailer. This presents a problem if you want to use a
> frame with vertical dropouts as a fixed gear, because there's no easy
> way to adjust the chain tension. This is also true of chain tensioners
> sold for singlespeed coasting bikes, such as the Surly Singleator.
>