Here is a great way to eliminate a need for a chain tensioner

T

taddthewadd

New Member
Here is something you guys might be interested in.

This company called "White Industries" makes a rear hub that is unique. It is designed to convert a mountain bike from a multi speed bike to a single speed bike. Traditionally there are two types of dropouts on a mountain bike, horizontal or verticle. If you are lucky enough to have a mountain bike with horizontal dropouts then you won't need a chain tensioner because you can slide the wheel back and forth in the dropout to adjust chain tension. But if you have verticle dropouts then you would have to buy a spring loaded tensioner that mounts where the rear derailer use to mount. To make this as clear as possible I will add this: In a multispeed mountain bike the rear derailer has a spring loaded chain tensioner built in so when you convert to single speed and remove the derailer you are also loosing the chain tensioner.

So White Industries has invented a hub that eliminates the need for a chain tensioner on mountain bikes with verticle dropouts.

This hub is built with an offset kind of like a cam. The center line of the exel is offset so that when you rotate the hub it moves back and forth then you lock down the nuts and it stays there. This allows you to adjust chain tension. See the picture in the link for better understanding.

In doing this mod you will end up having a single speed driveline on your pedal side. This is ok since you rarely use that driveline anyway.

You will use this hub to adjust the motor chain tension. If you are lucky the pedal chain will be the same length and tension perfectly at the same time. If not you can try a half link in the pedal chain. If it still wont give you proper tension on the pedal chain when the engine chain is right then you will have to use a spring tensioned tensioner to keep the pedal chain tight. This is still far superior to the chain tensioner on the engine chain. It mounts where your derailer used to be.

I hope all of this is clear ;-)

Also I want to say I bought the hub with the disc brake mount. Then I use the top hatter (sprocket adapter to mount to a disk brake hub) and their sprocket from Kings Sales. This setup is bulletproof. The hub is super heavy duty and the bearings are sealed and heavy duty, along with the tophatter and sprocket the sprocket is bolted right to the hub which is solid and perfectly true.

Here is the link: http://www.whiteind.com/rearhubs/singlespeedhubs.html

Let me know what you guys think!
 
thats only going to work if both chains come out even, you would still need a tensioner for the motor side.
 
Great info thanks! (^)

There is ofc another exception to be aware of - that is, not all bikes have the chainstay clearance to run the chain w/o the "tensioner" rerouting it up & over... such as my Schwinn unfortunately :(
 
Camlifter, if the chains don't come out even you use a tensioner on the pedal side not the motor side.

Since you are mostly riding with the engine going it would be more critical to not run a tensioner on the engine side so that you don't have to wory about the tensioner moving or breaking or causing the chain to not run as smoothly (there are also stories on here of the stock tensioner getting cought in the spokes, Ouch)

The tensioner used for the pedal side is excellent. It is light, small and mounts to a place on the frame that is already threaded and ready for it (where the derailer used to mount).

Another benefit is when you convert the pedal side to single speed you loose shifters, derailers, cables, extra gears/chainrings. You end up loosing 2-3 pounds and a lot of cluter. Also with that little tensioner on the pedal side it keeps the chain pretty tight and the chain never slaps the chain stays when you hit a bump. It is very smooth. Another thing is that the tensioner is spring loaded so you never have to adjust it.

Here is a link to one of these pedal side tensioners: Lickbike.com | Surly Singleator single speed chain tensioner'
 
maybe i'm not seeing just how the cam adjust axle works, it looks like it moves the whole wheel to give adjustment for a vertical drop out. thats not going to help unless both chains have the same amount of slack. the tensioner in your last post looks nice and would be a good thing, unless your using a coaster brake, then the chain would pop off every time you used the coaster brake.
i made a pedal side tensioner for one of my bikes from a derailer and had that problem, had to put a threaded rod and weld a tab on the rear of it so it wouldn't unload while trying to brake.
 
camlifter, you are definetly right. This application wouldn't work with coaster brakes. On a mountain bike with this set up v- brakes work well.

It sounds like you understand the first half of my concept. That is you get how the hub works, when the hub is rotated the whole wheel moves allowing you to tension the engine chain. The second part I think you aren't getting is if the slack in the engine chain is different from that of the pedal chain then you use a tensioner on the pedal chain not the engine chain.

If you have a half link of motor chain and a half link of pedal chain laying around odds are with the right combination you can get this setup to work without having to use a pedal chain tensioner.

I am not trying to offend you in anyway. If you aren't understanding it is probably due to me not being able to put down my thoughts here in a clear way. Sorry.
 
I've used this hub before on a converted single speed and it works quite well. It's a quality piece...I'd use a nutted axle in lieu of a quick release axle....not sure how tight you're gonna have to make it so the axle (and cam) don't slip as it's not designed for a 2 or 3 horsepower motor to be used as a power source:-)
 
Good point. It isn't a quick release axel, it is a bolted axel. It has female threads and a good size cap head allen screw goes into it on both sides. It clamps down really hard. Also I don't think much torque will be applied to that part of the hub. The torque first goes to the outer casing of the hub then spokes then rim then tire. Also the fact that inbetween the outer casing and the bolts/cam are the bearings which eliminate most of the friction/torque?
 
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