Wheel help

GoldenMotor.com

Madflava

New Member
Jan 30, 2018
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First post so be gentle :)

I am helping my son install an engine kit of his bike. He wanted the kit for Xmas, I told him it wasnt going to fit the bike he had but he insisted it would (I knew it wouldnt) so we bought it anyway and it didnt fit. Ended up picking him up a cheap single speed from Walmart to install the kit on.

Ive kind of run into a quandary on the wheels.

The bike comes with a flip flop hub. It didnt really dawn on me that I wouldnt be able to get the sprocket over the fixie gear when I bought the bike so now Im in a position of trying to make it work.

I originally thought Id use the fixie gear as my drive gear but I cant seem to find a good setup that works with the included tensioner and gets me anywhere near where I need to be for the chain length. Ive tried orienting it multiple ways and just cant seem to find a way to make it work.

So.. I need to either have the rear hub changed out, get some new sort of tensioner or a new wheelset. These are 700c wheels so I really havent found much other than a wheelset on one of the motorized bike sites that has a flip flop hub so I dont see how that is going to do me any good unless there is some kind of adapter I havent run across yet.

Im pretty handy with bikes.. I have built multiple road bikes, do my own repairs, etc so I know my way around bike parts but I dont build wheels. Its pretty much the only thing I cant do with a bike. Just never bothered to learn because I either bought them prebuilt or had a local builder do it.

Any advice anyone can give would be hugely appreciated.
 

djnutz

Member
May 14, 2010
30
4
8
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
sheldonbrown.com

Go there and read everything about wheels and wheel building. I have probably built over 100 wheels (former bicycle shop service manager) and I am currently running a set of wheels that I built: 26" wheels, front is a disc brake hub, rear is an internally geared disc brake hub. Rims are a little wider to fit a 2.5 wide tire. Not quite fat bike size, but still pretty big. The rim/hub combo I came up with is not something you can order on amazon. The website above can teach you how to figure out what size spokes you need and how to lace them properly. If you can turn a spoke wrench, purchase and learn how to use a tensiometer, and read a few pages on a website, then you can indeed build a wheel.
 

Madflava

New Member
Jan 30, 2018
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Im very familiar with that site. I learned a lot from it. I just dont have time to learn to build wheels. I work 50+ hours a week as it is and even trying to get out and ride for myself is extremely difficult. I went from 250 miles a week down to about 100 if Im lucky and only in the summer.

Id prefer to just buy something prebuilt or maybe I can get a local guy here to swap the hub. You would think there would be a way to utilize that hub but I havent found any kind of rear hear that will clear that fixie gear. The hole isnt even large enough if I take that gear off.
 

crassius

Well-Known Member
Sep 30, 2012
4,032
158
63
USA
can you just take the fixie sprocket off & use the rag joint?

or maybe local bicycle shop will trade you a wheel for free?