who said fixies are low maintenance?

souter

Ok, I love my singlecross but, grrr, what a pain. The ramifications of my chain throw http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=64788961&postcount=14 continue to grow.
At the time I thought myself oh so clever in "repairing" the chain with leftover links. But the rear half of one of the track ends was broken, as was the flip flop lock ring which appears to have sustained terminal damage in said chain throw.
So I couldn't put on the freewheel to get out for a hilly spin at the weekend. Fair enough, I'll put on it on the smallest cog, shorten the chain and get a proper road bike for hills. And replace the chain at some point.
Too late! 2 miles from home and there's an ominous click as come out of my sort of track stand on right turn. A few hundred metres of click, click then bang! as the chain breaks.
Initially relief I thought it was the bottom bracket, even some complacency as I was now carrying a chaintool. But problem, lost a link , then another in remaking the chain, so it was too tight to get back on even with the axle full forward.
Had to pick up the kids from creche so I turned my eyes away as I forced the chain on without it exploding in my face. Tight as a Scotsman's drum but somehow made to the creche in time.
Once home my problem was how to get the massively stressed chain off. Managed with safety goggles at the cost of the chain tool.
Spent about an hour trying to extend the tool with links from my chain whip (they looked about the same size) before giving after losing the umpteenth rivet in the gathering gloom.
So tomorrow I'll be taking the car to work.
Moral of the story is shell out the tenner on a new chain straight away.
Further moral is, a derailleur would have been a lot less problematic.

blorg

New chain as little as £3.99 on CRC. I have a fixed Tricross myself and have thrown the chain on both it and the Bowery due to insufficient tension but on the outside each time so not so much damage. FWIW you could do similar or worse with a geared bike and I certainly have... fixed/SS is genuinely lower maintenance.

Morgan

souter wrote: »

Spent about an hour trying to extend the tool with links from my chain whip (they looked about the same size)

This is a sorry tale, but that's the low-point.

souter

Morgan wrote: »

This is a sorry tale, but that's the low-point.

I beg to differ.
The sorriest point was heating the chain on the gas hob to try and get the rivet in.
You don't want to hear about the leatherman and hammer.

blorg

Or you could just buy a new chain for 3.99. Christ, why do people do this.

Doc_Savage

totally with blorg on this one! this has nothing to do with the derailleur being "lower maintenance". there's a lot more that'll move, stretch and *ahem* break on a derailleur equipped drivetrain. To be brutally honest the only thing you have to make sure of with a fixed gear drivetrain is your chain tension.... not so tight that it binds, not so loose that you can throw it, if you had it way too loose then it is your own fault, and a lesson hard learned. if it wasn't that loose then i'd call it unusual and thank god you walked away!

Any accident you walk away from is a good one!

As an aside. Do your chainring cog and chain width match? Lots of fixed riders use 1/8th inch and if you bought an 1/8th inch chain and have a narrower road chainring then there is more chance of the chain moving around and trying to de-rail. nothing wrong with running a narrower chain though!

hope you're not too put off and you get it back on the road soon!

oh and a half link chain will make it easier to find the right chain length! think they're about €9 off CRC.

souter

blorg wrote: »

Or you could just buy a new chain for 3.99. Christ, why do people do this.

I did it because I couldn't get to a bike shop last night, I'm not *that* mean honestly. New chain today, no fear, and I'll replace it straight away if anything similar happens again.

And I've not been put off fixies, the rear wheel lock up was pretty easy to ride out.

wrt to derailleur survivability, I just meant I got 20 years riding on them previously with only one time when I had to walk the bike home (not counting botched puncture repairs), the hanger tensioning means you can fix a chain shorter and still ride it. With the fixed chain I need to carry spare links, along with the monkey wrench for the tracknuts.

Another question for you, any idea if the track end inserts (or whatever you call them, the steel bit between the nut and the aluminium) are replacable?
I presume they're to stop the track nut gouging the softer alu, so with half of one missing and the other looking a bit battered my chain tensioning options are further limited.

Doc_Savage

check frame spares on CRC and see what you can find!

if there's nothing there then i'd say you could get them made fairly easily!

blorg

They look like replaceable parts to me, you would probably need to get them from a Specialized dealer.



In terms of reliability I would find that derailleur bikes require more cleaning and adjusting to keep them running well.

I've also had chain breakage on derailleur bikes albeit not recently; probably my fault due to lack of maintenance. Since i have started cleaning and lubing and replacing the chain when necessary I have had no issues there over tens of thousands of km.

Snapping gear cables has happened more than once.

Derailleur jumping into the spokes has occured a few times. Also other failures of the shifting system.

Crank failures too although they would not be specific to a geared bike.

Doc_Savage

blorg wrote: »

Crank failures too although they would not be specific to a geared bike.

??????? you broke a crank???????

in a crash?

blorg

Doc_Savage wrote: »

??????? you broke a crank???????

in a crash?

Three crank failures:

- Left-hand crank loose on new bike, fell off on Sally Gap at around 20:00. Had to cycle with one foot as far as I could and get a taxi.
- Snapped a left crank. someone had backed into my parked bike and fecked off.
- Parked bike fell over hitting the pedal and destroying the pedal threads.

Doc_Savage

blorg wrote: »

.........someone had backed into my parked bike and fecked off..............

I lost two wheels and a derailleur to the same thing!