I ride a bikes direct SS 29er with skinny tires and it's been regeared. I jerryrigged it to be fixed gear using a cog that bolts in place of the rear brake disc. Anyways... I would love to get a rear wheel to do this legit and I know very little about bicycles. I am trying to figure out what I need.
The frame spacing is 135mm and I don't need a brake. That's all the info that I know I need to know. Any body have a guide for dummy's?
When you get into odd ball wheels (or even just wheels for bikes that are a few years old, expecialy MTB) the chances of you finding something off shelf are rare. That leaves building a custom wheel which isn't that hard to do but can be finicky. You'll need to find a hub first (google search reveals there are options), then select a rim you like and finally spokes/nipples to join the two (use an online spoke length calculator).
Sheldon Brown is still my go to whenever I lace up a wheel, read through this - https://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html
Alternatively you can go to a bike store that is into the fixie lifestyle and they can probably put together a wheel for you or you can take the hub and rim you bought (make sure they have the same number of holes!) to any decent shop and they'll supply the correct spokes and they'll lace it up.
Edit - you may find something "off the shelf" too so it is worth searching, it'll likely be a wheel that the shop puts together on their own and sells (so a surly hub with a wtb rim or something like that). The size of the wheel is important too! 26", 27.5" 29" etc.
It's been awhile since I played with a fixed gear hub... They are different than a standard freewheel hub. Surly makes what you're looking for, but you'll either need to build up the wheel yourself as Adam mentioned, or have a local bike shop build it.
The fixed gear is on the left side in this picture. The cog threads onto the larger part and then a lock-ring threads on to secure it. The right side of the hub is threaded for a standard single speed freewheel cog.
I wonder if I could build a wheel. I've read Sheldon's site a lot, 10 years ago, and I'll go read more. It's a deep rabbit hole!
It isn't terrible to do. You could even dona flip flop hub that allows a different gear on each side. That was the trick on our bmx bikes in the days of racing.
Building the wheel and truing isn't terrible. Likely you can reuse your current spokes. just need the front fork off a junk bike to clamp in a vice. Slap your wheel in and pop in two screws or bolts that will contact the rim face if out of true.
I love building wheels. It's very relaxing. I will admit to owning a proper truing stand due to a mis-spent youth as a bike mechanic.
Keith Tanner said:I love building wheels. It's very relaxing. I will admit to owning a proper truing stand due to a mis-spent youth as a bike mechanic.
Same here, it's not hard to do but you need to mind the details. Sheldon's page gives you a pretty solid step by step. It's fun sitting down and an hour or two later you have a wheel that's ready to ride from a pile of parts.
It's a skill that can get you out of a bind if you're riding a lot too. My partner was in to her last month of training for a 24 hour solo mountain bike race (she won, I'm super proud) and killed her rear carbon rim. I happened to have an alloy rim on a dead rear hub that was close enough dimensions that I could lace it to her boost, xd driver hub reusing the spokes. She rode the next day and ended up racing on that wheel too.
If you've thought about building a wheel then this is the perfect time to give it a shot. If things go bad you can drop all the bits off at a shop and they'll put it together (but then some kid working at the bike shop has all the fun lol).
I watched a video and read Sheldon Brown. I think I can pull this off. Figure if I have a struggle I can go by my LBS. I'll check here before buying anything to make sure I'm not too out of line.
Surly Ultra New Fix/Free 135mm
WTB Kom i25 Tough 29"
32 Spokes 3 cross
The calculator says 294.5mm for both sides. Spokes only appear to be in even MM increments. What is protocol here?
1 mm isn't liable to be a big factor either way, but I'd go long. You can always make them shorter :)
I've never used a calculator, I don't know if they leave a bit of fudge factor for tightening.
Tool tip: get a flathead or Phillips screwdriver and file it so it has a "tooth". Makes it much easier to spin the nipples on the spokes.
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