Built this up mostly from parts bought off here and finished it off last night. Kona Howler singlespeeded for something different. I’ve used an Accor tensioner to cope with the chain growth. I previously owned a medium one and missed it, so found this large recently and set to work getting the parts sorted.

Frame was sent straight to 18Bikes to have the seat-tube reamed for a 30.9 so I could use my Joplin. Swapped the 200mm Vanilla shock for one of the cheap 190mm RP23s from CRC to drop the BB and slacken it (previous experience showed this was a winner).

First ride this weekend…

Untitled by Rick T., on Flickr

Untitled by Rick T., on Flickr

different,different is good !

I like it. I do.

You are a maverick and I love it.

looks good. Did something very similar to my Giant NRS with a Rohloff tensioner;

Thanks for the positive vibes!

I’m looking forward to the stealthy silence of my ride.

wwaswas – I did loads of research on full sus snigglespeeds and looked at photos of yours(!) a few times. In the end went for the Howler as it was cheap and I knew what I was getting having had one before.

Looks like fun, and easy enough to go 1×9 if you want to change things around.

make it fixed and it becomes ultra niche.

Kona too, for extra points.

any excuse to post a pic of mine:

That’s not a niche bike.

This is 😉

The Mantra is surprisingly well suited to SS as it stiffens the suspension when you’re out of the saddle, gurning up climbs.

righog – Member
Looks like fun, and easy enough to go 1×9 if you want to change things around.

I have an iSpec 10 speed shifter, Zee mech and XT cassette for just such occasions…

I always fancied one of those, looks pretty sweet

Surely that Kona with the belt drive can’t allow for chain growth – how does it work?

Bandito,lovin the belt drive A,long time baby,yeah !

Have you tried riding fixed with a chain tensioner, alex?

qtip – that’s a Kona A with the main pivot going around the BB so no chain growth.

Looks like a wicked little play bike! Is it a funny angle? The stem looks long and the downtube looks bent. Same kind of do it all play bike as my banshee rampant (only I’ve got gears)

Fixed with a tensioner won’t work (at least, not unless it was a very robust, non-sprung tensioner and even then it’d probably bend the mech hanger instead) – as soon as you back pedal at all, it’ll just extend the tensioner either wrecking it or unshipping the chain.

Surely that Kona with the belt drive can’t allow for chain growth – how does it work?

You new here? Its been a long, long process. 🙂

But it does work. And its lovely. Dead quite, apart from the squidge of the Maverick forks, and the rattle of the Pro2 hub freewheeling.

That Kona A lokes ace – I love the idea of zero chain growth bikes and upside down forks – More of both of these please bike industry. I would have put a hub gear on it though.

slowrider – that’s a 50mm Renthal stem and the downtube is a little curved at the BB.

Different angle…

Kona Howler SS by Rick T., on Flickr

I have built up a couple of bikes this year ( hardtails ) and for both I had a specific ride/trail in mind. Did you have have a specific trail in mind ? If so what was it like ?

I ask cause after your seeing the post I have already started looking for a old full suss frame and I have a flowy woody trail in mind.

righog – Forest of Dean. Full of woodsy goodness.

I would have put a hub gear on it though

I’m going to fit my Rohloff (presently on my hartdail) to the A and try it out with a chain drive later this year. If it seems ok (I’m concerned how it will ride with the extra weight) i’ll look at going belt-drive on it. The problem is twofold:

1) The available sprocket and belt sizes are limited, Gates don’t produce the right size combination for the ratio I want, with the chaicnstay lenght I’ve got.
2) And, Gates won’t sell a Rohloff sprocket to anyone without doing a full assesment of the frame first.

but I have a couple of ides how to get around that when the time comes…

fun

to do this on my Bur Classic do I need a sprung tensioner of some sort? (the rest of SS I know about).

Gates won’t sell a Rohloff sprocket to anyone without doing a full assesment of the frame first

Whats all that about – dont know what Gates is but never heard of anyone not wanting to make a sale! This is why I have loads of none fitting parts in my garage lol

mattjg – yes, something like my Acor tensioner would do. It just needs enough movement to allow the chain to grow and shrink as the rear wheel goes through its travel. An old short cage mech would work too.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acor-Single-Speed-Tensioner-Conversion/dp/B007ZBRSEI

Gates are the belt drive manufacturer, they don’t want any old person fitting their stuff to unsuitable frames then bad mouthing the parts when it doesn’t work properly.

I’ve just put horizontal dropouts on my absolut sx which means running the alfine is much easier

BB pivot frames & hub gears are ace

Ta, should I ever get an idle moment, I’ll give it a whizz.

Have you tried riding fixed with a chain tensioner, alex?

It was tongue in cheek aracer.

Rickos, think the angle made it look long, what with the hi rise bar and rise of the stem. great looking little bike that, been tempted by them myself in the past.

I like the idea of ss’ing my rampant but some of the local freeride/jump lines need a fair old crank to clear the gaps. Not sure I could ride it back up if I fitted a big enough gear!

EDIT: thought I’d add a pic as i keep banging on about it 😛

It is quite long for what was meant to have been a 4X bike. The large I have there is a 16 inch seat tube but a 23.5 inch effective top-tube.

thats pretty much an xc bike then, double bonus!

You like the new bike then Tom?

Yeah, had a few goes and liked it a lot. Not been on it since I hurt my hand, big bike is more forgiving until I heal!

Glad my build provided some inspiration Rickos 🙂 Yours looks a bit more gnar than my xc jeyboy approach.

Is there anyt kind of limit as to what that Acor jobby will cope with in terms of chain growth? Like maybe an Orange?

Just thinking if I ever man up and enter the puffer, I’d want to go singlespeed but want to stay full suss.

GaryLake – that Rohloff one is designed for people who run Rohloffs on DH bikes. Got an immensely strong spring in it. They say it allows for 10 links worth of stay length change.

http://www.rohloff.de/en/products/speedhub/dh_chain_tensioner/index.html

Could be for sale too, if you’re interested?

GaryLake – I’m sure there must be some limit but I don’t know what that would be. It has a strong spring, so I suppose if you give it enough chain to actually grow it would probably be OK on a 5, Prophet, Rush, etc.

I should have done a video of the movement on the tensioner when I had the shock off, but nevermind…

Just competed a full suss SS on mt Giant Yukon using a Yess tensioner. It compensates for a lot of rear triangle movement and chain length variation.