Evening all.

Having a problem with my project to convert my Charge Duster to a singlespeed: I’ve got the following…

E13 LG1 chainguide,
Shimano XTR 970 cranks running a Renthal SR4 chainring (38t)
10spd chain with a power link
Chris King singlespeed hub with Superstar 16t sprocket
Superstar singlespeed tensioner

I’ve tried a few spacer locations for the rear sprocket and each time it jumps in the same way – has anyone else ever had problems with a conversion or singlespeed setup jumping in this way? Everything is relatively new drivetrain wise (i.e. not work to buggery).

Comments, abuse and general musings welcome please chums before I give up on the whole thing and go back to a normal setup and continue to point and laugh at 29ers.

Does the tensioner push up or down on the chain? How much chain wrap have you got on the rear? What’s the E13 for?

jumping, or dropping off ?

A) you shouldn’t need a chain guide.

B) I think the superstar singlespeed sprockets are too wide for a 10 speed chain.

C) Tensioner works best if you can have the roller under the chain so it wraps a couple more links of the chain onto the rear sprocket.

D) 38/16 is quite tall gearing for an off road singlespeed unless you live somewhere really flat. I had 34/16 for a while and really got my gurn on: occasionally used to overcome the singlespeed tensioner when I used one.

I would try these things in this order:

1) Put the tensioner on so it goes under the chain and pushes it back up towards the chainstay.

2) Invest as little money as possible in a wider singlespeed chain. (or 6/7/8 speed if you are counting grams)

3) Bigger rear sprocket or smaller front chainring. (18 or 19 tooth ssc would be a cheap way to try)

4) Sell the chainguide to fund the above.

HTH 😀

Recently converted my old rockhopper. Used a straight edge to get the chain line from the front ring to teh rear and a dmr chain tensioner for the tension. Had to tension down the way as rear triangle got in when tried to tension it up the way to give more chain wrap round the rear cog.

Is the chain slipping (i.e. skipping forward under load) or coming off completely? Are all bits the same age?

Are 10 spd chains ok to use for singlespeeds? Remember reading they wern’t ideal as they are alot narrower but i may very well be wrong.

Scardypants: Just jumping, not dropping off.

I assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that I needed to run a chain guide? However I was pondering over the 10spd chain possibly being the issue.

It’s only skipping under load – it’s like a new chain on a worn system – however, all the components are pretty new (only did a Mega on them :s )

However, I take the motion carried on the 34/16 being quite a big gear – something I’d not pondered too carefully (having swiped all the bits from my Spicy I’d plundered the parts from). Living in Bristol might kill me!

The chain is tensioned by pushing *down* the chain – I can’t see a way to alter this (unless I put it on the opposite way on the hanger?)…

Actually, thinking about it, it might be a 34t. I’ll just pop out and take a shot of the bike…

i reckon the single speed sprocket and 10 speed chain don’t like each other, i’d go for a cheep 6 7 8 speed chain and lose the chain guide, you will not need it, just keep the chain quite tight with the tensioner.

I had this with a push down tensioner. Chain kept jumping. Pull up worked fine though.

Here you go:

*waits for the photo*

Have you got the roller or jockey wheel tensioner? I’m assuming the jockey wheels one as the roller one is simple to push up. Did you get 2 springs with the tensioner? If you did – should have if the product is worth it’s salt (silly me, it’s Superstar!) – then one will push up and one down. Swap to the one pushing up. BOSH!

Shorten the chain and tension by pushing up – I reckon that’ll sort it.

Typed too slow…

WHOOOA! There’s sod all chain wrap on that. Take a link out if you can and try again. And take the E13 off too – not needed.

chain’s only engaging maybe 6 teeth so likely to jump

I bet you could get another link out, even if you can’t make the tensioner pull upwards

Well, I would shorten it, but it feels like I’d be forcing the Superstar device too much if I did – it feels like it ‘locks’ out if I were to push ‘up’ any further.

Superstar spocket playing ok with 9 speed chain on my swift
Using 9 speed as it’ll mean I’ve always got the right spare chain links in my pack no matter what bike I’m on.

Will drop off the E13 though, thanks. It does annoy me how it ruins the simple looks of the singlespeed kit.

25lbs so far for a Piked up steel hardtail. Not bad.

1st thing that alarmed me was the 10 speed chain.

tbh you are wasting an expensive chain and using it where it is potentially causing you a problem. Get yourself a KMC single speed chain Z610 or something (it will be mentioned a lot)

Then I saw the picture and you have farrrrrrr too much chain length. If you can’t take out a full pair of links then you need to get a half link. But I doubt you can get one for the 10 speed chain anyway so I would get myself a KMC single speed chain and half link (Charlie the Bike Monger has the half links).

As for the tensioner – yes it would be ideal to push up and get even more wrap (but won’t work with your chain that long) but you will need a new spring to do it. I have a very similar tensioner which is a clone of the Surly one so I bought a push up spring for the surly one from Charlie as well and converted my tensioner to push up. I also took out the pin that pushes against the stop on the derailleur hanger so I could use a slim spanner to tension the tensioner properly.

This is what you want it to end up like:

PS you might get away without the push up tensioner tbh. The first thing to do is a proper SS chain and get it the right length.

{too slow} Deffo a chain wrap issue. You need the chain as tight as you can get it. I had A SStar tensioner and converted it to push up by:
a) removing the spring
b) Spacing it with a washer to allow it to tighten against the dropout.

It worked for a while and then started to work loose.

Surly Singleator saved the day.{too slow}

why not put your old mech back on, screw the travel adjust screws in so it cant move then see if it still slips, if it don’t then you know you aint got enough chain wrap around the sprocket, if it does then its the chain. it won’t cost nothing.

Cheers beans, seems the consensus is chain wrap and the non singlespeed chain.

Andyl, are you saying I might get away without a tensioner? How does that work?

+1 shortening the chain.

no I said without the push up tensioner. ie as you have it now but with the chain the correct length.

This is the half link: http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/kmc-half-link-279-p.asp

I use it with a KMC Z610HX – 1/8th wide not the wider BMX style.

My tensioner was like yours but I bought this spring: http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/surly-spare-spring-37-p.asp

and converted it. Also removed the pin that stops the plate rotating.

Quick question on chain width; what do I need, 3/32 or 1/8?

Ah, just found my answer: http://www.velosolo.co.uk/faq.html

Forgive me Andy, for being a bit simple tonight; so are you saying that I could effectively run no tensioner at all, if I use a half link to get the chain as tight as I can get it, yet still slot the wheel into the frame?

And, presumably, if you don’t want to struggle with the half link, get a Surly singlelator with the pushup spring?

Have I got this right now? Feel free to draw in simple pictures and simple words spoken slowly…

Once again, some googlamating has got me the answers (and Andy’s link to Charlie the Bike Monger).

Seem 3/32 is thinner than 1/8.

And it seems that a half link is like a 1/4″ reduction on the chainstay, so hence how you might get away without a chain tensioner.

Order going into Charlie tommorrow then 🙂

That’s the same as my tensioner, although it didn’t come from Superstar.
I got mine to tension upwards using the other tension setting, but it’s not got as much throw that way as the spring binds on the outside. Seems to work fine with a zip tie round the stay, attached to another one around the bar that holds the jockey wheel. It gives it enough spring and looks ugly.. Ugly is important for singlespeeds!

EDIT: Yup, you need 3/32 with those bits.

noooo I am just saying that if you get the right chain and chain length your current tensioner may be okay as it is for a lot of people.

But yes you can sometimes get the right chain length to not need a tensioner at all but this is more down to sprockets you use and is called the ‘magic ratio’. ie your chainring, rear sprocket and chainstay length all tie in to need a chain that doesnt need a tensioner. But as the chain wears it could become a bit loose and chainrings are never quite perfectly set up so there will always be a slight eccentricity which can lead to problems.

PS I made a mistake earlier thinking 1/8th is narrower than 3/32. Was thinking of 1/8th v 3/16 bolts. You want a 3/32 chain.

If I was doing my conversion again I would go with a BB mount tensioner as it looks a lot neater and I tend to use the quick link to uncouple the chain to remove the wheel – a lot easier when the chain length is very close to perfect.

Now I’ve had a read Andy, what you’ve said makes sense 🙂

I’ll get one of them fancy half link chains, a pair of tight chino’s and deck shoes, pair of **** glasses, shove a couple of pizza leaflets in my front wheel and then fiddle with that tensioner…

Cheers all 😀

a pair of tight chino’s and deck shoes, pair of **** glasses, shove a couple of pizza leaflets in my front wheel and then fiddle with that tensioner…

Oh, no – you can’t use a tensioner at all if you’re going fixed wheel 😉

you don’t need a fully half link chain, just a single half chain link as I posted. But it will only fit a 3/32 chain.

A couple of the lads I ride with have had problems with superstar rear cogs slipping under load. The profile somehow didn’t look right on the teeth when compared with on one steel cogs. A change of rear cog sorted it. But as already mentioned you need more chain wrap.

Ditch the tensioner fit a 3/32″ or 1/8″ chain and the fit correctly sized sprokets that allow this.

This Orange is running a 34T TA 9 speed chain ring, a 16T rear and 1/8″ chain because it cheaper. Relaible running for several hundred miles.

Adding/taking away 1 tooth on either sproket add/removes 1/4″ from the chain wrap needed. So it is easy to single speed without a tensioner.

As already said you don’t nee a guide. Single speeds are meant to be simple.