If I run a Half link chain, will I need a chain tensioner? (octane one halflink or Gusset? or Other?)
Drive Setup (might help);
DMR Spin Chain Ring 29t
DMR 12t 2.3mm thickness

The reason I don’t want a chain tensioner is I would buy a surly singleator at £35, spent a lot on single speeding it already. : (

Any help appreciated… sorry for posting alot of stuff today, alot of questions have arisen.

Cheers,

Miké

evening….
What frame is it going on?

You may or you may not it depends on the gearing you are running. If you get the ratio’s right you will find that magic gear that will a chain with a hlaf link or a tensioner and from that you can work out the other magic ratio’s.

A magic geared bike.

Another one

I must have converted hundreds of bikes by now… I have found that a tensioner is your best bet. Even of you get lucky with chain length your chain will stretch and become slack.

You really want to avoid your Chain coming off. It can be really nasty.

Avoid the £40 for a surly by getting the 4jeri one, it’s ugly but super tough and easy to set up…. http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/chain-tensioners-29-c.asp

Have fun

Unless you’re only going to ride to the shop / pub, your chain will stretch and need tensioning. Mine needs a tweak every couple of rides, to the point where its stretched by nearly a whole link in 6 months (it is utterly shagged now though).

So magic gear / half link will get it set up to start, but it won’t stay that way long.

The surly singleator is a great bit of kit, but cheaper options are available (ie superstar) or perhaps try a fixed tensioner like the on-one one.

^ that 4jeri tensioner is identical to the superstar one, and Charlie’s a lovely chap, so buy his 😀

evening….
What frame is it going on? – daftvader

It’s a battered Scott Voltage YZ 0

Thanks for all your’ advice. Charlie I saw your’ youtube video, kinda what made me decide to go to single speed, eventually I’ll build a fixie though.

I think I’ll buy the 4jeri tensioner on Charlies’ site in a week or so, need some money first. : )

Just use an old rear mech, better than any tensioner.

And heavier and more prone.

I’m using a Black Spire Stinger, does the job fine and looks neat.

heavier and more prone 🙄 neither of which matters a jot if you’er on a budget

I have found that a tensioner is your best bet

I’m quite new to single speeding but for my first attempt I used chain tugs with horizontal dropouts but a very slighty oval rear sprocket led to all sorts of problems with chain tension. Nearly had a couple of nasty accidents due to the chain jumping off. It took me ages to discover the problem. It was also a bugger to get the wheel central in the rear triangle.

Then I switched to vertical dropouts with a tensioner and I’ve not had one problem since and the chain hasn’t come off once either. Now single speeding is everything I wanted it to be.

Just my opinion. Superstar do a stinger copy for £10 IIRC. Even then a Stinger costs about £20, hardly mega expensive, and cheaper than the Surly one the OP is looking at.

Al, can I ask you a question about bike frames, is it possible to get a good bike renovator to change my vert’ drop outs to horizontals. if so is it under £100? : s

thanks for the rear mech’ tip as well : )
but I’ll get a tensioner eventually

Quick photo of my set-up..

Mike, if steel, yes, but probs >£100 even before a respray….ebay and inbred are your friends…

I went to a rear mech after using a surly tensioner, it was way better.

Damn, my bike frame is aluminum. Ok cool I’ll clean up my rear mech’ and stick it on there.

For those chain guides (blackspire) ones don’t you need a tree holes around your’ BB?

Its BB mounted, the rollers on a slot too, allowing you to fine tune tension.

I have a surly/SS style tensioner set to push up and works fine. Just a but of a pain removing the wheel but in the end I just undid the chain with the quick link. I used a KMC single speed chain along with a single half link (from Charlies store) to get the chain length as close as possible and then used the tensioner in push up mode. Worked perfect.

If doing it again on a vertical (geared) frame I would try a BB mount one like above purely as it looks neater but with that above you are relying on the friction of the BB cup to stop the tensioner from moving.

btw that hope chainring is it any good?

Yeah, only put about 70 miles on it so far so a bit early to know about wear.

Its very light, almost felt a bit plastic like. Came in a 33.5g, over 50g lighter than the bent Deore it replaced!

On the point of chain stretch, they don’t chains wear. The load reequired to stretch a chain is way beyond what your legs can provide. On my converted bikes I change the chain at 0.75% wear which is what you should do anyway regarless of what drivetrain you use. If you do this then chain wear will not become an issue. I get a few hundred miles (no odo so I cannot tell exactly) before slack becomes an issue, I have found that is when the chain reaches 0.75% wear funnily enough. Change it at 0.75% wear and you will not have a problem on a tensioner less setup. Using a rensioner may allow to run the chain for longer but this leads to it own potential problems.

I have tried tensioners such as BB mounted one like the black spire picturted above and hanger mounted ones and with all I found chain wear caused issues with these too. The BB mounted one needed adjustment regularly which was a pain and the hanger mounted ones never worked well in muddy conditions. Tensioners work but they are not the only solution.

Oh with my tensioner less solution I have never had a chain jump of so it must a good solution.

As Charlie the Bikemonger says, the magic ratio method works only for a short while until the chain stretches. I’d recommend using a tensioner.

It works for more than short while I can assure you.

Also with a KMC Z82 or the Z510 chains being so cheap I don’t really worry about the wear issue.

I don’t go with recieved wisdom I try for myself and then judge what works best. I gave up on the BB tensioner method after several years as I fouind I had remove cranks and remove bolts and apply some grease/copperslip every three months or so I could then make the necessary tension adjustments that where needed without finding the bolts had siezied (Oh don’t blame pressure washing as I never did that). Moving the roller up did not work with the gearing I was using as the roller was running very close to the bash guard and I still required a daft half link. This regular unscrewing and torqing up eventually caused one of the threads for these bolts to wear and fail. Threads do wear and fail eventually with use.

The tensioner less solution with regualar application of rock n roll extreme chain lube sems to have solved these “issues” I used to have. The “downside” is every 6 months or so I spend a few pounds and change the chain. Hardly a biggie.

I have this crank/bottom bracket. Will a BB chain tensioner/guide work with it? If so omg it’ll look so pretty @_@

Thanks for all the advice guys, really helpful. I might try and run a magic gear ratio for a week or two.

Cheers,

Miké

Specifically a Blackspire Stinger

Charlie is the man for ss stuff,plus if you can get to his “shop” (looks more like a front room full of bikes and stuff) you can talk for hours, end up persuading the OH that another bike Is a good idea and get a recomendation for lunch in the town! as for the bike conversion, Play around with it and find what you are happy with. Then after you find you really like ss, get ss specific frame or a frame with an eccentric bb which can be run both geared and ss.