Wednesday 8 July 2009

Dinglespeed update - Toolless gear change

Using DMR chain tugs allows toolless gear changes. I was a bit worried about having to carry a spanner in order to adjust the chain tugs so that the gear could be changed. The DMR tugs however allow the wheel to slip forward slightly when the QR is undone. The QR head sits in a cup in the tug, this pulls the wheel back when the QR is tight. The amount of movement allows the chain tension to be reduced enough to flip the gear. To change gear all that is needed is a quick undo of the QR flick the chain across and then close the QR. This works perfectly, both gears are well tensioned using this method and have that beautiful direct singlespeed feeling, result!

Heres a vid of a gear change in action, exciting stuff!!

Cotic Simple - Dinglespeed - Toolless gear change from Rob Rickman on Vimeo.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Could the same setup be used on a RoadRat?

Robbie Rickman said...

yes, I cant see why not. I took this idea from the fixed gear guys a lot of them use the same concept but with a less extreme difference in gear ratios. It is important to choose two sets of ratios that will result in practically the same chain length and you will need a hub that allows multiple sprockets. It is great having the direct feel of singlespeed but another gear option when hitting the trail

Anonymous said...

Hi Robbie

What chainrings/spider are you using? I would have thought its difficult to find 1/8 rings that will fit a dingle setup

Thanks