Tell Me Again What All Those Gears Are for?

The singlespeed cross bike project is finally up and running after some fits and starts. As many of you remember, I decided to convert the Salsa to an SSCX bike when the Igleheart got built. More on the Iglebike later, but basically once everything was moved to the new bike I was left with almost enough spares to re-build my favorite bike. Without worrying about derailleurs anymore. Simple, right? Yes I am.

In talking with Drew&Derek @ On Your Left about the decision btw using a chain tensioner vs building a wheel with the Eno eccentric hub, we decided to do it right and go with the Eno. This seemed like the ultimate solution and they built a beautiful wheel as always.

Now part of my due dilligence in making this decision was to read the reviews on line. As always, the internets were a wealth of information and its actually hard to find a negative review of this product. The only negative review I found was debunked by the crowd online.

Feeling good I took the Salsa out for a test ride and it was fantastic.

I got it ready for USGP and made sure that my chain tension was correct and got 3.5 laps in before dropping the chain. WTF, right? This isnt supposed to happen.

I figured that it was operator error, as thats usually the culprit. Back to the shop for some adjustments and additional inservicing on the correct way to maintain this.

I lined up at Storm the Greens and when the man said "go", I did. About 10 feet before dropping the chain. Now, the winner of that race happened to be riding a SSCX Moots. Gorgeous and coincidentally using the Eno hub. He was gracious enough to spend some time looking at my set up and check for some of the more common errors. He was stumped. I knew that it had been set up correctly and have a ton of faith in the work that Drew and Derek do. He looked again. I looked too(for no good reason), chins were scratched and then

finally he saw a possibility. The hub didnt seem to be making contact 360 degrees on the drop out. My beloved Salsa was somewhat of an anomaly in that it had a ridge along the bottom half of the equator in the drop out region. Or, more plainly said, From 3:00 to 9:00 there was surface to surface contact but around the top of the horn the was nothing. Because the seatstays are designed to flex, and because there was not full contact it was just enough room for the hub to pivot under stress and drop the chain.

I called the folks at White Industries and they were unusually helpful(no, really). They brainstormed with me and I took 2 of their theories back to Derek. He looked over the situation and agreed that the best option was to grind down the small ridge so that a flat surface would result and full grip could be had.

The fix was perfect, and I tested it at RRCC as well as a trail ride thru Cherokee/Seneca. The stop and start of a simulated race start, sand traps and rooty trail climbs were met with smooth, predictable pedaling and a sweet ride. I did my best to get the bike to dump its chain but every check revealed the same tension. SUCCESS!! Only I would have a complicated singlespeed. This was a huge relief as I'd gone thru all sorts of options that I didnt want to excercise in looking for ways to fix the situation. I'd thought about switching frames, but this just has the feel of being "my bike". I've logged a lot of miles on it as a cross bike, mtb, road bike and gravel road racer. Im glad that the On Your Left guys were able to help me transition it to its new life. the singlespeeding is a good time. If I want to catch the guy ahead of me, I need to pedal faster and stay off of the brakes. Think less-Pedal harder. I could do that....sometimes. And sometimes its nice to just ride trails on it with Kid A.