Gnarboots

A friend and I have been trying to conceptualize a freewheel with a fixed "lock-out". It's applications are, of course, questionable (why not just ride fixed OR free?), but it's just for the sake of curiosity. Anyway, I've heard of fixed converted Sturmy-Archer 3-speed hubs, but never a hub that's capable of fixed-free shifting. Anyone else?

thelung

it would be sweet to be able to ride fixed till you get to a big downhill and then flip a switch and coast. i dont know of a way to do it though. it seems like it would be sketchy even if it did work.

vomitron

The pin that would be required to "lock out" the freewheel would come under considerable sheering forces.

It would need to be on a spring that would rotate until it found the receiver hole on the freewheel, then pop into place. You could always have more than one pin, and even have one pin do the "hunting," then have two others pop in. That way, the lock-out pin would have 3 (or more/less) places to pop in, making the fixed/free switch near-instantaneous.

This will be very, very difficult to construct without considerable design experience, and access to a cnc lathe.

marqueemoon

I would love something like this.

dmotoguy

what if there was just a clutch in the hub and you could pull a lever to coast?

fetch

imagine when you let go of the clutch and arent fully prepared to be put back into fixed mode!

blickblocks

Maybe you have to be engage the pawls (be spinning) before it lets you go fixed?

Zombie Carl

Sounds like the kind of idea that my friend and I will waste hundreds of hours and dollars on, only to end up frustrated and with a pile of tools we'll never use again....

awesome!

ianjk

sounds like a good way to get hurt.

white lobster

As usual, Sheldon's already on the case: https://sheldonbrown.com/bichain-fixed-free.html

Cynikal 

Sounds like a way to completely complicate a simple machine.

fetch

you are the light at the end of this thread's tunnel

operator

Then why don't you just ride singlespeed. Or is fixed hipstering that important to you.

ralphm2k

So we don't have to bring wrenches for when we feel like switching.... like we never do.

crushkilldstroy

You're a real dick sometimes.

tynan

Can I get a "Gears!"

dewthedew

a clutch would do the trick

streetlightpoet

there is a freewheel with a pin to fix it, but it's a stop and switch option it seems, not sure how you could engineer one with shifting on the fly.

mihlbach

this is what you are looking for...
https://bmxmuseum.com/forums/viewtopic.php?pid=254038

gearkraft

ride around with a mig welder... the problem is it only converts once.

Sixty Fiver

I love Sheldon's idea but it is a rather complex solution and I like my fixed gears for their simplicity, among other things.

"So we don't have to bring wrenches for when we feel like switching"

If wrenches bother you they make these things called wing nuts...these came stock on my 1955 Raleigh.

ralphm2k

I don't think that actuates with a shifter. Looks like you have to turn that screw on the freewheel by hand.

maddyfish

Would be no problem to build, no problem to make strong enough, the biggest problem would be cost/market. There simply would be enough of a market to make it worth setting up to build these.

mihlbach

You could probably rig up some sort of shifter for it.

ralphm2k

Agreed.