Sincitycycler

I have a Mercier and it's a pain centering the wheel sometimes or it plain slips out if I hammer

Is there some part that is sold like what's in the picture without having to drill a hole?

bigvegan

You mean something like this?

https://www.jensonusa.com/store/produ...r.aspx?sc=FRGL

or this?

https://www.jensonusa.com/store/produ...r.aspx?sc=FRGL

operator

You really ought to learn to set the chain tension without one - one less extra bit to take-off when you change a flat and you get the satisfaction of learning how to set chain tension quickly.

Sincitycycler

[QUOTE=bigvegan;10180013]You mean something like this?

https://www.jensonusa.com/store/produ...r.aspx?sc=FRGL

or this? Cool! I need to buy two of these, correct?

operator

Two or one is fine depending on what you like more, ease of changing flat or ease of setting tension.

BCRider

I haven't really found it a pain to center the wheel during changes. It doesn't need to be centered to the last thou after all. I just center the tire in the chain stays and tighten the axle nuts (solid axle here) However like you, I did find that the drive side tended to creep a little unless stupidly tight. So I put the one chain tug back on for that side. The tugs aren't that hard to use but it does mean that you need to unscrew the axle nut a bit farther to let the chain tug come off the back of the dropout so you can slide the axle forward far enough to drop off the chain. Either that or you end up adjusting the tug screw constanty which is more of a pain and takes longer.

I suppose that now that I'm back to using a tug I could switch to a quick release skewer. But laziness has kept the solid axle in place.

operator

A tugnut is for solving this problem only when all other solutions are exhausted.

silver_ghost

They're also useful when making really fine adjustments if you use disk brakes. I've stopped using them though, since I bent a frame in half. A peice of clothing fell into my fixed drive train (don't ask), the wheel was unable to move forward and something had to give. Unfortunately it was the right chainstay, by the bottom bracket.

noglider 

Either your legs are much stronger than mine or my arms are much stronger than yours.

roadfix

Yeah, even if the frame came with built-in adjusters like those pictured I would pull them off and not use them. I've never experienced axle slippage or difficulty with wheel centering or adjusting chain tension.

michaelscycles

Most of the BMX Racing bikes have tensioners. We sell Redline's in our shop for $13.99. They do make it harder to change a tire like they said above.

reptilezs

torque your axle nuts properly. around 350 in lbs. that is pretty tight. never had and axle slip even on my horizontal dropout mtb

Kimmo

Proper knurled washers should make a difference. You might be able to find grippier locknuts, too.

noglider 

Champion track racers don't have their wheels slip, so it's just a matter of tightening the nuts adequately. I suppose what you call stupidly tight is actually intelligently tight.

Greyryder

They're nice for helping to get the wheel into the exact position each time, so you don't have to readjust the brake shoes every time you put the wheel back on. Especially helpful, if your dropouts are spaced too close together, making fine wheel adjustments difficult.

I've used them for years, and they don't make it any harder to pull the wheel, or put it back on. If you're changing out to different wheelsets often, you should probably get tensioners for each rear wheel.

operator

No.

But it makes it much more time consuming to take off 2x tugnuts before you can even get the wheel off. And then having to remount them

roadfix

Well, not exactly. Most chain tugs must be loosened and re-adjusted every time you remove and install the wheel.

Kimmo

I'd recommend exploring the elegant solutions first; those things are a bit ugly, especially on a bike with a minimalist aesthetic...

And once you've got the hang of walking the spindle to get the tension and angle right, it's a breeze, even with tight stays.

Greyryder

Never had to remove them, before I could take the wheel off. Just need to back the axle nut off enough, to be able to move the tensioner out of the way.

BCRider

Yep, exactly. By the way, I didn't think about it until this second but because they work on the axle that is on the outer side of the dropout you can't use tugs with QR skewers. Just in case anyone was thinking about it....

Yeah, perhaps stupidly tight is just right. But at that pressure the axle nuts were pressing an imprint of the non slip corrugations into the frame. Rather than end up with unwanted "positional index markings" I opted for the tug so I could make it "just tight" instead of "stupidly tight". And this was on my Redline 925. Not a premium frame but hardly a cheap hunk of mild steel waterpipe. Maybe not the ideal method according to some folks here but it's working for me.

roadfix

I do it ''just tight" with a very short levered wrench. There's no way I can apply "stupidly tight" torque with that wrench that I carry with me. Even with "just tight enough" I get no axle slippage, and no indexing on the trackends either.

I shot a short vid clip a couple of months ago. As you can see, I don't apply that much torque on those nuts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBT_BNzaRuM

BCRider

Roadfix, that does seem pretty easy.

In thinking back on this I may have come about my torque of choice based on my first single speed. But on that old frame it had dropouts that had been chewed up a bit from some previous owner. If I didn't tighten that one "stupidly tight" It would and did shift the axle during the climb up the parkade levels at work to where my parking and changing room was located. I guess I just continued with this same torque level a little blindly on the new 925.

I'm going to ease off the tug a half turn so it's just a hair wobbly and try a torque level more akin to what your vid shows. If the tug doesn't get tight again I'll know that I'm just a creature of habit from that old frame. I may still use the tug anyway since it's already on there, it only takes a few extra turns of the nut to get out of the way and it's insurance against a torque misjudgement.