Matterbator

Sooo, I JUST finished my first bike build (a 1987 world sport fixed conversion) and went outside to give it a little test ride in the parking lot. It was also my first time ever riding a fixed gear. I had a buncha fun messing around for 15 minutes and then remembered a few tips from guys saying "As soon as you get your **** put together, ride up a big hill then go re-tightin your lock ring". I had noticed that when I pushed forward on the pedal hard the crank felt like it slipped about a quarter of a turn, and then it would do it again in the reverse direction when I would try to skid abruptly. I assumed it was because the lock ring wasn't tight enough and the cog was screwing and unscrewing back and forth just a little bit.

Soo, I think to myself "well I'll head down this hill to my house entrance and tighten this sucker up, and then get started assembling my front brake". So I pick up a little more speed than intended and decide to try my luck at my first big-boy skid and... what do you know, my pedal just slipped on through and around and around my feet went. I realized immediately what happened and swerved a couple times (almost hitting a cadillac on the second swoop) and decided I had to pick something to run into before I went further down the steeper part of the hill. I picked a curb right in front of a fire hydrant (was my only option really). I hit the curb dead on and flew over the handle bars and landed right on the hydrant, haha. Scraped my arm up and popped my front tire. Also totally kinked my handlebars but it appears the stem just turned rather than anything getting bent.

Definitely an overall well-learned lesson. My question is... how do I know how tight I need to put my lock ring? When I put it back on I'm gonna put ALL of my effort into it... hopefully that will be enough, haha.

Has this, or something similar, ever happened to you? =O

cc700

mine's come loose but never off. if it came off you probably stripped the hub. if it didn't come all the way off your hub might be salvageable.

when mine came loose it was from an incompetent store tech. so i learned to do it right myself.

you probably hadn't tightened the cog enough. and i used all my strength. also grease it.

andre nickatina

"Turn until threads strip, back off half a turn."

beeftech

Ive had mine come loose twice, a real annoyance when I'm not near home. Cant say I've ever heard of one just poping the **** straight off though.

i like to make sure mines tight before each ride.

andre nickatina

Seriously, no need to check every time if you do it right the first time. Keep the threads very well greased (both lockring and hub threads), hand tighten and then tighten with the tool until you can't tighten anymore. The cog should obviously also be all the way tight.

Matterbator

Interesting... I should have known to grease both the threads . Is there any surefire way to check if i stripped the threads without actually just throwing the lockring/cog on and giving it a go? My brake isn't quite together yet and I don't want to go for another spin down the street into another fire hydrant =O. My hub is flip-flop with both sides fixed so I could just abandon the side I may have damaged.

In one foul swoop the cog and lockring basically gave out, and when I picked my bike up after the crash both the lock ring AND cog were dangling, completely unscrewed. Was totally weird... If I didn't tighten the lock ring nearly enough is it possible that the force of the cog pushing counter clockwise was enough to force the lockring off? Hopefully the threads aren't stripped! =( Thanks again for the info/tips/shares.

deathhare

The hub threads sound like theyre probably wasted.
Try to tighten the cog and lockring on there. If the threads are ruined they wont take the tightening.

bbattle

I'd also check your fork and headset. If you hit the curb straight on at a decent clip, you may have bent your fork. Check the front rim and make sure it's still true and that the spokes are okay and tight.

skinnyland

...and learn how to stop. If your chain breaks or your cog comes loose (or if anything else happens to your drivetrain), you need to be able to control your bike without crashing too hard. Take a foot out of the pedals and stick it on top of the rear tire (Ted Shred is a silly person who rides a brakeless freewheel and stops that way every time... which is dumb, because it's unsafe and wears out your shoes... but it's a good thing to be comfortable with in case you have to do it in an emergency.).

jpdesjar

what a silly story, riding down a hill to install a brake and then landing on a hydrant?!
dang dude

Matterbator

I replaced the front tube and spun the wheel and it seemed to still be true. I wasn't going SUPER fast into the curb so it looks like the fork and everything is okay in that regard, thankfully.

I had no trouble getting the cog and lockring back on finger-tight (Well, I cranked the lockring on pretty damn hard with a lockring tool) and there was little to no resistance. I think I'll finish installing my brake and then give it another go on the same side of the hub.

I definitely will take your advice and learn to emergency-brake by putting my shoe on the back tire. I hadn't ever really thought about what to do in case the chain should malfunction - running into something soft was the first and only thing that came to my mind at the time .

Another weird thing is the tube I took out of the front tire holds air for a good 2 hours before it slowly deflates. I squeezed it hard and couldn't find/hear ANY leaking whatsoever. I'm thinking the pressure of the impact on the curb might have loostened something where the valve attaches or something? Not sure what it could be but... its in the trash now . Thanks for the tips guys!

04jtb

Slow Leak. Try it underwater to find the leak and patch. No need to throw away a perfectly good tube just for that.