Originally Posted by
wolfchild
Yes bushngs and pins wear out....but the term " chain stretch " is a very common term used to describe chain wear. Even bike shops and bike mechanics use that term. Many a time I have compared a worn out chain to a brand new one and there was a very noticeable difference in the overall length. IMHO magic gear ratios isn't a proper way to go about it when dong a SS conversion.
Originally Posted by
veganbikes
Common but incorrect term. The links again don't stretch it is material wearing out and deforming which is changing the pitch of the chain but the links are still the same length the stuff inside is just deforming which will cause elongation (not of the links) and slop and then problems shifting or not in this case.
This isn't much more that playground talk. Everyone knows what you are talking about when you say"stretch". And in fact, it matters near zero whether it is actually stretch or is in reality wear. (Yes, it matters big time to the chain manufacturers, the OCD and the crowd here, but not on the road.)
To the OP's issue - 1) 1/2 links (female on one end and male on the other) work very well. I've only seen them in 1/2" by 1/8", the old single speed standard (and common in industry.) Easy to find and cheap. Some bike shops, especially those that cater to the fix gear crowd and any good hardware store. (Ace Hardware for one.) The bike shop ones use a screw that threads into the plate. I'd Locktite that. The hardware store ones use cotter pins with clevis pins. The clevis pins may cause clearance issues but are very secure. Mariners have been sailing the world's oceans with them the past century. I have many thousands of miles on half links. I replace them with the chain and remove them if needed with the surrounding links. (Driving and re-driving pins on 1/8" chains with real protrusion of the links past the plates can be done many times safely. One of those chains is the $25 Isuzu.)
I've heard nothing but good about using ghost rings. Granted, not many do it. Odd is not something we cyclists gravitate to. And I'd guess that it would be easy to move the ring back periodically to adjust for chain "stretch").
Another approach - use a hub with (or retro fitted to) a quick release. Cut the axle down to just short of the dropout. Now you have the skinny QR skewer in the much wider dropout slot and the adjustment ability to set proper chain slack. There's a thread going around now on this topic. Shouldn't be hard to find. Sheldon Brown also discusses it (and is how most learn of the concept).
Or, do what many of us do - go out and find an early 1980s bike. Horizontal dropouts were the rule for all but the highest end models then. Many old Japanese bikes (and the US and European near copies) make excellent single speed and fix gear rides. (Plus they are road bikes with good handling on roads, not velodromes and have the convenience of forward facing dropouts rather than backwards facing track ends; a blessing every time you take the wheel off.)
Ben - the guy who's been riding fix gears forever.