praise dakinis

Hello, I’m building up an early ‘90s Schwinn Paramount 26” mtb including wheels, and the brakes will be cantilever, not disc. I got a beautiful vintage Phil Wood front hub, and what I’m thinking for the rear wheel is to run it single speed (I live in Chicago—no hills) but with the possibility of running it as a geared 1x in the future. So, does it make the most sense to build a rear wheel with a geared hub and convert it to run single speed when I want (using a chain tensioner), or to build two separate wheels—one SS and one geared—and swap them out?

With either solution—building one rear wheel or two—what 36h 135mm hubs would people recommend? (I have 36h Velocity Cliffhanger rims.)

trashbiker

Personally, I don't like converting multispeed freehubs to single speed. The freehub body looks super weird and your spoke tension drive side and non-drive side will be unnecessarily uneven. Realistically these aren't actual problems. Off the top of my head I can only think of Paul that has a 135mm single speed hub, although White Industries and Hope might have them as well.

I have a "tringle" speed, which is a front triple with rear single speed, friction shifted. If you are frequently switching between ss and geared, it totally works to leave the derailleur on and shifted to where the ss cog is. It'll save you the hassle of cabling everything and swaping chains everythime. However, if you are mostly set on ss and running a 24mm spindle crank, velo orange has an eccentric bb that fits in a bsa shell so you can eliminate the tensioner.

praise dakinis

Thanks for this. The White ENO is also 135mm ss and would be the best (if most expensive) option if I were to go just ss. Interesting 3x idea, tho I’m pretty sold on the 1x either way for this one. I agree that the freehub body with the ss kit and tensioner below is awkward, along with the unnecessary dishing, but if these aren’t really significant issues, it may make more sense to keep the versatility on the one wheel rather than build (and fork out for) two.

PhilFo 

Why not a Surly Ultra rear hub? The flip-flop is $75 at a few retailers. Ride it a while then save up to build up a new wheel and switch to a multi-speed system when you need to scratch that itch.

Russ Roth

Unless you have 3 rims and the money to blow on building a spare wheel for whenever you decide to use it, I'd build up an XT hub and just use a single cog with a chain tensioner. Last year I figured out my gearing for cross season and bought a kit with a decent singlespeed cog with a wide base so it wouldn't cut into an aluminum freehub which came with a series of spacers that covered the rest of the freehub. Doesn't look as great as running a single speed hub would but still looked fine. And if you do have money to blow, then spend it on a rear phil hub to match the front.

praise dakinis

Wise words! Confirms what I’ve been leaning toward. Was also thinking to skip the tensioner and go with a Velo Orange Eccentric BB. Do you have any experience with those? Seems like a slightly more elegant setup…

PhilFo 

Why buy an eccentric bottom bracket only to use it with a hub designed to run a cassette? If you want to tension your single speed chain perfectly with vertical dropouts, you have a lot of room for adjustment using different cogs and a half link if necessary. Granted, the eccentric plus cassette hub gives you the most options in one bike but at greater expense and greater probability of creaking bottom bracket parts. If the plan is to swap to a cassette, then a cassette hub, like an M535 (easier to work on than XT) is definitely your best bet, but not with a $100 bottom bracket. You can get a decent amount of upgrade in rear derailleur for what you save between the cost of a standard square taper and the eccentric. Then you have the issue of once you decide to stick a cassette on that rear wheel, you're not going back at a whim to a no-frills single-speed bicycle. You'll be riding a 1xN with only one cog but all the other parts of a multi-speed bike, and it's almost never as simple as swapping wheels because that rear derailleur is going to need to be trimmed to guide to a single cog. This path only makes sense if you already have a wheel built (with a freehub) and want to ride now, but are saving up for a shifter and derailleur, which will be the permanent, end-stage of the bicycle. If that's the case, go for it, cassette hub, single cog, a little bit of math for gearing and chain tension with a half-link added. Then you have your single-speed with the clean lines and simplicity of a single-speed bike. Maybe add a chain tensioner for convenience. Eventually, you'll add the rear derailleur, the shifter, the housing and cable, and you'll have a multi-speed bike, which will never conveniently go back to a single-speed because there is no reason to ride with a working derailleur adjusted to sit over a lonely cog on a freehub.
In a nutshell, if you want a single-speed, build a single-speed. If you want a bike with multiple gearing options, build that.

praise dakinis

This is helpful -- I'd had the sense that the VO EBB was pretty excellently non-creaky, and would only be about $30 more than one of their other bb's + a good chain tensioner. If it really is not as good a bb with a cassette, then it seems like, as you say, it wouldn't be the best option either way.

Part of why I'd like to build the bike more versatile is to see which way I like it better, ss or geared. I'll definitely admit to being non-committal about it! I had even resolved to shell out for a White Ind ENO eccentric ss hub but then balked when I thought I might end up wanting to go geared 1x. So, seeing if there is a happy way to deal with indecision...

praise dakinis

This actually felt like a very convincing route to go but then it turned out (as far as I can tell) that Surly stopped making 36h ultra rear hubs! Looks to me like they're only 32h, which wouldn't work with the 36h rims I'd like to build up. Thinking to give Surly a call and see if there isn't just one old 36h hub lying around somewhere... If you find a link to one, please do share here!!

Russ Roth

I haven't though I'd considered one, came down to cost, a basic chain tensioner was 20 bucks and the eccentric BB was more and I already had a decent BB for the crank.

bioVah

I am converting a wheel designed for a cassette to a single fixed gear, but am not sure exactly what adapter I need.

praise dakinis

I ordered a Reverse ss conversion kit, and if your bike’s got non-vertical dropouts you’ll need a chain tensioner (I went with the Surly Singleator).

79pmooney

Un-dished rear wheels are simply better - unless you simply have to have that dish. Now 2-4mm dish is not an issue but tons? Like the typical 10+ speed hub? Yeah, they work but compared to an un-dished wheel, they suck. Don't believe me? Take hard right turn corners on rough roads at speed with both and compare. (100,000 miles both dished and un-dished here. I speak from experience.)

I cannot speak for chain tensioners as I have never used them. Likewise eccentric BBs. I am a huge fan of horizontal dropouts for non-derailleur use. Simple., clean, work really well and are so versatile. But you've got what you've got. (To me, the gravitation to nearly all derailleur bikes having vertical dropouts is sad. Horizontal dropouts do everything vertical dropouts do and just as well except - resist the wheel from sliding forward; you gotta use a steel skewered asymmetrical QR and really short chainstayed bikes can make getting the rear wheel in and out hard. You "gotta have" vertical dropouts to locate modern derailleurs in the proper position relative to the cassette for indexing - or just set those little screw adjustments properly on your horizontal dropouts. Those screws also compensate for poor frame alignment whereas with vertical dropouts you are stuck or break out the file. Rant, rant.

A really nice double sided hub is the Ben's Cycling hub. High flange, traditional and gorgeous. I've bought two, built up one. What a joy to build! Spokes just want to be in those flanges! I haven't put it thorough its paces yet but it's hard to believe I'm going to be disappointed. Feels like quality all the way through. The price was quite reasonable and the online transaction fast.

praise dakinis

79pmooney can you drop a link here to those Ben’s Cycling hubs?? They’re not presenting themselves clearly in a Google search…

Senrab62 

I believe he's speaking about the Milwaukee Bicycle Co track hubs. If that i79pmooney is referring to, I can attest as well. They are wonderful hubs and a good value. I have two sets with thousands of trouble free miles. They're pretty light, well finished, and spin well.

SkinGriz

I agree with the horizontal dropout preference.

I don’t see what is “bad” about the old way of mounting derailer mounts with that clamp that fit inside the dropout.

It seems like you can (or factory can) make that clamp into any adjustment or position you would need for different RDs, while leaving all the options open for SS, IGH, flip flop hubs, coaster brakes, etc.

My guess is it was to make bikes more idiot proof.

praise dakinis

But I’m building up an old 26” mtb. Seems like they only make track hubs…

SkinGriz

I think a track hub is 120mm.

Maybe your MTB spacing is 135mm or less?

Then you can make up the difference with spacers or washers.