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> you could quickly use a lower gear freewheel on the other side -(if you rotated to drive the other axle) Wait, what? You had a sprocket on each side of your

by DenisM 5y ago

> you could quickly use a lower gear freewheel on the other side -(if you rotated to drive the other axle) Wait, what? You had a sprocket on each side of your rear wheel and you flipped the wheel around to change gears? Or did you exchange front/rear wheel, each having a different sprocket?

snypher 5y ago
First one is correct, you can even have a fixed / freewheel combo with one on each side. Gears have to be close in size to allow chain slack to be taken up by the axle slots. Second one would only work on a few bicycles as generally the front hub is narrower tan the rear.
pmyteh 5y ago
Yup (to the first). Fixie riders can achieve two 'gears' by mounting a sprocket on both sides of the rear wheel and flipping the wheel round if needed. More, as always, from Sheldon Brown: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html#flip-flop https://www.sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html#flip-flop
- callalex 5y ago
  If only there was an invention that enabled you to change gears on the fly with the push of a stalk on the handle bars…
loeg 5y ago
It's a pretty common thing called a "flip-flop hub." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip-flop_hub https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip-flop_hub
a4isms 5y ago
Flip-flop hubs are a thing: https://cyclistzone.com/what-is-a-flip-flop-hub/ https://cyclistzone.com/what-is-a-flip-flop-hub/ In my case (scroll back 35 years), I would ride a fixed gear around the city, but change to the single-speed freewheel for Toronto's legendary "Doughnut Ride" that left Laird & Eglinton every weekend rain or shine, snow, sleet, or hail. In very olden times, riders would dismount and flip their wheels around in the middle of a Grand Tour before climbing the big mountain. But in contemporary riding, flip-flop hubs are just a convenience of sorts that make it easy to decide what gear you want to use for each ride, I have never flipped the wheel in the middle of a ride. p.s. I still have one bike with a flip-flop hub: It's a 24" trials bike, and while I run an 18t freewheel on the cranks, the flip-flop lets me choose between a 15t for pure trials work or a 12t for goofing around and having a tall enough gear to ride places, like on my local double black-diamond MTB trails.
deleted 5y ago
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by DenisM 5y ago

snypher 5y ago

First one is correct, you can even have a fixed / freewheel combo with one on each side. Gears have to be close in size to allow chain slack to be taken up by the axle slots. Second one would only work on a few bicycles as generally the front hub is narrower tan the rear.

pmyteh 5y ago

Yup (to the first). Fixie riders can achieve two 'gears' by mounting a sprocket on both sides of the rear wheel and flipping the wheel round if needed. More, as always, from Sheldon Brown: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html#flip-flop https://www.sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html#flip-flop

callalex 5y ago
If only there was an invention that enabled you to change gears on the fly with the push of a stalk on the handle bars…

loeg 5y ago

It's a pretty common thing called a "flip-flop hub." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip-flop_hub https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip-flop_hub

a4isms 5y ago

Flip-flop hubs are a thing: https://cyclistzone.com/what-is-a-flip-flop-hub/ https://cyclistzone.com/what-is-a-flip-flop-hub/ In my case (scroll back 35 years), I would ride a fixed gear around the city, but change to the single-speed freewheel for Toronto's legendary "Doughnut Ride" that left Laird & Eglinton every weekend rain or shine, snow, sleet, or hail. In very olden times, riders would dismount and flip their wheels around in the middle of a Grand Tour before climbing the big mountain. But in contemporary riding, flip-flop hubs are just a convenience of sorts that make it easy to decide what gear you want to use for each ride, I have never flipped the wheel in the middle of a ride. p.s. I still have one bike with a flip-flop hub: It's a 24" trials bike, and while I run an 18t freewheel on the cranks, the flip-flop lets me choose between a 15t for pure trials work or a 12t for goofing around and having a tall enough gear to ride places, like on my local double black-diamond MTB trails.

deleted 5y ago

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