Bike Project Part IX

There's Good news and Bad news.

First the Bad news:

The 46T chainring I bought is not compatible with my 8 speed chain! Doh!! I made the mistake of buying a track chainring which requires a wider 1 speed chain.

Also, I'm doubting my ability to turn over a 46x16 gear.

The Good news is that I can buy a 42T chainring suitable for the 8 speed chain. And I can buy a 1 speed chain so that when (if) I get to the stage where the 42x16 gearing is too slow, I'm ready to swap over to the 46T chainring and fit the other chain to suit the bigger circumference.

I'm still hoping that I have enough horizontal adjustment at my rear dropout to get the correct tension in both of these setups!

So off to Wiggle! I think I'll take the opportunity to get some spare tyres and tubes too!

Oh, in addition to all that, I realised that my mathematical calculation of spacer setup was way out. Not sure why. I didn't spend too much time worrying about it because I found that line-of-sight setup got me close enough.

Bike Project Part VIII

Finally got the spacers and cog.

Just spent a few hours today trying to figure out how I'm going to set them up to get a good chainline.

I measured the chainring position, rear dropout spacing and splined freewheel mechanism dimensions last night. The spacer kit recommendation is to suit new style 135mm MTB or 130mm Road bike dropout spacing, but mine's a late '80s 126mm with a narrower freewheel mechanism, so I drew up the measurements and calculated the spacer and cog positions.

And I think I've sussed it!

So I'll maybe have a go at that tonight.

Next challenge will be to set the chain length so I don't need half links or tension devices to mess things up.

Then finally to rebuild the wheel bearings.