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Old 07-18-2019, 12:03 PM
11.4 11.4 is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 4,465
You'll like the feel and sound of an old 3/32" chain on a 3/32" freewheel, versus an 1/8" chain. Note that there were the original 3/32" chains and now the increasingly narrower ones. Get the original ones. The Shimano HG-91 was possibly the finest chain ever made and far outlasts an Izumi V or anything on the track. It was the reason why some riders would use 3/32" drive instead of 1/8" even for power events. It's long since discontinued, as far as I know, but you can always find them on eBay. They have full rivets, a great finish, and are simply bulletproof. If you have a 3/32" freewheel and chainring, there's no reason to go to a 1/8" track chain for the best results.

One point that still doesn't get enough attention is that an old fashioned pair of 5 or 6 speed freewheel wheels goes for nickels on eBay or at bike swaps but are 120 or 126 mm spaced and are the same hub threading and design that single speed freewheel hubs were originally designed for. You can get a great pair of wheels for next to nothing and have early generation Phil road hubs or Campy Nuovo Record or the like. Those were bulletproof and make great winter or training fixie or singlespeed wheels. With a freewheel you can absolutely use a quick release in the rear -- it's only with a fixed gear that there's any different kind of pull on the hub in the stay ends and even then I trained for years with a quick release 6-speed freewheel hub and a single speed fixed cog mounted on it. I did have brakes on the bike, which I'd encourage you to do anyway. But these old wheels are a great way to put together a very trick bike. Last winter I found a pair of Nuovo Record high flange hubs, very lightly used, with Mavic Bleu SSC tubular rims on them, for a total of $75. Win.
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