Front Freewheel

[PalyPlayer]

Quesiton in a nutshell:
Do you have a fixed hub in the back if you do the front freewheel cranks? More importantly when you coast is your chain still moving because the mechanism that lets you coast is the freewheel? For some reason my mind can't wrap around this concept.



Me whining about getting back into trials and stuff:
After two years off the trials bike my back is totally repaired and i am dying to ride again. I've got a zebdi mark five that i have set up for pretty much street stuff basically a 26" bmx, it used to be set up straight up for trials complete with the hadley 108 hub that is just now starting to break. I love my street set up so much that i have decided to screw trying to build it back into a trials bike and just buy a whole new bike. Also i want to do the uci geometry. So i think i am going to get a echo control from webcyclery and think that set up as a front freewheel. This is where i ask the freewheel question but i decided to be more direct so i don't bore you and put the question up there. SIDE QUESTION: i got a job at REI and they let me pro deal stuff so i was thinking about buying the bike by parts and building my own wheel, will this be the cheapest route in the end? any REI employees out there that can tell me if they have stuff i can use to build up a trials bike?

Thanks

[Free-Ride-Junkie]

Alright.... as a past REI employee I will do what I can to help.

First off: with a front freewheel setup (or crank mounted freewheel) there is a fixed hub in the back and the chain moves when you coast. You can also thread a track cog onto the cranks and run a regular freehub in back. Your choice. I run a crank mounted freewheel.

Now.... the best you will probably be able to do at REI is to order out of QBP or BTI direct through the bike shop, or see if any of these things are online. Run a fixed rear hub like a Paul Components hubs are great (can be ordered) and then order things like bar (wider the better) stem (thomson is great) and maybe a crankset (truvative??). You can order tires as well. Anything trials specific will be difficult.

[PalyPlayer]

Thanks for the reply. The whole chain moving while coasting still kind of blows my mind for some reason it just seems soo weird.Thanks for the REI info i knew i wouldn't be able to get anything really trials specific but the parts mentioned will be nice to have access to. I probably won't need to know this for awhile but what freewheels do you recommend/have familiarity with?

[marshalllaw18]

The White Ind ENO Trials freewheel (LINK (http://www.whiteind.com/ENO-free-specs.html)) has a good reputation, but I don't have any personal experience.

I think there was a thread on this recently too, try a search.

[eturt9]

you'd probably be better off just getting a complete trials build from a place like webcyclery. Not necessarily pricewise better off but you won't have to "compromise" getting parts thats are intending for trials

[Free-Ride-Junkie]

you'd probably be better off just getting a complete trials build from a place like webcyclery. Not necessarily pricewise better off but you won't have to "compromise" getting parts thats are intending for trials

I agree with that. If you by chance work in the bike shop at REI there may even be a bit of a "Bro deal" from some trials places... not sure.

As for the front freewheel.... I have been running the Try-All freewheel which has 108 engagement points to the White Industries 72. Not much of a difference in feel I imagine, just what I got. I love the thing. Never skipped yet.

[PalyPlayer]

I had no intention of comprimising it was more a matter of paychecks being spread out and being impatient. However i realized i'm going to get paid alot more than i had previously thought or rather have alot more hours than I calculated so trials bike maybe sooner than i had thought THANK GOD. Thanks for all the input eturt9 i remembered you were like the only one to reply to my post awhile back about getting back into trials. HA Bro deal just reminds me of bro rape on youtube

[thisthingz]

HA Bro deal just reminds me of bro rape on youtube
yup. i was like woah there, anyway uh u can get quite a few things from QBP for real cheap that are just as good/better for trials
-grips
-bars, easton monkeylight DH ones
-stem, whatever dimension you need
-alexrim dx-32's
-spokes, and u can get ur wheels made
ck hub
-tires
-bb
-brakes, avid bb7's whatever
i think you can make a bike from qbp parts just as well as buying a complete trials bike. you just need the frame fork and maybe rims. You should try adding it up and it might be quite a bit cheaper, who knows.

[Jason Barton]

What are the pros/cons of a front freewheel vs standard?

Looks like I found my own answer!
http://www.observedtrials.net/vb/showthread.php?t=25201&highlight=front+freewheel

[Gronk]

Sorry to butt in here, but with a TRACK cog up front you still run a "regular" (normal run of the mill mtn bike hub) on the back, right?

Would this equate to being a cheaper alternative to a FFW, whilst still getting that extra clearence??

[spoke2570]

With a track cog on you strip the threads and get a new set of teeth.

Get a trials cog. Like Plazmatic.

Trials cogs don't come big enough to run a normal rear hub.

[eturt9]

wide based threaded cog...but yeah, fixed cog in front on the ffw cranks can then be run with a cassette or a single splined cog on any cassette hub in the rear and you get the extra clearance.

i don't know what he means by "trials cogs don't come big enough to run a normal rear hub"