Genesis Flyer - chainline issues when set up fixed?

Hi all,

Have just bought a Flyer and want to ride it fixed.

Holborn branch of Evans reckon there are chainline issues when set up fixed. Chap reckoned it was 4mm out...Is this true?

Anyone here riding the Flyer fixed and do you have problems?

Cheers,

John

measure the chain line of the chainring(S) in mm. That is the distance from the center of the seat tube to the chain rings.

Most track hubs are 42 mm chain line. Any difference will mean a change in b.b

Can you put a spacer on the threaded hub? 4mm-sized spacer?

I wouldn't trust anything a guy in Evans tells me, especially about fixed gears. He might be right though so do like The Brick says. Also bear in mind that different cogs have slightly different chainlines. Also ask the same q on Cyclin Plus forum cos I think there may be some Flyer owners there.

My mouthy opinion on this:

Do you have a cog on there right now? Have you flipped the wheel to check if its off? Should be pretty esay to visually see or measure. Does it causes any problems? Excessive noise etc.

Second, which way is it off? As lpg stated you maybe able to put a space behind the cog.

As its a brand new bike and if the chainline is off and causing problems, then wherever you bought it from needs to fix it for you (esp if it came with the cog or you had them install one). Its not unreasonable to expect a brand new bike with a flip/flop rear hub to be usable in both combos.

Thanks for your replies.

I haven't actually picked the bike up yet as they had to order a lock-ring. Should be picking it up this weekend.

So basically, I should insist that they sort it out before I pick it up? Sounds good to me.

Evans seem a bit shit to be honest - don't think I'll go there again...

They should sort it and they should do it by putting in the right length BB - spacers are a bit of a hack and I've heard or problems with them.

Evans are very shit although the one on the cut has quite a wide selection of stuff (esp shoes).

evens keeps giveing me free stuff... i dont know why

Ok - I went to pick up the bike from Evans today, and true enough, they say there are chainline issues. They had tried for an hour and a half (apparently!) and failed to get it to line up. I'm not sure which brand of fixed cog they were using.

Apparently Genesis are aware of the issue and they have given me a phone number of the parent company Madison.

So, I was all ready to ride home with standard freewheel setup and noticed there were several scratches on the frame that I'm pretty sure weren't there when I test rode the bike.

I asked if they had a new one, and apparently another branch had one but it wasn't made up. I asked if they could make it up quickly and I go and pick it up from the other branch.

Apparently, "computer says no" and they cannot do that for some reason.

Arrrgghhh!!!! I almost asked for a refund and threatened to take my money elsewhere... but I'm desperate for the bike and apparently I can pick it up Monday.

I will never buy anything from there ever again (Holborn branch, and Rathbone seem just as flakey too....)

I don't understand what's going on! Are there issues or are Evans just incompentent?

Can anyone recommend a decent bike shop that can set up my Flyer fixed for me so I can use both sides of the hub?

Thanks.

John

Went in to evans today, i asked them if they had any star fangled nuts for the head tube. They hadn't a clue what i was talking about, even after i explained it to them. have been disappointed by almost every bike shop i've been in. Too many wankers who think they know everything. Too much attitude.

If you really love cycling, just learn how to do maintenance yourself and if you need advice/parts, ask on forums like this or look on ebay/cheaper websites.

You'll save money, and probably get it done better than some monkey in a workshop.

I can recommend you one bike shop in the whole of London. Broadway bikes, in NW9. The guys in there are friendly and they won't overcharge you. I think they're open 11-3 tomorrow, or something like that.

jhclare

I don't understand what's going on! Are there issues or are Evans just incompentent?

Can anyone recommend a decent bike shop that can set up my Flyer fixed for me so I can use both sides of the hub?

There might be chainline issues but it should be easy to fix with a different length bottom bracket. Evans are shit - only go there if there's no other choice or you want to try on some shoes before you mail order.

Decent shops that will help you out: Condor (Grey's Inn Road), Bikefix (Lamb's Conduit St), Brixton Cycles (by the skate park). Brixton Cycles is the friendliest of the three but the other two are more central. There's also Brick Lane Cycles which sounds ok, but I've never been there.

i cant believe there were scratches on the frame,i would have been so pissed off

evans are only good if you're desperate. it's more akin to a supermarket than a bike shop. it all seems to be young guys who are into bmx or trials. they're good for that but not for much else.

a fav of mine is:

me: "i'm after a set of 105 brake cables"
them: "it don't matter, you can use bmx and mountain bike cables with road levers"
me: "derrrr"

As said before, it depends which Evans. The suburbia ones seem to have some great staff. Some of the inner London ones are really terrible though.

Unfortunately you can't blame the staff for the stock. Change your expectations as such and where's the problem?

One of the guys in the Chiswick Evans is certainly pretty knowledgeable and happy to help out even when the only thing you end up buying is a brake cable.

I don't really buy into the "all Evans are shite" argument. We're not really their target market and for what they do do, they do it pretty well (get people on bikes)... may not be up our street, but hey what do we care?

It's not just that we aren't their target market or that they don't have the right stock. Many of the staff in the Evans that I have been to (all central London) don't know about the stuff that they do stock and compound this with making stuff up rather than admitting ignorance (see comment about brake cables above). I know that a chain store like Evans won't have the same kind of knowledgeable/bike geek staff as the specialist shops but it can get annoying.

Also, if their role is to get people on bikes then it would be better if they were bikes that were set up properly and didn't have scratches when new.

maybe our expectations of shops like evans are too high. david makes a good point that they get people on bikes.

i hold bike shops in pretty high regard as the majority of the smaller ones I use and hav used in the past have such knowledgeable people working in them. you know the type, they seem to know everything about everything. once you're used to that it's hard to go to evans or bikehut.

If you hold Evans in the same regard as you hold Halfords, Evans look good ;)

Evans are a large chain. I doubt the guys in WHSmiths will be able to suggest a good book for you to read based on what you've enjoyed these last few months, just as I doubt half the guys in Sainsbury's can find you a good cheese and wine combo. They sell stuff in bulk, fairly cheap, to people that aren't that bothered.

It's a shame, because it always makes me sad to hear of my friends buying a crap laptop from PC World. But they can't be bothered to research laptops, and PC World don't need to train their staff well, because they make a killing just shifting whatever boxes they are given. Good service always costs more, unless you have knowledgeable friends like myself that can source a good laptop, fix a bike, and suggest a good book ;)

ffub, I've just read Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut and loved it... what should I read next?

the dice man by luke rhinehart

Lol... set myself up there.

A Clockwork Orange by Burgess (make sure it's a UK edition)
Breakfast for Champions by Vonnegut is quite amusing, if a little naive
Journey to the End of the Night by Céline has similar philosophical themes

going back to the original question for a moment.

If the wheel is zero dish, I don't see why there should be problems setting up the bike as fixed vs single speed. May be they are using an asymetric cog and hence that put the chain line out by a mm or so? Even so should be easy to sort out with a diffrent cog.

What exactly where they trying to do for an hour and a half? If you refuse to change the bb and keep the cog all you can do is shift about / add spacers on to the axel to bump over the hub to correct the chainline and then redish (ugly hack but it would work). Maybe play about with spacers on the cog but that should not take long, measure the error, see if have enough thread to use x amount of spacers to move cog about. Done.

Does anyone know what hubs are on the flyer? The only other reason must be that the hub is really badly made such that each side results in significantly different chainline.

After all is said and done I do not understand why they did not just swap out the bb, I have been to the Evens in Holborn (close ish to work) and there is always a nice small fixed bike chained up outside, must be one of the guys or gals that work there and they should know.

I am slightly confused by this (I know I am easaly confused). Like David says fixed wheel is nopt their target audiance but it jst seem like there is something fishy going on.

velocity boy ffub, I've just read Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut and loved it... what should I read next?

All good recommendations above - my 2 for the day:

'Ubik' - Philip K. Dick
'The Rider' - Tim Krabbe

i have some danish blue,what wine would you suggest?

aidan(aidan) i have some danish blue,what ... would you suggest?

A quiet night in by oneself.