Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Single-speed drop-out






Single-speeds are cool, but they have a big downside. The rear hub can slide in the drop-out under heavy torque. Many solution exist. First, Paul Component designed a drop-out with a screw to ajust after the wheel is in the proper position. The design is simple and neat. More interesting are the Paragon Machine work slinding drop-out. More complicated but they have the major advantage of allowing the use of disk-brake without crazy solution (like the one from Paul Component). Another solution that allow disk-brake is the eccentric bottom bracket. It allow regular vertical drop-out for the price of weight, complexity and money. It is a paradox to see that a bike designed to be simpler become quite a headache!

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