Fit track wheels to a road bike

By parkr on Friday, Jul 11 2008.

When converting a road bike to a fixie, one of the simplest strategies is to buy a track rear wheel or wheelset, and avoid the hassle of redishing an existing road rear wheel.

Tools required

You will need...

A existing road bike
A track rear wheel or wheelset
Axle spacers, front and rear
Basic bike tools
Cone spanners
An axle nut spanner

1. Spacing the wheel

Remember when choosing a track wheelset that frame spacings differ between road and track bikes and you may need to space the wheels to fit. Measure the distance between the dropouts to find the spacings for your frame. Frames flex, so it may be best to do this with an existing wheel, if available, secured in place. The spacings vary front and back so if you are replacing both wheels with a new track wheelset, make sure to measure both. Typical spacings for track bikes are 110mm front and 120mm rear. Road spacing are greater, depending of the vintage of the frame.

Add spacers to make up the difference between the track wheel spacing and your desired spacing. The spacers should be added in equal increments to each side of the hub to achieve the desired spacing. The spacers are held in place by locknuts on each side. You may need a cone spanner to loosen the locknuts. Axle diameters are different front and back so different sized spacers are required.

When selecting a new wheel, make sure that the axle length is sufficiently long for the spacers and axle nuts to be fitted. The length should be at least 20 - 30mm greater than the outside dimensions of the dropouts.

2. Fitting a freewheel or track cog

If the rear hub is a flip-flop design, this means it can accept a freewheel and a fixed cog for single speed or fixed gear riding. Otherwise it may just accept a track cog (or sprocket).

Freewheels and cogs just screw on. They can be tightened with a chain whip. Grease the threads first and be cautious of cross-threading. Cycling will tighten the freewheel or cog naturally if you don't have a chain whip. Cogs are secured by a lockring to resist forces generated when foot braking. The lockring should be tightened using a lockring wrench. Don't use foot braking on your fixie until the cog and lockring are fully tightened as doing so can damage the wheel.

3. Attaching the rear wheel

The rear wheel should be put in place with the chain attached. The axle nuts and axle should be greased. The axle can then be moved forward and back to achieve good chain tension. There should be no more than 1" vertical play in the chain. It is also important to get the wheel straight with the frame. Once the wheel is in position, the axle nuts can be tightened, first by hand and then using an axle nut spanner.

Happy riding!