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Track dropouts suck - Paragon Sliders a good idea ?

2K views 11 replies 10 participants last post by  gpsser 
#1 ·
After narrowly missing out on the last of the EBB On One Inbreds I plumbed for a normal track dropout version which I love to bits. The Inbred has a brilliant ride quality and at the price is a brilliant deal. Only problem is I hate track dropouts and I have had axle slippage in a couple of races both with and without a chain tug (the tug slipped on the drop out ends). I'm fed up now and (Brant avert your eyes now) I am keen to replace them with a set of Paragon Machine Works sliders which look brilliant and would also allow me to run discs.

Do you think its a straightforward job for a framebuilder to do this ? I live in Cape Town, South Africa and there are only a couple of framebuilders in the whole country so before I splash out on the sliders I'd like to know it will work.

Does anyone else have the Paragon sliders ? How well do they work ?

Grateful for any guidance.
 
#2 ·
Shoot Mark a mail through his site: http://www.paragonmachineworks.com/ I am sure that he could tell you what the scoop is on retroing them or at least supply you with the information you will need to approach a builder there. And if he has made them, they will work as well or better than anything on the market. He is very meticulous in his designs.
 
#3 ·
Doing the same...

I have Brad at Wily Cycles replacing some Breezer dropouts with the sliders from Paragon on a frame for me. He thinks they will work well, and I like that they're lighter and cleaner to retrofit than an eccentric. Unfortunately I won't be able to give you any real feedback until I get the bike.
 
#9 ·
brant@on-one.co.uk said:
They're lovely.

However, won't there be some serious frame work to do to those to retain the chainstay length? I'm sure they're wonderful when you're starting from scratch, but it might be fiddly to replace the standard inbred dropout.
Brant mate,

That is exactly the answer I needed - not being an expert. Thanks for taking the trouble to do the analysis. I can see now its not going to work. Looks like the discs-at-the-back frustration is set to continue. Are you really, really, really sure you don't have another 20" steel EBB at the back of your kitchen cupboard...

I currently use a bolt-axle-and-nuts converted Shimano hub. The dropouts don't look too bad and I have filed two small indents at the ends of the drop-out to work better with the chaintug I use - very similar to the On-One design. The ends were too rounded and didn't allow the chain-tugs to gain purchase.

In the meantime I think I'll explore a Surly Tuggnut and continue design work on my own custom chain-tug-push-thingy.

Thanks to everyone else too for their help and advice.
 
#10 ·
Simplicity rules! Nuts to fancy dropouts :)

Unless you are in a race event with a puncture, track dropouts DON'T suck.

There are lots of lovely complicated devices to help you adjust your chain tension. They are just bling, you may as well use a derailleur.

There's nothing complicated or difficult about track dropouts. Take half an hour to practice taking your wheel in or out with them and you'll wonder what the problem is. Develop a skill instead of adding weight to your bike.

Once upon a time almost all bikes came with them and children were expected to be able to change their tyres and do their own adjustments. It is not difficult, and with a little practice (plenty punctures?) it becomes second nature. At worst it may take you an extra minute, with practice it will be an insignficant difference.

Leave the bling and skewers to our fashionista roadie brethren. SInglespeeders need tight nuts :D

PS does this betray my age?
 
#11 ·
AMen bro track drops rule!!

datako said:
Unless you are in a race event with a puncture, track dropouts DON'T suck.

There are lots of lovely complicated devices to help you adjust your chain tension. They are just bling, you may as well use a derailleur.

There's nothing complicated or difficult about track dropouts. Take half an hour to practice taking your wheel in or out with them and you'll wonder what the problem is. Develop a skill instead of adding weight to your bike.

Once upon a time almost all bikes came with them and children were expected to be able to change their tyres and do their own adjustments. It is not difficult, and with a little practice (plenty punctures?) it becomes second nature. At worst it may take you an extra minute, with practice it will be an insignficant difference.

Leave the bling and skewers to our fashionista roadie brethren. SInglespeeders need tight nuts :D

PS does this betray my age?
Most of my bikes have track style drops, and it is really not too hard, even the small Surly Jethro tule can apply enough pressure for tighining. I use redline bmx tensioners, similar to the tensioners that come on the bianchi bikes. I even had to cut one pair of my tensioners in half to fit in the smaller sub 11 style of dropout on my Kona unit, 03 nondisc version frame, no problems
 
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