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Shedding weight


Scott Gibbs

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Is it quite easy to do a spoke tensioner?

it depends how competent you are at bodging things. it's down to luck and practice; i've been fannying around with them for years and my latest rendition has worked properly all year (Y) i've had others die in a single ride.

get a few spokes, ideally as long as possible (roady length ***)

find somewhere on the frame to hook the spoke. make a 'hook' with the spoke (use the non threaded end, the extra flat bit will help hook the spoke) then wrap it over and around your hub. get it as tight as you can, and as close the the frame as possible so it can't catch between the chain and sprocket.

it should then be aiming back towards your cranks/bb.

at this point i have ziptied the lower part of the spoke to the frame, leaving the top half free from the ziptie (so i can unhook the tensioner if the wheel has to come out)

bend the spoke away from the frame, so that it crosses over the chain line.

bend the spoke back in line with the chain at the point that it crosses over.

bend the spoke downwards so it will push into the chain. bend it quite alot so it has a lot of spring to it.

bend the tip of the spoke back upwards so it doesn't hook into the chain.

takes alot of trial and error, and comes down to luck an experience.

be realistic about how much tension you expect it to give; if you chain looks like it could loose half a link, the spoke won't be up the task of keeping everything together, i use it on a bike with horizontal dropouts to take up that one loose spot that FFW causes.

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