Snail cams

[Spigs_rex]

Hey everyone, not sure if this is a stupid question or not, but how the hell do snail cams work? I have a hope pro 2 hub with 10mm bolts ... I should be OK to just do them up tight and the wheel should be sound without cams or chain tugs, but just looking at them, I have no idea how they go on or click lol

Ben

[Mark W]

Snail cams would usually go in between the frame and the hub, and you'll have a bolt mounted in the frame that the cam itself pushes up against. With your axle bolts loose you just rotate the cam against the bolt, so the further round the cam goes it'll push your wheel back more and tighten your chain.

If you've got a Pro 2 then you'll generally have to run the cams on the outside of your frame, although due to the shape of most modern dropouts you wouldn't always be able to do that. Generally speaking though, if you grease up your axle bolts and give them a good tighten you should be able to get everything to stay in place without them.

[Spigs_rex]

Thanks I guessed there was a bolt somewhere! Lol ...does that mean you have to have a frame that has the ability to have that bolt? .....I have a little chain tug on the drive side and the bolts are done up nice and tight ...been ok over the last two days, so see how that goes

[Mark W]

Yeah, frames will tend to have a little bolt hole down by the dropout for you to put the snail cam bolt in - you can see them on this frame here:

Theoretically you could just drill your frame out yourself is the dropouts have room, but if you're running chain tugs at the moment then I'd stick with them