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Homemade Tensioner


Ash-Kennard

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I made one the other day, It's all titanium even the nuts,bolts and washers are :D. The jockey wheel's carbon fibre

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I could probably do with taking a link out of my chain now.

in favour of jim i have to say that the tensioner is the bizz works a treat and also looks the part

i had a go of his bike and there is no chain slack what so ever

top job jim (Y)

sean

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in favour of jim i have to say that the tensioner is the bizz works a treat and also looks the part

i had a go of his bike and there is no chain slack what so ever

top job jim (Y)

sean

Id buy that lol. where did you/he get the ti, for it?

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Be honest with you...I think it looks better than people's who have done same as Bigman. I think that looks tacky and weak to be honest.

Have you seen mine up close yet? They may look weak but you can smash them into things all day long and nothing happens to them, the chain won't even come off the cog.

Yet with my mech it was an unnecessarily heavy block of metal that was attached to something that kept bending. Which meant i'd have to get off the bike and bend it back before continuing, rather than just carrying on like nohing had happened. Its not like their difficult or expensive to make, and they make the bike look neater with less stuff to worry about.

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Haha, i know my tensioner may look weak, but i have hit that sooooo many times and it just keeps bouncing back, it would outlast a mech on a trials bike easily, i look at all these ones that people are making now and i have to say they are ok, but the way you mount the sprocket is quite important, like the one above with the carbon cog, having a big C shapped bracket is just begging to be broken, if you can make it so that the bolt that the cog bolts to go straight onto the spring steel it is alot better! (That is what mine is like, it has a small block of alu with a hole for the bolt for the sprocket, i can get pics for people if they want them).

Adam

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Haha, i know my tensioner may look weak, but i have hit that sooooo many times and it just keeps bouncing back, it would outlast a mech on a trials bike easily, i look at all these ones that people are making now and i have to say they are ok, but the way you mount the sprocket is quite important, like the one above with the carbon cog, having a big C shapped bracket is just begging to be broken, if you can make it so that the bolt that the cog bolts to go straight onto the spring steel it is alot better! (That is what mine is like, it has a small block of alu with a hole for the bolt for the sprocket, i can get pics for people if they want them).

Adam

It is simpler doing it that way but I dont think there will be much problem with Ti - it doesnt exactly break too easily and theres a good deal of adjustment built in so if you do bash it, just swing it back. I like that Ti one but it would be much neater if you could tension up instead of down.

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It is simpler doing it that way but I dont think there will be much problem with Ti - it doesnt exactly break too easily and theres a good deal of adjustment built in so if you do bash it, just swing it back. I like that Ti one but it would be much neater if you could tension up instead of down.

It is not actualy that simple as you have to make sure that the sprocket is central on the spring steel, as otherwise if it is not the steel will twist, on mine the spring steel is around 1n inch across where the bolt fix's it to the L bracket, but where the sprocket is bolted it is only 10mm ish, so that the sprocket sits inline with where the bolt holds it onto the L bracket, if you can understand what i am saying....

Adam

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It is simpler doing it that way but I dont think there will be much problem with Ti - it doesnt exactly break too easily and theres a good deal of adjustment built in so if you do bash it, just swing it back. I like that Ti one but it would be much neater if you could tension up instead of down.

I would tension it up instead of down if I could but the chain would catch the chainstay and theres not enough slack to take a link out yet. I'l see how it goes when I alter my gearing.

Your right about the Ti not breaking. It's seriously tough stuff. I could have made it out of thicker gauge but I really didnt need to.

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It is not actualy that simple as you have to make sure that the sprocket is central on the spring steel, as otherwise if it is not the steel will twist, on mine the spring steel is around 1n inch across where the bolt fix's it to the L bracket, but where the sprocket is bolted it is only 10mm ish, so that the sprocket sits inline with where the bolt holds it onto the L bracket, if you can understand what i am saying....

Adam

Could you post a pic, I am real interested in how you've done it as I cant see from your other pics. Im making a mahogony and jubilee clip tensioner similar to the steel one I have now.

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Put it on from the bottom bracket side of the chainring rather than the bash guard side.

Exactly. Put the chain onto the bike, then pull it onto the chainring then pedal the chain through, don't start from the other side!

Edited by MonsterJ
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  • 1 month later...

Here's my attempt. I beat up my 74 Kings tensioner on a wall (what's new) so decided to hammer out the part that attaches to the drop out and bolt an old jockey wheel salvaged from a DMR tensioner. I took of a spring loaded,jockey wheel type recently due to it slippin all the time, this super bodge hasn't slipped once plus it cost me nothing. Bargain. post-13950-1196524516_thumb.jpgpost-13950-1196524624_thumb.jpg

post-13950-1196524653_thumb.jpg

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My latest version has been on a serious diet. Rotates around the hub and tensions by the spring attached to the seat tube. Been running for over a month with no problems. The arm is spring steel so if it bends you can just bend it back. It has a small amount of side float too so it follows the chain line if it shifts.

post-8178-1197132169_thumb.jpgpost-8178-1197132177_thumb.jpg

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It's not bad, Dave, but we need to work out a way to eliminate that spring somehow (well, to get it off the seatstay really)

Streamlining is the way forward... :)

I'm open to suggestions. The way I see it the spring is necessary unless I go back back to the B-tension type arrangement.

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I'm open to suggestions. The way I see it the spring is necessary unless I go back back to the B-tension type arrangement.

Yeah I'm with you on that, but if we can try and work out another way to do it we're sorted. Just a little messy to do that to something so pretty!

It's like shitting on Keira Knightley's face ;)

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Yeah I'm with you on that, but if we can try and work out another way to do it we're sorted. Just a little messy to do that to something so pretty!

It's like shitting on Keira Knightley's face ;)

I reckon that dirty little harlet would be well up for that so I don't see your point ^_^

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