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Strikes me this is a good idea - I do not want to have a dedicated ss bike but rather one that will take gears when I want it to. The only example I know is the Salsa ala carte. Are there any others (perhaps with capability to take longer forks than he salsa) and how easy is the tranformation? Do people have views on whether this is just a gimmick and you end up with the worst of both worlds?
Kinesis decade versa - I have one - great with 120mm forks
on-one 456 - I have one - great at 140mmm
hi ,
I know that the Evil sovereign, kona explosif,and voodoo wanga have all used sliding dropouts . you can set them up for gears or ss.
If its longer travel forks you want, the Evil Sovereign is the one.
some of the newer on-ones have a swapout dropout system..
Orange P7, have had mine singlespeed and geared,currently it's got an Alfine on it.
Dead easy, looks neat.
Singular swift ...... Love mine
DMR - all newer models have the swapouts afaik. I think the Blue Pig X also uses them.
Whyte 19 trail, and I'm selling a medium steel one.
Litespeed obed selling mine
456 or 456 Carbon sounds like exactly what you describe. No obvious drawbacks. I'll likely never use the singlespeed option mind but it's there.
So much for the Salsa being the only one...thanks all. Plenty to look at then and try out. Looking for small size frame BTW...
Nothing to do with me but hows this for a bargain [url= http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Voodoo-Wanga-2011-mountain-bike-18-inch-frame-/270779739350?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item3f0bbaecd6 ]wangaaaaaaa[/url]
td-1 does it - even has a rohloff drop out option
have mine SS at the moment but left the drop outs and cables guides on and have a second tire on the rohloff wheel
simply drop wheel in - slide grip off , slide on shifter and slide into cable guides and screw on click box 😀
A slidey Inbred will do this without having to change dropouts.
Change the axle to a solid one with nuts, & a tensioner becomes redundant.
I've got a swapout on-one now but TBH the normal dropout with tensioner is probably easier to use just doesn't look quite so nice. In fact if you frequently take the rear wheel out I'd say vertical drop out + tensioner is easier, no fannying about with chaintugs and getting the wheel centered. Slidey dropouts or eccentric BBs maybe better still but I've seen/heard of people struggling with them too.
Really cant fault my sliding dropout Scandal. Simple and easy either geared or singlespeed.
Yeah there are others but the ala carte is very nice. The flopouts (aka alternator dropouts) work real well.
Nice zing to the steel frame, handling is also lovely.
Prefer the 29er variation myself but I like them a lot.
Tons of frames like this about. I did have to in custom to get 130mm forks
I have a Chumba HX2, this does it the other way round with a normal hanger, and an EBB system, looks smoother in my opinion.
I'm now running a Shimano Alfine gear system in mine so it's 8 speed and still looks nice and smooth.