Ghost Chain on YouTube

Problems with Blogger have prompted me to upload the same video to YouTube. Also, I discovered that why the wheel is probably out of true, more importantly it's the axle that is bent. I took the axle apart last night and replaced it with another axle from another dumpster dive bike. This was fun because I had to repack the bearings and grease them up with Phil Woods bearing grease. I should have another video up soon. In the meantime, if my directly uploaded video on blogger is still not working, here it is on YouTube.



Also, if you go to YouTube and look at the video, you'll see other Fetish Bikes and Single Speed stuff.

Ghost Chain Ring

Here is my attempt at a Ghost Chain Ring. The freewheel is a 15t, the next cog is a 22t (granny gear) and upfront is a 32t. The wheel that I am using is off a bike that salvaged from the dump. A friend of mine works over there and drops off a bike every so often that I will strip for parts or even experiment with a build into something unusual, for example the Dumpgoose.

You might notice that this wheel that I am using is really out of true so I will have to take it in to the shop and get it trued up. After the ride yesterday I got to thinking about how to utilize my wheels, gearing, and tires. I really want to use these Kenda Kross tires that I bought for commuting for riding rail trails but using them with the Atomblast set that I have is really overkill.

I want to keep the original Redline rear wheel configured as a Flip Flop for off road riding and that is when remembered the latest bike from the town dump was a bolt on! Turns out, when I took the cassette off, it was a threaded one, and I just happened to have a 15t freewheel not being used and now I have a use for it!

The next two pictures are a fine example of what happens when you don't ensure the tire bead is hooked into the rim properly. The funny this was, all of a sudden there was this crunching noise and the the tube started grow out from the tire and rim until it stopped as you see below.

Ghost Chain Vid

I have been getting a lot of visits lately from people looking for Ghost Chain examples. Found a little clip on YouTube that I thought I would share. Watch what happens towards the end - next time put that bike in a clamp!



I think I am going to try this with my 69er and my Atomblast wheelset!

Ghost Chain Ring?

Found this in the forums on NEMBA.org that I found really interesting that I have to try. According to it's creator,

It's not connected to the frame at all, basically (when pedalling) as the upper segment of chain moves forward, the lower part moves backward, so a ghost chainring revolves inside the chain while holding its position, even though it is not attached to any part of the frame. It's definitely something that will get attention. I've used one on the toddler tandem bike I built, it works pretty good to keep the chain tight.

I wonder how this would work with a fixie?

Below is the Toddler Tandem. I am not sure I would want my little one up front but I can see how it would be really fun for the kid to think he was in control of the bike rather than seeing Dad's fat fourth-point-of-contact during the entire ride.

Here is a close up of that Ghost Ring!


Ideally, what I would like to try is a mountain Tandem, modified for a child to ride in the rear, pulling the Burley Trailer. Then I could do epic rides with all three kids.