Hot take: stop setting chain tension by feel on single speeds, you're cooking your bearings

Sage Lane · 2026-10-15T22:15:05.226433+00:00

I work at a shop in Portland and I keep seeing guys bring in single speed and fixed gear bikes with toasted hub bearings, and 9 times out of 10 the chain is banjo string tight. The old rule of thumb about leaving half an inch of play at the middle of the chain is not just a suggestion, it matters because a tight chain side loads the hub bearings and the freewheel threads. Last week a guy came in with maybe 200 miles on a new rear wheel and the drive side bearing was already gritty, he had it cranked so tight you could play a note on it. I get that a loose chain feels sloppy and can pop off, but you're trading a rare dropped chain for a wheel rebuild every few months. I check tension with the bike on the ground and the rider's weight on it, because a chain that looks fine in the stand gets way tighter once you sit on it. If you can push the chain more than an inch to touch the chainring, it's too loose, and if you can barely move it at all, you're already doing damage. Anyone else seeing this on newer bikes with vertical dropouts and tensioners, or is it just the folks who ride track geometry on the street around here?

Librear

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Hot take: stop setting chain tension by feel on single speeds, you're cooking your bearings | Bicycle Mechanics - Librear