GRISTY Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 hi im fed up of snail cams and was wondering if anybody knew if there was a chain tensioner to fit on horizontal dropouts?? cheers james Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sponge Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 (edited) BMX-style chain tugs... But I wouldn't recommend them. More fiddly/bulkier/heavier/fragile than snail cams. Generally aren't ideal in any way for trials, not many BMXers even use the anymore. There is another option though... Slammers. Just punch in 'Simple wheel slammers' into Google, you'll get a better explanation on there, I've used them on a BMX before and they work better than pretty much every other horizontal tensioner WHEN you get the right size to slot in. Extra useful as you don't need to worry about realigning your wheel as it takes care of it for you. I know chains stretch, but if you're using the Z610HX, the stretch is minimal and it's probably the most reliable chain out of what's commonly available. So... you could get away with 1 set of slammers (each individual slammer has 2 'sizes', e.g.: 0.5mm and 1mm) or have another pair in one more size up. Depending on how often you change frames and chainstay lengths, you could theoretically make do with only 2 pairs of slammers... one 'thinner' set for when chain is brand new and bedding in, and then another set that's the next step up in thickness to sit for the rest of the chain's life. Once chain snaps, get a new one... and back to the 1st set of slammers! They go in 0.5mm increments, so with 2 sets of slammers you're covered for a whole 2mm worth of slack. Completely out of the way, and lighter than snail cams. Completely sets your axle even in your dropouts as soon as you install both sides so one less thing to worry about. Good long term investment! Just replace your cams with 3mm worth of washers to take up the slack in between the dropouts and insert one slammer into each outside of a dropout slot. No fiddling with alignment like cams! **Shops only sell the 14mm BMX versions, but there's a guy on OTN from Canada who custom makes the exact same out of 6061 alu exactly the same specs as the black ones by Simple BMX except in 10mm versions for trials. He charges a good price, considering they're custom made in his machine shop individually from a solid block to an extremely precise tolerance, and since they're light as hell, you could still get a very reasonable postage price for a large number of pairs. I've bought some before, so if you're interested in the idea of them, I can pass on some contact details ^(For 2 different sized pairs, and postage incl.. it came to around the same price as a set of regular UK-bought snail cams if not a couple pounds more) V.bored at the moment, but hope this might be of help to some people looking for alternatives! Edited June 24, 2011 by Ares Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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