Single Speed Bottom Brackets

The snow has arrived...boohooo.  It is just a trace as of right now so there is not enough in the mountains to be able to go play, but there is just enough to mess up the options for riding the bike.  The words 'indoor trainer' are once again entering the training lexicon and it is not necessarily a good thing.  C'est la vie...

It took a little convincing to get the dogs out for a walk yesterday but once they were out, they had a fair amount of energy and spent the rest of the evening recovering.  On our walk at Maude S canyon, I saw something in the distance that was moving.  I think it was a moose but we never got close enough to verify so we will just have to go with the 'potential moose sighting'.  The good thing about having snow on the ground is that you can really see the contrast of animals in the hills.  So the wildlife stands out a little more (especially since the leaves have fallen too).  It made for a nice peaceful walk - somehow the snow always seems to make things quieter...I wonder if it absorbs the sounds waves?  That is my theory and I am sticking to it.

I have been looking at titanium frames lately and have been drooling over some of their craftsmanship.  The idea is to build up a hard tail that will double as a single speed and a geared bike.  I have never liked the EBB's on a lot of the singlespeed designs out there and have always preferred the slider technology for adjusting chain tension.  For those still trying to picture what I am talking about...the EBB looks like:
Niner BBB/EBB
The idea is that when you are on a singlespeed, your chain will 'stretch' a little and once it starts to stretch it will start to skip on you.  If you adjust the chain tension to tighten it back up, then everything becomes copacetic again.  With the BBB/EBB system, you rotate the bottom bracket so the chain tightens up. What I don't like about it is that it will change the position of the bottom bracket/crank so it will change your riding position slightly.

Here is an example of the slider action:

When the chain needs to be tensioned, you loosen the bolts, pull the rear wheel to tension the change, tighten and the you are done.  it does not really change the geometry of the drive train (other than the minor adjust of the wheel sliding a few mm's forward or back.

The slider options just seems simpler, easier to clean, etc...it might be marginally heavier but I think it is a better design.

My latest obsession has been the Lynskey line....mmmm mmmmm GOOD!
Lynskey Frames