An Eccentric conversion -- White Industries ENO Hub

I recently purchased a custom frame from my good friends Steelwool Bicycles, in Ottawa, Canada. The frame is based off the ill-fated Surly Cross-Check it was replacing. In terms of custom specs, the frame is basically the same geo as a Cross Check, but blown up for my large proportions. I also spec'd a much stiffer, oversized MTB tube set, as I was never happy with the noodle-y feel of the Surly.

When my Surly met its bitter end, I was running it basically exclusively in a geared setup. As such, my custom frame was built with vertical dropouts.



However, after a winter of riding in a geared setup, I began to miss the simplicity of a single speed bike.  Thankfully, I had a truly unique piece of bike kit laying around: the White Industries ENO hub.



One of the key elements of any bike is chain tension. On a derailleur-based geared system, the derailleur itself provides the chain tension, in addition to shifting gears. On a single speed bike (or internally geared hub) there is no derailleur, and so chain tension must be addressed in another manner. On a purpose-made SS bike, chain tension is usually handled by horizontal dropouts, sliding dropouts, or eccentric bottom brackets. In a converted frame, you usually have to add something external to the frame to take up chain slack.

The White Industries ENO hub offers you an alternative.

I had previously used with a straight axle on the semi-horizontal dropouts of my dearly departed Surly. This wouldn't help me run SS on my new frame.  However, what makes the ENO hub truly unique is its ability to run an 'Eccentric Axle'.  The eccentric axle allows the hub shell to rotate around the fixed dropouts in an eccentric pattern. The eccentric rotation allows you to take up the extra chain length without any extraneous pieces hanging off the frame.

I ordered an eccentric axle from Lynette at White Industries. In the picture below, you can see the eccentric axle (bottom), the straight axle (top), and my ENO freewheel and freewheel tool.



Pressing the eccentric axle in as extremely quick and easy. The picture below shows the hub in place, and if you look closely, you can see that the freewheel is not centred around the outside axle bolt.



Here's the finished product:



The hub works flawlessly, and is really a marvel of component engineering. I'm thrilled with the performance of the hub, and stiffer frame is excels at SS style biking. Overall, I'm very happy with the finished product.