Are you single speed curious? Did your bike come with adjustable dropouts and you want to try out single speed riding without investing in a new hub or wheel? For years, there has been an easy fix. Simply find some freehub spacers, a single speed cog, and a lock ring and you’re good to go. Then XD freehubs came along. Don’t get me wrong – they are awesome when it comes to XD compatible cassettes. But there also wasn’t a way to make them into a single speed without purchasing another Shimano freehub that is compatible with your hub.
To give riders another option, and a chance to dabble in single speed riding while keeping your current XD freehub, Problem Solvers has, well, solved the problem. Their new Zinger single speed kit will easily convert your XD freehub into a single speed carrier and it has a ton of adjustability for chainline…
Sold as a complete kit, the Zinger includes all of the parts you will need to make the single speed conversion including the carrier, spacers, extra long bolts, and an 18 and 20t cog.
With the 20t cog in place, the kit weighs 135g all in and sells for $74.99.
Installation is straight forward and starts with placing the 6 bolt carrier on the splines at the base of the XD driver. The lockring/cap is then placed on top and threaded into place using a standard cassette lock ring tool. This clamps down on the carrier keeping everything in place.
From there you simply arrange the included spacers around the chosen cog to dial in your chainline. There should be more than enough adjustability to dial in the proper chainline for just about any bike – though it is a bit more tedious than other single speed set ups due to the 6 bolts. My advice is to just use three bolts and only snug them down during the installation process only. You’ll probably have to install and remove the cog a few times to get the spacing perfect. After you’ve figured out the correct position for the cog, install the remaining three bolts and torque everything down.
Even though it does take a bit more work to set up, I dig the end results. Once all of the bolts are tight, the cog is rock solid and there’s no way for it to dig into the freehub body like stamped cogs tend to do on aluminum Shimano freehubs. Compatible with any 6 bolt cogs, if you need a size other than 18 or 20, Problem Solvers offers them in 16-22t. In this case I opted for a 32 – 20 for the Advocate Hayduke in 27.5+ which seems to be the ideal ratio for me.
This bike is now all the things a single speed should be – quiet, simple, and light, which is probably why I like it so much. Certainly one of my favorite builds for the Hayduke yet.
