Do you have a spare bicycle frame that you would love to turn into a single speed or fixie, but the frame does not have horizontal dropouts? Do you want to avoid running a singulator chain tensioner especially in a fixed gear setup? The innovators from San Jose, California, Phil Wood & Co., have come to the rescue. Phil Wood recently announced the upcoming release of their Square Taper Phil Centric bottom bracket to solve this problem.
The Phil Cetric’s center point of the spindle on this bottom bracket pivots closer or further away for the rear dropout where the rear wheel mounts allowing the chain to be properly tensioned. There is currently not much information released about this bottom bracket yet, but from the photos it looks as if there is about 3/8″ – 5/8″ of adjustment in the chain tension. This should be enough adjustment to allow proper tensioning of a chain in almost every frame.
The downside of Phil Wood’s solution is that you can only use cranks with a square taper – probably used because that type of spindle is the thinnest diameter allowing the most chain adjustment. These types of cranks have been made for years, but you will more than likely need to dig in your spare parts bin, comb the used market or throwdown for a set of cranks aftermarket cranks like the ENO from White Industries to utilize this bottom bracket.
However, there are no spindle lengths listed on Phil Wood’s website yet. The only other bit of information given is that this bottom bracket “threads into a standard bottom bracket shell.” Alas, there is no release date as of this posting, but we’ll be watching the Wood’s for sightings.
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