Singlespeed

 

Single speed or fixed wheel conversions.

We do a lot of these. Your contemplating changing your geared machine to something a little more hip, dashing and “now”! All your mates are busy doing the same so why not? Alternatively you have scored a cool old-fashioned steel frameset off the net and you need to get it built. Ok, we are here to help so lets see if it’s going to fly. If you can’t make it down to us to check viability here is a basic checklist.

1. Look at where the rear wheel slots into the frame. These are called the “dropouts”. If they are vertical you might want stop right here. You may be able to make this frame into a single speed but you will still need a chain tensioner and you may still have issues. Chain jumping and skipping…. No fun. Ugly. Ok you have horizontal dropouts, this means you can keep the chain in tension and adjust as it wears, but how long are they, 2 or more cm to make life bearable.

2.  Next, measure the gap between the dropouts. 120mm brilliant as long as this was not brought on line from some monkey who trod on the “rear triangle” to make it so. 126mm, ok on a steel frame as a 120 or 130mm wheel may just may fit. 130mm great, we have wheels to fit. 135mm, we can build a wheel for your frame.

3. Wheel size, obviously you want a wheel that fits the frame but how about brakes? Will they reach the wheel rim or just gouge the tyre or grip a spoke and toss you off fnar fnar. “Brake reach”-the most common problem is finding a compatible from brake for older frames. If you’re fitting a 700c wheel to what used to take a 27” wheel, you’ll need a long-reach brake. You’ll also need to check how it mounts on the fork. Does it need a nutted mount or a counter-sunk allen key?

4. You want to check the condition of the whole frame now. If a bare frameset then inspect the thread in the bottom bracket, this is the place bearings sit and help pedals and chain-set spin. The threads need to be in pretty good condition, we can “chase” the thread, which basically cleans them, but there are an awful amount of dodgy salespeople out there pushing skip finds. The headset and head tube is where the forks fit, it must be perfectly round, no ovalized tubes or mismatched frame and fork. Believe me we have seen some crimes against the public. Ebay can be a life-saver yet a lot of the time its more bay of pigs, buyer beware. And oh, we sell bikes and framesets too.

Converting a Geared Bike (Hallelujah!)

This will only work with Shimano hyper-glide (or HG) rear wheel. If you have 8 or more gears on the back wheel, then this is what you’ll have. 7 speeds are a maybe-I’ll put the odds at 50/50. You can just buy a new rear wheel and convert that to a single speed. You will need a gusset (fnar fnar) which replaces all the sprockets with one sprocket with spacers on either side. You’ll need to keep your rear derailleur or buy a chain tensioner. Chain line is also an issue, as we may need to replace chain rings, chainset, and/or bottom bracket. Again we do sell single speed bikes-much simpler.

 

Then we can take your gear levers, derailleurs, and cables off. We can cut your handlebars down to a hand’s width on either side. Roll up your denims (on one side), and Bob’s Your Uncle-instant mincennger!

 

see Singlespeed: Surly, Specialized, Coltic and singlespeed stuff.