single speed?

Ok I still dont get it... But I still find myself intrigued to the point of keeping coming back to it while sorting out my current build.

I know you pay for what you get but what is needed and can it be done on a budget to give it a try?

or even better has anyone got the bits they would part with?

Cheers

just dont shift gear

harvest old casettes for the spacers between sprockets , ive seen plastic piping used before but you would have to be confident you can cut it precisely

obviously taller toothed sprockets and chainrings are best but if you gear down and dont stand up putting all your muscle into it geared ones are ok

its all about the tension and chainline , you dont have to buy a tensioner , the mech you already have will do a good enough job once youve made the chain shorter

If you want to keep it simple and you've got one just use a regular wheel and casette/block on it. Like Perry (a very wise sort of fellow) says you can use a deraileur as a tensioner. If you've got an older style frame with semi horizontal drop outs you might have enough movement to get good chain tension.

Give it a go, it's quite addictive.

re:

I saw a chap here somewhere who modified an rear mech by cutting the arm of, and just have the upper wheel left on it... seemed to work allright!

i think a nice vintage campag mech would look awesome

Cheers for the input ...... Maybe I should be made things clearer if I had a go I would like to do it propley just wondered if it could be done on a budget as such but not chopping mechs etc :shock:

These kits you see advertised are they any good?

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_trks ... Categories

Well talk about eat my words ..... that looks good

there's lots of ghetto options - I've seen a spoon used as a tensioner here (had a jockey wheel attached, mind).

but as said above - before comitting to anything try riding your usual bike and don't change gear. Try middle ring, 4th gear to start with and see how it feels.

http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/index.htm

if you have a chainring itl be good enough

its likely that the bolts will be too long as they were used to holding two rings and now only one . you could file the female part down , use spacers cut from an old chainring or buy new steel ones .

so far you havnt had to spend any money and you have some singlespeed specific cranks

next along is the chain , this depends on how gnarly you are , if you spend all your time seated spinning a small gear the geared chain you already have will work ( and will already be worn to your chainring ) i like 1/8 chains due to the width but 3/32 are fine

if you have to buy a new chain it will wear quicker unless you also change the chainring but isnt a big problem if you dont

so far you still havnt had to spend money unless you needed a new chain anyway and even then £10 will get you a good kmc that many people race bmx on

singlespeed chains wear quicker because you spend all your time in that one gear instead of spreading the wear across 8 or 9 other sprockets so be ready to change the chain more often

if you have a cassette hub go no lower than 16t , better quality steels are going to last longer , gusset seem to make the cheapest of the good ones and are about a fiver

£15 so far

you really should you a method to tension the chain , magic gears arnt exactly an engineering marvel and are best left to bikes that spend more time being photographed than ridden , the mrs bike uses an on one and it seems good enough , ive read mixed opinions about the dmr ones . they seem to be around £15 , any more and its just added fancyness , but they are available second hand for cheap

its best to have one that pushes the chain up rather than down and sprung is better than bolted in place

£30 so far

to space the sprocket you can be as inventive as your parts box allows as long as the chain isnt going to touch anything you wedge on there its fine , mine has a few old sprockets and cassette spacers , avoid the kits that use two wide alloy bits , you need many thin things to get a perfect chainline . i wouldnt spend £10 on them though , go to the local shop and scounge a few old cassettes

i use a length of string to determine chainline , its easier to eyeball than having the chain in place

so thats the basics and it can be done for about £35 ( i added on a fiver for sourcing sprocket spacers of some kind ) if theres any specific part you want to know more about fire away and ill point you in the right direction with links and pics and stuff

Thank you perry good reading and tips also lots to look through with the link.

Will get back to you