Fixie project

hi everyone joined this great page for a while loving the wealth of information about my fav subject lol anyways its getting into winter on the Horizon.

Now and for a while i had this idea of making a fixie/freewheel so i stripped my Custom 1991 Raleigh Frame to its bare minium its got Horizontal rear drop with built in gear hanger.

As i got no idea of the best way forward( beaning a gear person lol) my Question is can i just put a fixed cassette on the rear wheel as it was 9 speed and put a chain on or do i need something to tension it? sorry for the long rant lol pic below

would be greatful of any advice from you folks thanks





put 46T on the front

There's no such thing as a 'fixed cassette', you either need to use a new rear hub that's designed to take a fixed sprocket (that is, a screw-on sprocket with a left-handed-screw-on lockring), or you can use a product called a 'Surly Fixxer' which replaces the freehub on your rear wheel (and then install a fixed sprocket and lockring as normal). Unless you've got a really good quality rear wheel, it'd probably be cheaper to build up a new rear wheel around an appropriate hub.

You probably can't re-use your 9sp chain with a fixed gear drivetrain because fixed sprockets are almost always 1/8th width, which is wider than your chain - a 9sp chain is 3/32 which is too narrow. There are some 3/32 sprockets out there, though. You can use a 1/8 chain on 3/32 sprockets, mind, just not the other way around.

You could make it into a singlespeed pretty easily by removing your cassette and replacing the cogs with just a single cog, and filling the gaps with spacers. If you use a 3/32 cog, you can re-use your 9sp chain too (provided your front chainring is 3/32).

You shouldn't need a chain tension because you have horizontal dropouts. You can't use a chain tensioner with fixed-gear anyway (although you can with singlespeed).

This is a useful resource:
http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html

wow wicked thanks yea chain was too far gone covered 3000 miles on it had to throw sprocket chain rings and chain away its good then i dont need a chain tensioner thanks for your advice

If you want to go single speed only then the products on this page are what you need, also check out their FAQ page for loads of tips http://velosolo.co.uk/shopsingle.html

If you need any ss cogs I have 3 unused ones here I'd sell, a 13t, 16t & 18t which will fit Shimano HG pattern hubs.

Adam