Converting Your Bike into a SingleSpeed

Ready to make that jump to a single speed but don't wanna blow your wad on a new bike? You can convert your bike for not too much money, that way, you can make sure you dig the SS thing before you empty your pockets. It's really quite simple. The first thing you need to do is get rid of your shifters, front derailleur, and large and small chainring. Actually, if you take your big ring off, you will inevitably need shorter chainring bolts.

You can also take an old big ring and grind all of the teeth down, and make yourself a custom bash ring. It's won't be the beefiest thing in the world, but it will protect your teeth and chain. For a clean look and more protection, a lot of companies makebash rings that will replace the big ring. Next, you need to take off your cassette, and put one cog on the freehub. To do this, you can take your old cassette apart, and use the cog of your choice.

Photo Courtesy of:
Soupy aka Mike Campbell

How do you know what size cog to use? Good question. Most people start with a 2:1 ratio and adjust accordingly depending on terrain and fitness. Try certain gear combos on your Sally bike and see if there is a certain gear you really like - that should at least get you in the right area. Once you've chosen the cog you want, you need to stick it on the freehub with a bunch of spacers. You can use the spacers from your old cassette, but you'll need more, so try to find another used cassette, or get some spacers. You'll need to arrange the cog and spacers so that your cog is even with your chainring, which will give you a good chainline. If you have a poor chainline, your chain could come off.

Odds are that since you are using vertical dropouts, you probably won't achieve optimal chain tension without some sort of tensioner.If you don't find the perfect gear fits, you can buy a new tensioner, like the Surly Singleator, or you can use your old derailleur to pull the slack in the chain. Just screw in the limit screws to get it in the proper place.

Throw your chain on and there you go, your very own single speed. If you really feel the need to spend some money, you can get a new SS rear wheel , new riser bars, or maybe a SS crank, or some fatty tires. If you are riding rigid, fat tires will definitely help. They will make riding a lot more pleasurable. Good luck!