HowTo? Fixed / Singlespeed conversion from an old bike

Nice looking frame, BTW!

Sam [quote]Momentum Are you undoing the BB the right way? I'm sure you are as the drive side of both Italian and English BBs is standard threaded (ie undo it anti-clockwise), but it's worth asking!

No, English is reverse threaded on the drive side, Italian is 'standard', i.e. anti-clockwise to remove.[/quote]

Yep

Momentum I'd leave the braze ons in place so that you can go back to gears at some point in the future.

Seconded

Sam [quote]Momentum Are you undoing the BB the right way? I'm sure you are as the drive side of both Italian and English BBs is standard threaded (ie undo it anti-clockwise), but it's worth asking!

No, English is reverse threaded on the drive side, Italian is 'standard', i.e. anti-clockwise to remove.[/quote]

Fuck - I knew I'd made a mistake somewhere but actual work distracted me. I meant non-drive side cos I think that's the cup that's stuck.

Whe i got m frame the BB was stuck in as the splines had been sheered clean off by the previosu owner. I just left it in there and built it up regardless. Chain line is a bit off but the bearings are sound and it works, and that's all that matters to me

I once had a seized Chorus bracket in a frame. I wanted to keep the paint job, so was limited to what I could use to shift it.
Used a 4" grinder, drill and Dremmel. I got it out eventually, but the grinding bits don't last long on bearing steel.
Didn't need to re-thread it, they were fine.
There is a knack to doing it like this.

Cheers for the welcome and the responses so far. To think that up here we're told from the cradle that there's no hospitality in that there London and that good old Brummies are sooo warm & welcoming. A mass delusion created to keep us here I suppose.
Have had the odd, fleeting thought about fixed gear but reckon that doing away with 13 gears in one go is enough of a step... for now.
May well do as CHUG_IT did, just leave bb as is and get on with getting it back on the road.

Hi,
Having just found before it was due to be crushed a Giant Once OCR 6061 bike with most its parts I thought this would make any ideal first attempt at converting to fixed gear, even with previously no bike expereience, I like a challenge.
So it has vertical dropouts, what are my options aside from getting a White ENO hub, or is this my best and easiest one?
Does anyone know if I can buy a whole new hub and back wheel already done incase I'm feeling a bit lazy on this part of the convert?

Cheers,
Julian

probably your best option is the white, i know a couple of people who have them and they have nothing but good things to say. i don't know if i would trust my life to it riding without brakes but i guess this probably won't be an issue for you if you're getting started. hubjub offer a wheel build which seems quite reasonable for either 150 or 170 depending on the rim
http://www.hubjub.co.uk/white/wheels.htm

ENO's are much cheaper in the states. They are rock solid and I still see second hand ones go for a ton built up.
Could you file the dropouts and find your 'magic gear'? Use a half-link if necessary. http://www.63xc.com/toddp/halflink.htm

eno hub and hubjub do build ups i think, otherwise get a hub and have someone on here build you one up for beer (loadsa people build wheels, including me)

Eno or a magic gear here for magic gear

Fixie FAQs

Someone selling a quality pair of new wheels based on 130/135mm ENO/Ultegra - Open Pro £200 ono posted
Make an offer as they mightn't be that easy to sell - http://singletrackworld.com/forum/read.php?f=5&i=602752&t=602752

Check this shit out.

I just bought a dmr spacer kit but it looks like I might be taking it back as my rear wheel looks like the second example? Would it be possible to make the second one a fixed gear? I just ordered a gusset half link chain but it's standard size rather than the chunky 1 1/8. I'm lost!

Tim, you could just use a bmx freewheel if that's the case. But you'd need 1/8th chain for a bmx freewheel.
http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/id30925.html

The second image IS a fixed hub. You can see it has two threads. The first takes the cog and the second takes a lockring.

Confirm: Are you going fixed or ss?

well I was planning to build it single speed with a conversion kit as I thought that was best for the parts I had but when I removed the gears I found a threaded bit similar to the second photo. Though from memory I think my wheel just has one thread not two? It's definitely an old road wheel as opposed to a track. I would like to ride fixed. I just had a look at the surly cog http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/ebwPNLqrymode.a4p?f%5FProductID=9492&f%5FSupersetQRY=Ksingle%20speed&f%5FSortOrderID=%2D1&f%5Fbct=
Do you think this would fit? I'm guessing this is for fixed gear. Also concerned whether I would get a good chain line as not much room for spacers.

I was trying to build ss with the cheap parts I had but when I removed the rear cogs I found it won't take a spacer kit. I would like to ride fixed if I can. Surly do a fixed threaded cog which runs a standard chain so I could use this? My hub only has one thread then a longer axle coming from it. It came of an old Claud Butler touring bike, 7 speed might be or similar to the Dalesman.

I came across this a little while ago. It has brilliant video tutorials on renovating an old bike and steps on converting to single speed/fixed

http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/columns/bobgarage/indexb.htm

i used found the re-spacing the rear hub video useful and since i last checked it looks like it's not got a video on re-dishing the back wheel

You said your rear looks like the 2nd one which is a track hub (2 sets of threads).
If it has only 1 set of threads then you can't use a lockring and therefore can only ride a bodged fixed.
I don't like recommending suicide hub setups so I'm not going to.
Just get yourself a freewheel, two brakes and ride ss until you can buy/build a proper fixed rear wheel.

thanks for the advice Hippy took a look at it this morning and it makes a bit more sense to me now.

Looks like this for the record

1 Attachment

ride suicide i did for a year! plenty of locktite.

Sheldons your boy.

http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html

Sheldon is dead, long live Sheldon.

i'm currently doing a conversion atm.

And i dont get on well with chains. I've been trying to get a 1/8 chain on my bike for and hour! No idea where the time went! Anger!

I'm going bk to the shop to get my powerlink thingie.

Maybe its my chain tool?

Hi!
I'm pretty much useless when it comes to the technical terms of bikes, well I know how to change a tire (at least hehe)or a handlebar or install a brake but that's about it....
I'm riding a lot and I want to get into it a bit more. Therefor I thought it would be a good idea to convert an old road frame...

So I spend a couple of hours on eBay to search for a frame that has the right size and looks half-decent. I heard that it is easier to convert those with horizontal dropout so this is what I found:

what are your thoughts? any good or don't touch it?

Any ideas or comments are welcome!

Thanks a lot!

Gina