HowTo? Fixed / Singlespeed conversion from an old bike

Yes.Look at the wheel,you'll see that on the cassette side the spokes don't come out as far to meet the hub.The wheel's been dished to compensate for the cassette.
This may be a terrible explanation.
Sorry.

nono, I get that. Excuse my ignorance, but what difference does it make? If it ran fine on all the sprockets of the cassette then surely if I space the ss cog out then it's exactly the same? Or is it to do with weight?

being a 5 speed it is most likey a freewheel not a cassette. take off the freewheel and put a singlespeed freewheel on. re dish wheel as you will need to respace rear axle to get correct chainline which will move rim off centre.

A properly dished wheel is stronger.

Wheels that are not centrally dished have differing spoke tension on the drive/non-drive sides which makes them weaker.

You don't -have- to redish the wheel.

I run my SS conversion on a shimano rear freehub with a DMR SS conversion kit (effectively a set of spacers with a 16T freewheel). The frame has a 138mm (?) spacing for the rear hub so my 700c wheel fitted straight on. As long as your chainline is straight i can't see it making a difference, i've been riding mine for over 3 months now with no problems at all.

^when replacing a cassette with a cog there is no need to redish as the axle has not been respaced so the wheel is in the centre of frame.

A properly dished wheel is stronger.

Wheels that are not centrally dished have differing spoke tension on the drive/non-drive sides which makes them weaker.

You don't -have- to redish the wheel.

Thats what I thought, but then surely that the same for every geared mountain/road bike I've ever owned too? I've never had any problems with wheel strength before - well other than breaking a few wheels riding trails on a hard tail.. until I got monster rims.

I'm not that worried about wheel strength for her, she's going to be riding to the shops/uni, not riding downhill or 4x!

thanks guys, I thought that might be the case

Yeah, basically, if you have the time/inclination you should do it but otherwise.. meh.

So, I got my hand on a Dawes Horizon steel frame bout 6 months ago and recently decided to have a go at converting it to SS, all the parts are knackered, and i mean all except for the frame and forks. SO I am basically having to build a new bike, anyways i have no experience on this kind of project so I need some help from you guys and gals who know your stuff.

Info:
has vertical dropouts
68mm BB length
using geared parts but riding SS with shortened chain.

any help would be greatly appreciated!!!oh and my budget is around 300 quid but the cheaper the better, but quality is good also :D

thanks!!

oh and im guessing th efirst step is finding a decent BB/crank combo??? thanks again

vertical dropouts = best not (especally if its your first go). You will need to 'magic gear' it, which i only advise if you have lots of different cogs and rings...

Have u done ANY searching and reading of this forum?

Oh god, just googled the frame... no chance! Is it an old one? The 2009 one is not a great contender for SS

yep its old, not sure how old though lol, chain tensioner ?? no?? i had a look around the forum but couldnt seem to find that magic info relvant to me though

its old enough that its built up decent surface rust on it, its a reynolds 501 steel frame, im trying to find which year though.

just did a quick check and looks to be at least built at '97 or older

ok, phew - that 2009 one was fugly.

You could use an SS tensioner i guess, you are not going fixed right? Magic gear is really more suited for fixed conversions.

Strip it, stick a tensioner on and ride! But I recommend you don't spend too much on it. After all a good little steel frame can be found under £100.

Good luck!

Does it look like this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dawes-Horizon-Bike_W0QQitemZ200396162745QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxq20091020?IMSfp=TL091020205005r9269

ok you got any ideas as to any good BB crank combos?? im currently so bloody baffled as to which are any good and alos know any good SS chainrings???

is this any good?? http://www.evanscycles.com/products/sram/s300-single-speed-chainset-170mm-ec017659

oh and i have a pretty sweet magic gear now, its 52/14, only problem is that i ride with ramped teeth so its slips as i dont have a good chainline

haha yea thats pretty much a dead ringer for it
even the decal

52/14! That's pretty high, can you spin? I ride (rode actually) 48x18, a common gearing for fixed riders.

Anyway the evans links is fine, but i would personally get something off hilary http://www.londonfgss.com/thread32090.html#post1031362

You can run the outer ring and drop the inner. From there, my cheappy solution is to use this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/single-speed-conversion-kit-for-trials-mtb-bike-18tooth_W0QQitemZ280414615071QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR?hash=item414a03761f

Basically you replace the cassette on your rear wheel with this spacer kit and cog. It makes it easy to get a decent chainline. And you get to use your existing wheel :-)

Works well on my beater

ill have to check out that ss conversion kit, looks like it will do the job, problem is, will my bloody freewheel come of after years of hard riding??? im gonna need to hire arnie for that job lol. and yea 52/14, i love it my thighs are like steel!!!! but i hate bloody headwinds with this ratio, im gonna hit the deck now but ill check those out tomo and get back crankin with this job!!

thanks m8

GT58 and HTFU :-)

Good luck with it!

Hello all, I am new to the bike world and was wondering what components I would require to convert this frame into a single speed/fixed gear bike. Listed below is the information and measurements that I have on the bike. Any suggestions for parts, and advice is hugely appreciated. I am hoping to do it for about 150 pounds if possible.

Reynolds 531 frame, measuring 22.5"
72 degree seat tube and 73 degree head tube

Measures:-
125mm between rear lugs
425mm from centre of BB to centre of drop outs (chainstay length)
520mm from centre of drop outs to centre of seat tube (seatstay length)
370mm from centre of drop outs to brake mount
565mm top tube (centre to centre)
385mm fork length (570mm overall)
26.4mm seat post size
22.2mm stem size
Has braze-ons for rear derailleur, L&R gear cable (for bar mount gears), gear cable (on chainstay), cable guide on bottom bracket, rear brake cable guides on top tube
Rear drop outs are Campagnolo
Fitted with a very nice Carlton headbadge
The frame and forks also have a Tange headset.[SIZE=5]

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