HowTo? Fixed / Singlespeed conversion from an old bike

i've read all of sheldon brown but my maths is terrible.

You don't need to be good at maths to use the gear calculator.... the whole point is it calculates it for you! :)

You don't need to be good at maths to use the gear calculator.... the whole point is it calculates it for you! :)

ah but my maths is so bad i dont even understand the concept of a calculator. or numbers

ah but my maths is so bad i dont even understand the concept of a calculator. or numbers

Haha ok fair enough :)

i've read all of sheldon brown but my maths is terrible. should i use my 50 or 36 tooth chainring for a single-speed conversion with a 16 tooth sprocket? i know around 42 is ideal but i cant afford a new chainring.

i'm not super fit so i'm drawn to the 36 but i also hate frustratingly low gear, obvs.

thoughts anyone?

well the 36 will give you 59 gear inches, and the 50 will give you 82 gear inches.

Neither of those is ideal but of the two i would go with the 36t chainring, i ride 63 gear inches, so 59 will be spinny but fine.

thanks for the advices. i discovered my dropouts have some horizontal lee-way so i will sack of the tensioner and just get a spacer kit with a 14 tooth ring. done and done

best to change the brake levers though, they're called suicide levers for a reason.

Disagree. I ride on the top of the bars more than on the drops. If I had to reach down for the brake my braking distance would be much further.

"death grip" "suicide levers" "turkey wings".

^Says the guy with 2 brake levers and no brakes :D

Hah! touche my dear boy, have some reps.

I have just gotten a bicycle with horizontal dropouts off the Bay. I'm going to strip it and convert it to my first fixed gear bike. I'm not too knowledgeable other then giving my bikes a regular service.

I live in Cambridge and it's very flat with slight inclines, so I figured 42/15 would do, I think I'll get a 16 on the other side as well. I'm not sure whether to go 1/8" or 3/32". With double fixed do I need to get locknuts? When wheels are marked as 32h, what does that mean?

I was after some recommendations for wheels, as I will need new ones. I see Mavic mentioned a lot, I'm after black wheels (cosmetic importance!), are they good? I've also seen that the Halo Aeros are reasonably priced on Ebay.Or should I look elsewhere?

TIA.

'search' button is your friend

You'll definitely need locknuts - are you confusing them with lockrings?

Mavic do an all black track racing wheel, called the Ellipse but they might be a bit pricey for a first conversion. The Halo wheels are fine, some people claim the bearings are shit but whatever wheel you propose someone will have a bad opinion of it.

42/15 is what i ride, it is fine but a bit slow getting away at times, 42/16 might be easier on the knees

1/8 or 3/32 is more a matter of taste easthetics.

You will need to have a lock ring for your fixed cogs if that is what you mean

32h = number of spoke holes

there are plenty of threads on wheels to search for info on

There is a whole section dedicated to your fair town on here. You will be able to find everything you need by searching through the threads, I can be pretty sure any issue you face will have been suffered before by one of the forumengers.

I have a pair of Aerorage black wheels, I think they are good for the price.

Good luck on the build

Go for 1/8 chain and then you can use either 1/8 or 3/32 cogs and rings depending on what is available.

42/15 sounds ideal for you (I run the same on my commute in London which is mostly flat), you will get sore knees initially but that should go away after a couple of weeks

You'll definitely need locknuts - are you confusing them with lockrings?
I could well be doing!

Cheers everyone for the info.

'search' button is your friend
Every forum I've posted on there's always one. The search button on most forums isn't great, it isn't infallible and it often produces a lot of crap.

This one is super smashing great.

Answers all questions in the known universe. (And have a read of Sheldon RIP).

Want!

Use a quality 1/8th chain such as KMC, as they will withstand the rigours of spinning the pedals on a descent and fit lockrings to the sprockets for the same reason. Otherwise the sprocket is likely to unscrew itself. If you have a flip-flop hub then you can fit a 15 tooth and 16 tooth sprocket and then see which is better suited to your style of riding by simply turning the wheel around.

Every forum I've posted on there's always noobs. The noobs on most forums aren't great, aren't infallible and often produce a lot of crap.

ftfy

UTFS

32h = 32 holes by the way and refers to the spoke count.

Keeping my thread alive...

Got a problem. The adjustable bb cup has decided that it doesn't want to stay in any more. A few rotations of the cranks cause it to come out a few turns, and tightening it past the 'biting point' with the bearings does the same. This suggests that the threads are buggered, and since the threads on the cup itself look ok, I guess the threads in the frame are f'ed. It's hard to tell by looking at them though.

Sigh. What can I do about this then?

Theoretically the whole point in the lockring is that you don't have to tighten the cup past the biting point, but you can tighten the lockring up as much as possible. Have you got a lockring?

Assuming you have a lockring though and it still won't stay tight...

New BB (a sealed one)? Or the threads can be re-cut at your LBS sometimes if the shell isn't too worn out.

New things would be good of course but a whole heap of loctite might do the trick. Although that will make you angry when you want to service the bearings again in the future.

Looking at the original photos of the BB, get a new sealed one. They're like £20 for a cheap shimano one. Your one is a bit old and knackered looking.

Alright after reading your first reply I played with combinations of cup/lockring tightness and it's now looking stronger than earlier. I will take it outside and see if we can get more than 20m.

For a new BB - something like a Campag Veloce? With as short a spindle length as poss? (rhyme)