I just started riding a SS 29er rigid, about a month ago. I totally love it-although I've puked twice on a trail I normally fly through. I will prob. end up putting a suspension fork on it though. The full rigid thing is a lot too get used to.
Can someone help me with what I need to turn my geared hardtail into a SS? Would I have to get a new crank? Or can I just lose the big and small ring and use the middle? I'm really considering doing this instead of fixing the cable to my front derailleur.. Do you guys think I can convert to SS with less than $50? I can middle ring the whole fully loop with the rear in the 4th ring and that's on my 34lb bike, so I'm guessing it would be a lot easier on my hardtail. Any suggestions on some parts and gearing? Anyone have anything lying around they'd like to sell/get rid of?
You could take off Big and Small rings, buy a surly cog and spacer kit, and a singlespeed chain + a tensioner.... Probably about that much to do
I started on my SS a couple of months after getting back @ biking with my geared HT bike. It's an older model Kona Blast converted by the previous owner to a SS. Gearing on it was 32/16. Thankfully, the previous owner included a Surly 18T cog. That's what I'm ridding now. Does it make sense to ride a SS? Probably not but we still do it anyway. Why? For most, if not all the reasons already mentioned by the others. I'm a firm believer that you'll only know if SS is for you or not when you give it a try. P.S. Just the other day, as I was passing up a couple of riders on the climb, one humorous man yelled "Someone stole all your gears!" Ditto. BUT, if you really want to go cheap, you can take the cassette apart, use the cog you want and rig up your derailleur to run as a chain tensioner.
All you need is a rear conversion kit to replace the cassette and a tensioner. I got my set-up from Misfit Psycles for less then $50. I just ditched the big and small chainrings up front, and added a bashguard to make it look nice. It's easy if you have a chainwhip and cassette lockring remover.
Ok so I'm looking at pricepoint right now and in their SS section I found a Sette SS conversion kit with 16t and 18t cogs with spacers.. and this Sette chain tensioner. So with everything cogs, spacers, chain tensioner, and SS chain everything adds up to a little over $40. So that's all I need? Would it be easy for my to do myself? Thanks for the help btw.
Yes. Just get a singlespeed cog, spacers to get your chainline right, and shorter bolts if you're not going to run a bashguard on it (if you are the regular bolts should fit). If you have vertical dropouts you'll need a singleator or some other tensioner to neep the chain from jumping off, essentially doing what a derailleur would normally do. Then go ride the bike. And smile.
Acutally there are three according to one of the guy who is a serious SSer : Sitting, Standing and Walking.
Exactly. Thats why I said that. You didnt say anything about a new chain ring. If he has regular chain ring with ramp he would need a new chain ring.
you don't need a SS specific chain, in fact many people just run a regular 9spd chain. I have a 10spd road chain on mine :?: should be fairly easy to set up yourself. Take cassette off, sandwich your cog of choice between the spacers and put them in place of the cassette. put and tighten lockring on. Take derailleur off and replace with tensioner. Take off big and small rings off crankset. Run chain as straight as possible. right? nope, SS specific chainrings help, but aren't necessary. You can even get away with regular middle ring on a 1x9 like i did for a while.
Hey Chevro, It's a cheap project and easy to do. A kit like the one from Pricepoint might be the easiest way to go. But yeah, you can do all kinds of DIY options too if you've got old parts lying around. Like rear derailleur for the tensioner, or just running the magic ratio. Using spacers from old cassettes. Use an existing middle ring but dump it if it's really old and the teeth are worn down or broken. Shorter singlespeed chainring bolts can be had for $5 too. Use BMX or 7/8 speed chains as they're cheaper than 9speed. Might be able to use a 9spd, but I'm heavy and not felt comfortable using a narrower 9speed chain. #1 thing though is get that chainline straight. You'll save yourself a ton of headaches and your knees will thank you. Nothing like snapping a chain, banging your knee on the handlebar then doing an uphill endo. Lastly, how old is this frame? My first singlespeed was a 10year old Diamondback that was so flexy that I was pulling chains a part.
I've ran a ramped ring with no problems. You can flip it over as well and it might work with double chainring bolts if the ring has countersunk holes.
If the goal is to do a conversion on the cheap, you do not need a new chain ring. To do it right, you should get a new one.
