Hi All, ok got my poor mans full sussie and I love it, but can’t use it for the scoot into work as it has to sit outside. So, I have an old steel cindercone frame from the early 90s, and a few other odds and sods floating around the garage – seatpost, wheels, fork.
I have seen a conversion kit on bikemongers website – is this the best route or should I be sourcing bits individually – if the latter any pointers towards “economical” bits (ie no titanium) and good suppliers.
Any help appreciated.
Cheers, Paul.

You’ll basically need all the bits in that conversion kit, so it’s prolly as good a good start as any. If you don’t have a chainring lying around then get one without shifting ramps and profiled teeth.

This thread might be useful.

Good luck.

you can take any route you like old bean!
none is better than another, and if your on a budget, and its for a bike thats likely to be left out in the rain, then a spares/seconds bin bike is a gooood plan.
the simpler the better 🙂

the only thing to consider is that there is a whole heap of torque inflicted on the drivechain in SS riding (up any kind of incline at least) in comparison to a geared bike.

a cheap wheel should be treated with care.
if its a cartridge freehub unit, you will find there is a single bearing race somewhere along the freehubs length.

i would advise that you put the sprocket ontop/over this bearing.
it prevents lateral forces on the bearings and makes them, the freehub mechanism, and (the most probably cheese) axel last a lot longer in my experience.
i went for a second hand hope xc wheel in the end, with two bearings along the width of the freehub, and another two in the hub, so no worrys about knackereing them.

i pressume you will need a tensioner on that frame?, many types availible, in two categories.
fixed and sprung.
most work just like a mech, infact i know people who just use old knackered mechs, with the high and low stops screwed right in to fix it in one positions.
i prefer fixed tensioners myself, much simpler, less to go wrong, but require a 2 second (literally) looking at every month or so as the chain wears.
if your missing parts, im sure a nosey on here or the classifieds will sort you out…

….also if you get a fixed tensioner, there is no problem using a ramped chainring.
because there is no “give” in teh chain, it CANT jump over the shorter teeth, as it could on a sprun loaded tensioner.

one of the reasons i went down this route is because “tired” 32 tooth chainrings are ten a penny, a non ramped SS specific one is at LEAST a tenner.
when i change the middle ring on my trance, i generally put the old one on my SS, and throw the SS one away.

by using this handmedown system, my SS now has hayes nine brakes, light-ish hope wheels, LX crankset and Zocchi sus forks :s
now i cant leave it lying around in the scummier areas.
doh!!!
need another beater bike!

Olly – top response fella, plenty to think about. I like the hand me down route.
Chela – as I don’t have a spare chainring (the ones on the old bike have as many teeth left as my 86 year old dad!) I think I will invest in a kit and start from there.
So shopping list now includes: used front wheel, aheadset, street tyres, anyone got any bits they want to part with?

I can donate a dmr tension seeker some rear spacers and a chris king “king Kog” to singlespeed ya back end fella. Also got a propper 32 front chain ring you can have as well. drop me an email if you’re interested and I’ll lob ’em in the post for you.

you can also try a half link chain which means you can normally run without a chain tensioner.. worked lovely for me, until I upgraded to a pukka singlespeed frame.

Just gone to a lovely phil wood kiss off hub so lots of ss bits knocking about to further the one speed revolution 😉

tazwadie@hotmail.com

Tazzymtb – cheers fella will take you up on that offer – will drop you an email 😀

Tazzy – all arrived safe & well – just got to work out what they are and where they go! Many thank, Paul. 😆