Any advice or tips on converting a retro Scott to a singlespeed?

Try posting this on the bike forum?

👿

Also have you thought of just getting rid of the gears?

I’m scared of the bike forum…

have you thought of just getting rid of the gears?

Presumably he still wants to keep one.

calm that roid rage down yeti! 😛

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!

You’ll have to tell your parents first. Do you think they can cope with the disappointment?

are you able to grow a beard?

Take a photo of yourself riding your bike and we’ll be able to tell if you can join the exclusive club.

🙂 I have missed the humour on here in my absence. It’s good to be feeling well and good to be back on the forums. I had to sell my bikes to fund my illness, however I’m 30 in July and I’ve been promised one those filing cabinet bikes. In the meantime I’ve brought a Scott for the price of a new set of high rollers. I was just going to give it to charity come the new bikes arrival but I’m kind of attached to it now, it’s the bike that got me fit again. I’m just looking at different options for it as it’s now a keeper.

Sammy I have no friends to take a photo of me riding it. I bored them all away.

take the gears off and buy a SS speed kit
Chain tensioner
Single cog – most use 32:16 setup but some also use 32:18 assuming off road – better to get a multi spacer set rather than one that just has two parts unless you are certain re chain lines
You may need shorter chainring bolts when you remove the big ring you may not
You may change chain or not – personally I just use a dirt cheap chain
Charlie the bik emonger kits will show you
Remember the rules folks – sarccy on chat helpful re a bike question ,,,**** noobs

just do what rocketdog does and set the camera on a timer 😀

rocketdog, i’m not saying you bored all your friends away… that’s a horrible assumption to make! but then again all your photos are just you riding alone…. 😉 maybe its the beard.

Junky THIS IS THE CHAT FORUM!!!

RD is going wayyy fast that’s why he takes ’em of himself.

Remove: shifters, cables deraillers, cassette, 44t and 22t chainrings, chainstay protector. Total weight savig – quite a lot.

Google for a set of various width freehub body spacers – by moving them around you position the single sprocket can get a straight-ish chainline with the chainring. It usually comes with a 1/8 width cog, you can pick 16t or 18t normally. You will need a 1/8th (BMX) chain to run this.

Or you can do what I did and lever apart a cheap, but not too worn, 8sp/9sp cassette to rob the individual sprockets – this gives you a choice of ratios to suite your fitness and terrain, and you can cut-down and use your existing 9sp chain if it isn’t too worn.

When you take the chain down, you want it as close-fitting as possible without tensioning. If it seems slightly too tight then you feel some drag, but it relax after a couple of rides. If it seems much too loose even with the minimum number of links, you can buy a half-link to replace one of the full links and get it just so. The problem with “magic” fit i.e. no using a chain tensioner, is that the drivetrain wears in quite quickly and becomes too loose.

You’ll need a tensioner that screws into mech hanger instead of the derailler. It pushes the shortened chain up, to tension it, otherwise it will drop frequently. Two main types – sprung and unsprung (cheaper). The unsprung ones need more frequent adjusting as the drivetrain wears – but they are OK. The roller tensioners are more draggy than the jockey wheel variety.

It’s nice to have an unramped chainring, but the 32t (middle) ring from a normal chainset will do OK. Just unbolt all three chairings and bolt the middle one back on – but you will need to buy some short-chainring bolts to refit it.

Finally, I recommend some reasonably wide bars and soft grips, or flats and bar-ends because they help with wrestling the bike up steeper climbs.

I really enjoyed my 6 months stint at SS, and would have continued had my left knee not suffered.

I really enjoyed my 6 months stint at SS, and would have continued had my left knee not suffered.

That explains the limp and the walking stick….No fringe benefits?

helpful re a bike question

see re a bike question { I cunningly worded it to avoid mention of the forum ]

Helga! 😆

the beard is to keep the ladies away otherwise i’d have to carry a big stick with me all the time

RD – you need to dip the end of the stick in doggy doo doo.

i haven’t been single long enough to resort to that yet

I bought an old 1994 Kona Hahanna off here a few years ago, rigid singlespeed just used for commute to work. It meant i could use the the main bikes for ‘proper’ use and not nacker them up in winter etc.
Very little to go wrong on it, great bike to, kinda miss an old steel frame

are you able to grow a beard?

If not, you will have to embrace your inner beard.

Best tip is to fit some nice wide and stif bars. Really helps up hill and I think it massively helps to be clipped in. Sometimes you can work some voodoo magic and get a perfect chain tension without a chain tensioner with vertical drops. i did this on my kona caldera by running a 32 16 , kmc kool chain and 1 half link from a bmx chain. was so sweet. No noise. Now I have a cove HJ and I couldnt work the magic so had to use a surly singulator.

Post a pic first.

Tensioner and 18T cog FS here

Thanks for all the tips and help so far. I’m particuarly intrested in cannabalising the exisiting rings to keep costs down. I’d like it all to be done for less than £100. The bike was £30, paints going to be approx £12, new saddle, peddles and grips are on the list too. Thanks all

Pedals……sorry to be peddentic!
DMR do a single speed kit which has cog, spacers and tensioner for about £30, not bad.

narrow chain ring bolts and keep middle ring (32) and use 16T cog at back.

Project singlespeed Scott may fail it’s budget, my morning trip for milk saw the rear hub go click and spread out. I hope I can repair it.

make it a fixie then, no freewheel internals to go wrong (you’ll need a wackier beard though)

So far its cost £3.50 – an inner tube and the postage on a chain.

Some donations from STW wanted section.

Pedals are stuck on cranks and the whole bike was free when it was abandoned in the snow outside my house for a week.

Left it at the train station the other day with no lock and it was still there at the end of the day. People wont even nick it!

Carbon that’s what I’m going for… But I’m going to spray mine in gulf racing colours. What does yours say above the crud catcher?

PEAK.
The thing with a beard is you can dunk it in your soup then suck on it for nourishment while out riding.