I’ve got an old quill-stemmed’ road bike and a spare set of cheap road bike wheels. All I need are some SS/track cranks (have a square taper BB already), a quil stem and its ready.

The dropouts look like this:

The rear wheel has a regular cassette body- whats the best way to convert/marry these? I don’t need to run a surly chain tensioner do I?

(The dropouts are missing the chain tug screws but I could get a bolt through standard QR to give enough tension?)

That will be fine without a tensioner. You just need to size the chain properly so you have some room to bring the wheel back in the dropouts to adjust for chain stretch.

I ran a frame like that with normal QRs, but you could go for allen key skewers or solid axle and track nuts for extra security.

You don’t need SS specific cranks either – just remove the inner rings from normal crankset.

EDIT – as far as the cassette is concerned, if it’s a freehub then you just need a spacer kit and cog – one with a variety of spacers is good to get the right chainline.

http://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/components-c9/hub-spares-skewers-c122/dmr-single-speed-spacer-kit-p9303/s22634?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=dmr-single-speed-spacer-kit-dmr-ssh-1sp-kit&utm_campaign=product%2Blisting%2Bads&gclid=CPr-47a1gsQCFTPKtAodoGYAPQ

If it’s a screw on freewheel then you need a screw on cog.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/201048771192?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=108&chn=ps&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108&ff19=0

I’ve got an old road frame with pretty much identical dropouts (running a 16t DX cog with a KMC 710 chain with a standard 9 speed Ultegra crank / 48t ring – all 3/32) – didn’t need a tensioner or even a half link in there – there should be enough movement in the dropouts to take up the slack unless you’re cutting it close with tyre clearance etc, I had a wee bit too much slack at the rear of the dropouts but eventually bit the bullet & whipped off another link – sits nearer the front of the dropouts now but even with a qr it hasn’t moved in the 20 miles or so i’ve ridden it since building it up a few years ago…

J

My first singlespeed mtb was a Bontrager with sloping dropouts – worked fine. You may want to try a bolt up QR, but I’d try it as is first.

As said – any suitably sized cranks will work fine – you’ll just need short chainring bolts to make up for not having a middle/outer ring (depending on where you mount it)

If it is a regular cup and cone bearing hub (e.g. Shimano) I’d convert the hub to nutted axle – you can buy solid axles for less than £10 (Halfords used to do cro-mo ones, also see Velosolo, SJS etc or any regular old school bike shop).

Some people get on fine with big steel QRs without slippage / pulling wheel forward. Some don’t. You can improve it with a chain tug which has a small diameter hole or insert so it pulls on the QR skewer.

Rear spacing may be narrower than modern wheels. If it is steel you can squeeze the dropouts apart or “cold reset” the frame. If you have a track/singlespeed wheel with screw on freewheel, this will most likely be the right spacing.

I like the allen key bolt up skewers to convert road wheels to track. Sheldon says you can run a decent QR skewer without slipping. I haven’t done this as I use track hubs.

You want to start with 42×16 or equivalent depending on chainring. Any crank will be fine.

Normal dropouts like that just take a wheel that has the same ish sized measurement between the dropouts but you can bugger about cold setting it or do was millions of us did before some one got clever and bending the bloody thing with you hands if needed. Hold each dropout in a hand in front of your face and pull them apart a tad. Use the rear cog you want and a bunch of old spacers from a shops bin to get the chain line you want. Set the chain to fit as best it can with the axle about half way up the drop out. Just use a normal internal cam Qr like we all used from the day Mr Campag invented the things until some silly bugger tried sticking it on the outside to be different.
Quite possibly the simplest thing to do to a bike after pumping up the tyres.