Converting winter bike to a single speed

ma123

Hi what would be the best way to convert my standard Ribble road winter frame into a single speed bike, Ive heard about the wheels which have a cog on each side fixed or freewheel (flip-flop I think), also can it be done simply with a conversion kit?

This will be for training through the winter as im looking at entering some 4th Cat races for the first time next season, any other advice welcome cheers.

Ash_

A single-speed conversion kit:


A chain tensioner: (or you can use your existing rear mach to do this)


Maybe remove a few links of your chain...

Any you're away.

Cheaper than a new wheel, and easy enough to convert back to gears, should the need arise.

Monty Dog

Please be clear on the difference between single speed i.e. one speed with freewheel and 'fixed gear' which is a single sprocket with no freewheel. For the former the conversion kit and tensioner is fine, but you cannot use a tensioner with a fixed - unless you want to have no teeth! For fixed your Ribble frame is likely to have vertical drop-outs which make chain tension adjustment tricky and needing to rely on the 'magic gear' of matched chainring and sprocket sizes to match the exact chain length - trial and error I'm afraid. For fixed you'll need a proper fixed hub wheel with 130mm OLN dimension to fit your frame too.

Ash_

Monty Dog wrote:

For fixed your Ribble frame is likely to have vertical drop-outs which make chain tension adjustment tricky and needing to rely on the 'magic gear' of matched chainring and sprocket sizes to match the exact chain length - trial and error I'm afraid. For fixed you'll need a proper fixed hub wheel with 130mm OLN dimension to fit your frame too.

Another solution is to use an eccentric hub - such as the White Industries ENO pictured below. However, it is not at all cheap...

ma123

Thanks all for the help, a conversion kit looks the easiest but ill weight up the options and shop around cheers.