converting to single speed........please help
Rudd
Posts: 264
hello all, I'm considering converting a 1980's steel merlin frame to single speed for my daily commute. I know that in an ideal world a horizontal drop out is ideal but looking at mine they seem to be half way between horizontal and vertical - I think they are campag dropouts. They look like this........
www.flickr.com/photos/89119745@N00/4035332913/
(i just borrowed the picture)
Can I convert these to fixed????
Many thanks......
www.flickr.com/photos/89119745@N00/4035332913/
(i just borrowed the picture)
Can I convert these to fixed????
Many thanks......
0
Comments
-
Yep.0
-
-
Once again, Sheldon is your friend:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/singlespeed.html#vertical
Sounds like it shouldn't be a problem at all. Good luck with your build, let us know how it goes and post some photos! I'm working on something similar myself, so I'll be interested to hear about it.FCN 6 in the week on the shiny new single speed.
FCN 3 at the weekend - struggling to do it justice!0 -
Well I've beaten with the Sheldon link but I will give some advice. If you end up using a chain tensioner, like this one for example...
Make sure you get a chain that fits. I decided to get myself a thick gold spank chain. Since I was sticking it on a wreck of a 1990s mtb I thought it would be amusingly ironic. I know, twat right? Of course it was too wide for the tensioner.
Anyway apart from it not fitting in the tensioner someone stole it. Not the bike, they left that, they stole the chain.0 -
That frame's perfect, as others have said. Don't bother with a tensioner. The dropouts don't have to be horizontal as such, just to have enough fore/aft in them to let you take up slack in the chain by moving your back wheel towards/away from your chainset - which those do. (Only track frame have literally horizontal dropouts - the vast majority of fixies you see out there will be built using frames like yours.)"If I had all the money I've spent on drink, I'd spend it on drink."0
-
thanks for all the replies - all helpful. It might take a few weeks as the frame is going to be sent away to be refurbed but when its done I'll post some pics. It will then become a regular fixture on the Dulwich to city daily sprint!0