single speed on hybrid frame

JAGsham

Hi there, I have a hybrid bike, Pinnacle Borealis, bought several years ago. The gears have gradually died and other aspects of the bike are dying. Rther than replace the entire thing i thought i might convert it to a single speed and try to salvage as many parts as possible and replace worn ones. One problem i face is finding a single speed wheel to fit the chainline of the hybrid bike. with the current chainset nd bottom bracket the chainline is 54mm which i think is pretty standard for hybrid/mountiain bikes. my back wheel needs replacing otherwise i could have used the old cassette with spaces inserted to line up the single gear. Having looked online, most of the wheels for single speed have a chainline of 42mm. Is that totally standard and am i unlikely to get a single speed wheel with a 54mm chainline? If so, am i better off getting a wheel with a cassette and spacers?

arthur_scrimshaw

single speed kit?

http://superstar.tibolts.co.uk/product_ ... cts_id=265

might need a chain tensioner

http://superstar.tibolts.co.uk/product_ ... cts_id=268

also do the kits in colours

Monty Dog

Perfectly feasible: Assume that your rear hub is 135mm OLN i.e. standard MTB width? Is your chainset a triple? In which case convention would be to use the middle chainring position which is 47-50mm chainline. The 42mm chainline is typically for track / fixed gear bikes which use a narrower 120mm hub. There are plenty of singlespeed MTB hubs available, just not complete wheels so you'd need to get someone to build one for you - cheapest hub about £60, rim £25 (Superstar), spokes £16-18. sprocket £10 plus £20-30 build cost. You'll also need to worry about maintaining chain tension (chain tensioner) unless hoping to find a 'magic gear' combo.