Raleigh Firefly Single Speed

mahesket

I have been digging about in the cellar and found my old Raleigh MTB, all 18 speed of it.

To be fair this bike sorted me out for a couple of years of paper round and bombing about when I was about 15-17.

Bought on the large size for me to grow into it now fits pretty perfectly.

My plans are a bit of a project single speed conversion, on the cheap of course.

I might even be able to get away without using a chain tensioner, but not bothered either way really. Just a bit of fun to keep me out of trouble and busy in the evenings for a while.

Can anyone suggest any good sites for the components required apart from ebay?

Couple of dodgy pics for you.





Cheers Matt

mahesket

oh yeah, what sort of ratio should I be looking at getting?

ride_whenever

Don't do it, for a start you'll have to respace and re dish the rear wheel, which almost certainly won't work.

Buy a ss rear wheel, freewheel, crankset, chain and bb

miceden

Have a look on retrobike for parts

mahesket

ride_whenever wrote:

Don't do it, for a start you'll have to respace and re dish the rear wheel, which almost certainly won't work.

Buy a ss rear wheel, freewheel, crankset, chain and bb

Surely using one of the many seat with spacers eliminates this problem? I agree to do it properly your suggestion would be the route to take. but I am hoping to do this for as little outlay as possible.

Has anyone had experience of using the kits with spacers on an old MTB frame?

Cheers
Matt

mahesket

miceden wrote:

Have a look on retrobike for parts

Cheers will do.

The Rookie

Inclined dropouts so SS is easy, just size the chain for the front gear/rear sprocket you want to use and remove the front and rear mechs!

mahesket

The Rookie wrote:

Inclined dropouts so SS is easy, just size the chain for the front gear/rear sprocket you want to use and remove the front and rear mechs!

I had thought about doing this to try out single speed. But I have read that unless aligned perfectly the chain will still try to derail and then lock up the wheel.

The Rookie

Nope, as long as the 2 are sensibly 'in line' and not running a silly angle it works just fine.

Middle ring and 3rd gear at the back should work and give a sensible ratio.

rockmonkeysc

DMR sell a good single speed kit including tensioner and spacers. No need for a new wheel.

gt-arrowhead

A Firefly! I had the exact same bike. Same size and colour and all. Really loved it to bits. I used it for a couple of years. Probably the most comfortable bike i have been on (on the road obviously). It got stolen unfortunately Here she is



Rockmonkey, i think the kit you are talking of is for a cassette wheel, in which case yes that would be a good bet (just dont use the tensioner because its got sliding drop outs)

But that is almost certainly a screw on freewheel. The only single speed freewheel i can think of is the BMX style ones which would actually fit but as someone has said, a redish would be in order and its not really worth the hassle. Do as The Rookie says and just find the best gear at the back, and shorten your chain to use that gear, and get rid of the mechs.

mahesket

Cheers for the comments, I'm tempted to give the just removing mechs ago. I had more of a play the other night and it's fair to say the BB is nackered with lots of play. But a more pressing issue is actually getting the BB out as I only have tools for newer kit. How much do you think a LBS would charge for this?

Then what BB would I be best to get?

The Rookie

RockmonkeySC wrote:

DMR sell a good single speed kit including tensioner and spacers. No need for a new wheel.

No need for a tensioner, inclined dropouts, and spacers are for a freehub and not a freewheel, missed with that one RM!

gt-arrowhead

Isnt it just one of these type of BBs? An older style square taper?



If it is, then heres the tool you need:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... 42558#tab3

mahesket

Unfortunately not, I have the tools for those. It's one of these bad boys



And it's pretty nackered

ride_whenever

hammer and cold chisel, just make sure you hit it the right way.

mahesket

Was thinking that would probably be the answer lol.

Would I be able to use a cartridge type after?

craker

mahesket wrote:

Would I be able to use a cartridge type after?

Yup.

Not convinced you'll get away with just taking the mechs off though. I suppose it depends on the chainline but my first effort at SS conversion did this and it mostly worked but occasionally I'd have to jump off and sort out a chain that had either gone for a smaller gear (loose chain) or higher one (locking the chain up in the process). That was with a freehub so a simple and lasting fix was to fit a spacer kit and single gear but I don't think you have that option, though I expect rim braked rear wheels can be had freely now everyone on 26" bikes has gone to disk brakes - ask around someone may be able to give you a wheel that you can single speed.

mahesket

Cheers, i'll stick up a wanted post. I have been looking on gumtree etc and thety pop up from time to time.

mahesket

Stripped down a bit more, headset bearings in good shape just a re grease required.

Still struggling with the BB, haven't got a clamp or vice at present so may pop in the LBS and ask a favour.

mahesket

Couldn't shift the BB so took it to the LBS who removed and recapped the threads for £10 , pretty happy with that.

Picked up a Shimano crankset and Cartridge BB today for £15 and stuck it in to see how it felt. Runs true and smooth, so happy with that.

Then stripped it back to a single ring, need some shorter chainring bolts but it looks good so far. Total spend to date £25 if I can do it for less than £100 I'll be happy.

Pics

gt-arrowhead

Looking good mate.

mahesket

Stopped by Evans Cycles on my way home and picked up some single chainring bolts, cheapest I found anywhere plus you get 5.

Put them on when I got home, this is how it's looking now. Hoping I should get a few more bits during the week.

big_southern_jesse

I converted something similar to SS to give it a try before buying a new bike, and, as you are, you can get to a relatively tidy and complete finish without too much outlay.

Gearing wise, I run 32:16 on a 29er now. Not sure how powerful your legs are, but 2:1 on a 26"er is a fair place to start. I drop to 232:18 for shorter, steeper stuff.

It is worth bearing in mind that you will spend a lot of time out of the saddle, and load the whole system more than you would with gears, so make sure the sprocket doesn't get too small. i.e., use 32:16, or 38:19, rather than 24:12 It's all the same gearing, but with a tiny sprocket at the back, you'll be loading only 3 or 4 teeth at a time...

Have fun, and don't slow down on the climbs!

mahesket

Cheers for that, I'm just trying to remember what my ration is looking likely to be now. I think I will have 44:16 so 2.75:1.

Hoping to get hold of a cassette of a guy from work so I can have a play with different ratios. My journey to work is pretty flat at the moment.

craker

Big Southern Jesse wrote:

, use 32:16, or 38:19, rather than 24:12 It's all the same gearing, but with a tiny sprocket at the back, you'll be loading only 3 or 4 teeth at a time...

That's a question I had considered asking, seeing as I run 39:14 and whether to choose bigger gears to get me to 74" in another way. My Legs Of Awesome haven't managed to rip the teeth off my 14 tooth gear yet though.

big_southern_jesse

I guess it depends on what trails you are riding. Whichever gearing you have, if the slope is steep enough that you are out of the saddle and trying to snap the handlebars, then you will have a lot of load on the sprocket. I either have weaker legs or steeper hills, but at 32:16, I can enlarge the sprocket without the chainring getting big enough to impact on clearance. Though plenty of mtbs used to run a 46t chainring, so you should have plenty of room.

My drivetrain is currently deeply unhappy, skipping on steep climbs and there is a slight friction as the chain unloads off either the spocket or chainring, so it's all up for replacement. And I'll be looking to move up to larger sizes I think. A larger chainring also gives you a greater fineness of variation of gearing.

If it's working, stick with it. If it starts to cause problems, then have a look...

mahesket

Dry mock up, I still need pedals which will come from my hard tail when I get some new flats for that. I will probably sort out a new chain too as the old one isn't great, and I need to adjust the length a bit either way.

Need to pick up my grease and copper slip from my parents to rebuild and pack bearing properly.

Then new v brakes as the old ones have gone on another bike I'm sorting out for my wife.



Sorry for the poor quality.

Should I keep the stickers or get rid?

gt-arrowhead

Nice.

What did you do with the wheels in the end?

Hard call on the stickers. If they are mint i would personally leave them.

mahesket

For the wheels I sourced a cheap cassette rear and used superstar components single speed kit which was on clearance. The bearings were nackered in my old rear wheel and this worked out the cheapest way. came to about £12 together

I also picked up a free 7 speed cassette of a mate, if I ever fancy more speeds.

just want to get this finished now to have a play/kill myself on the local hills.

mahesket

New brakes, Chain and assembly consumables purchased and picking up tonight on my way home.

Was hoping to finish it off for this weekend to ride to work on Monday but we are now heading to the In laws so that will take up all weekend. Might be able to finish it off in the evenings and Sunday fingers crossed.