Converting old mtb to commuter/ fun bike

ngarauru

Hi all,

I have a 16 km round trip each day to work.
I have an older mountain bike I bought for cheap, it's a shogun prairie breaker pro model, I think mid eighties.
Overall I'd like to remove any extraneous gear from the bike as I'd like to spend less time on maintenence.

There are two specific things I'd like to do. The first of which is change to single speed which I should be able to muddle through myself when I buy the correct parts.

The second is replace the front suspension with rigid forks, at the moment the bike has suntour SRXC60 forks.
They measure 17 inches from the axle to crown for which I need a 1 1/8" thread-less fork.
I also have calipered breaks which I'd prefer to keep.

Does anyone know of a guide to make this conversion?
Are there special tools I'll need to make this conversion?

The Rookie

My town hack bike is an old MTB, just get rigid forks the right length, change the crown race over can be done using a hammer and a screwdriver easily enough.

I also fitted some 1.5" road tyres and some mudguards.

To do the single speed conversion you will need a chai whip and cassette tool if it uses a cassette or a freewheel tool if it's a freewheel.

ngarauru

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19712245#p19712245]The Rookie[/url] wrote:

My town hack bike is an old MTB, just get rigid forks the right length, change the crown race over can be done using a hammer and a screwdriver easily enough.

I also fitted some 1.5" road tyres and some mudguards.

To do the single speed conversion you will need a chai whip and cassette tool if it uses a cassette or a freewheel tool if it's a freewheel.

I've also got vertical drop outs, will I still need a tensioner or can I just bang a hub on?

John Wh

I needed a tensioner when I did mine on vertical dropouts. Got all my stuff from Superstar, but there's different brands too.

The Rookie

Vertical dropouts will almost certainly need a tensioner, although if you buy a 'half link' chain (each pair of links is narrow one end and wide the other) you can SOMETIMES get away without, Supertsar and on-one both do quite reasonably priced tensioners or you can just use an old rear mech!

To clarify though do you mean vertical or inclined?