Originally Posted by
wphamilton
I'm looking for the down to earth experienced opinions on this idea. Hence 50+. It may be nonsensical but tell me why if it's too off the wall.
I'm scheming on making a psuedo-single speed starting with a CX frameset. The bikeisland/nashbar variety which can be had for 200-300 dollars. Or an aluminum road frame with cf fork if that's too silly, but it's the longer wheelbase with close to road geometry that attracts me.
In my amateurish fashion I only use one crank ring, almost always with 70-85 gear inches, so why not a single-speed crank? No expensive shifting apparatus, lighter weight, would that throw the chain line off? I'd use the same reasoning on the back and go legitimately single speed but, I may prefer or even require some gearing on these hills, and I'd like my wheels to be compatible between bikes. So I thought to just use my current wheels, at least at first, with the 8-speed cassettes. I'll take a junked derailleur and clamp it off at the gear I want with a cable fragment, no shifter. The DR and cassette will cost about a pound but I'll trade that extra weight for flexibility. I figure the whole bike fairly inexpensively will weigh about 18-19 pounds which is featherweight from my perspective, with room to reduce in the wheels and crank.
What have I overlooked? Later on, when I'm thinking "I wish I'd thought of that, before ever starting"?
Nothing dumb about single speeds if that's all you require. Simple is good.
I don't know about Nashbar frames, but a cross frame with horizontal dropouts is a good platform for this.
Surly Crosscheck is a good example. I did some single speed and gearhub builds on these frames when I was a Surly dealer.
Chainline has to be worked out, but it's usually doable. That's where square taper bottom brackets have an advantage over integrated because you can choose a spindle length to suit, although there is some flexibility with integrated cranksets by mounting the ring on the other side of the spider.