Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - New singlespeed conversion.

To satisfy my jones until the Karate Monkey shows up...



http://www.anthonysloan.com/xlmx1.jpg

what kind of frame is that?

Is that a Merlin?

I give you guys tons of credit for riding those things! I might try and build one up to see what you all see in em. What keeps you guys riding those? I'm really curious! Later all. :crash:

Thats either a Marin or a Merlin. I can't completely read the label.

Merlin



...XLM.

:D

I really wanna build one of those up. They seem cool to have.

My buddy and manager of the bike shop is dying to get his Karate Monkey. As a type of "sanity keeper", he just bought a Redline Monocog.

If I had some extra $$$, I'd of ordered one too!

L8R

That is a sweet ride.
:beer:

Can I make a standard road bike frame into a singlespeed? I'm assuming I can. My biggest of the smallest cogs that I can get a hold of is a 14. Would this be sufficient with a 52 front chain ring?

Originally posted by WorldIRC
Can I make a standard road bike frame into a singlespeed? I'm assuming I can. My biggest of the smallest cogs that I can get a hold of is a 14. Would this be sufficient with a 52 front chain ring?

lol no, you would have to be towed by a car to get up to speed to pedal it. The normal ratio for singlespeeds is 2:1 I think, and that is almost 4:1.:D

Originally posted by WorldIRC
Can I make a standard road bike frame into a singlespeed? I'm assuming I can. My biggest of the smallest cogs that I can get a hold of is a 14. Would this be sufficient with a 52 front chain ring?

You can build a road frame up as a singlespeed road bike. Basically, a road bike is built for road tires. If trailworthiness matters, you might be able to squeeze a narrow 'cross tire into your frame depending on what kind of frame and brake clearance you have.

Klein's right about the gear ratio. A 52x14 would be huge. I'm building up my singlespeed with a 36 tooth chainring and an 18 tooth cog. (I'd rather go 32x16, but I'm having a hard time getting the parts). To maintain that 2:1 ratio, you'd need to use the 52 tooth ring with a 26 tooth cog, or a 28 tooth ring with the 14 tooth cog.

This is my other Merlin:

http://www.anthonysloan.com/merlin1x1.jpg

42:17

singlespeed road bike???????????:confused:

Originally posted by PeterG1185
singlespeed road bike???????????:confused:

Why not?

My point was that road frames are made to accept narrow tires. You could put a singlespeed drive train on one...no problem. But you couldn't put big fat tires on it.

The road single is a blast to ride.

I can spin along at around 20 (huff puff) and grunt up some pretty steep climbs as well.

I'm curious, what makes a MTB single acceptable and a roadie not?

A

I'd accept a ss road bike if you gave me one!!!!

SS road bikes have been around a lot longer than mtb. they're called fixed gear bikes. But I'm sure you know this already!

L8R

This is distinct from a fixie in that it has a freewheel. (and a brake or two)

I'm nuts, but not that nuts...

A

52/16 is probably too high for a road bike but you can test it out if you want before converting. 2:1 is also too low for a road bike. That may be optimum for off road riding on low pressure fat tires but there's alot less resistance on pavement with high pressure skinnies. I find that right around 3:1 is optimum for commuting on my MTB with 80 psi 1.25" tires. Any lower and I spin out too often. It's relatively flat where I live though and the 26" tires are a little easier to get spinning than 700c would be.

I rode a fixed gear road bike last fall and it had a 42/15 gearing that worked out pretty good from stop to full on.
The trick is picking the best gearing that you can comfortably turn over without knee strain.
My problem with road frames is setting up the chainline, getting a bigger cog than 42 at the front was impossible without hitting the frame. This was compounded by using an old 6 spd freewheel hub which is not the best choice for a single speed - it works, but is not optimal for cog placement.
If you use a spin on bmx freewheel it will kick the chainline away from the frame increasing the gearing choices.
Also lacing up your wheel with a one speed hub will help alot.

Cheers.

i was trying to work out what gears i wanted to use on the bike i wanted to convert for singlespeed. At present on my commute i can get away with a 52x16 as its completely flat but i'd prefer 52x18 simply from the point of view of acceleration from a standing start. Also this is a road bike so its kinda different anyway i guess.

So if you're trying to work out what ratio you want to use maybe just try using your bike at present without changing gears and see how it goes with different ratios, i'm all for conventional wisdom, but the way i see it, terrain and different pedalling styles play to big a part really.

nice ride single sd.
i know a few people that work at seven. you on the east coast?