Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Converting to fixed

I searched and didn't find a topic that quite met what I was looking for so I figured I'd start this one.

(feel free to move/merge/delete etc if this is already done)


I have an old Schwinn World Sport road bike in my garage that's been collecting dust since the last time I rode it like 5 years ago. I've been trying to figure out what to do with it and after staring at it for a while today I though "hey why not go fixed?". I've always wanted to give fixed riding a try and I figure I should do it with this old POS.

The bike:
Schwinn World Sport (yellow with rusted scratches!)
The wheels are bent and there are no tires/tubes .
The whole gear set up is pure rust.

Basicly I know I'm going to need to get new wheels or take the wheels off the road bike I don't use any more and put em on there. I've read Sheldon Browns guide and am still not sure what I should get for a hub, or where to get it.

I'm looking for suggestions on how to turn this in to a working fixie for the least amount of money I can. I saw some guys thing about taking off the derailers and just setting it to the gear you want but that seems pretty lame and I'd like to get this thing set up for real.

Any comments, suggestions, or even flames will be greatly appreciated.

what's the maximum amount of time/money you want to spend? it makes a big difference.

I have quite a bit of time so I'm not worried about that. I'd like to try to keep it under $300 if at all possible.

I saw some guys thing about taking off the derailers and just setting it to the gear you want


that would be a single speed but not a fixed gear. Either way with $300 its definitely doable.

replace
-wheels with some of the cheap formula/mavics that are always being posted $150
-get a track cog or a freewheel $20
-new tires, brake pads, cables, and housing, bar tape chain etc <$100
-if needed a new chainring $30

total $300 you can decide where you want to skimp.

i just finished my first conversion last month - ironically enough, also with a schwinn world sport (mid to late seventies, but mine was in good condition) in the end, i spent about 300 dollars, and ended up with a bike that's a joy to ride and pretty solid, imho.

rather than go the route of rebuilding the rear wheel, i chose to get an entirely new wheelset. i bought the track wheelset from bicyclewheels.com. they come with mavic cxp22 rims laced to formula hubs (flip-flop in the back, in case you want to run a freewheel, too) the wheels have been teriffic thus far, and everyone at the company has been super friendly and helpful, so i'd give them my recommendation, if you're considering a new wheelset. it did end up being the majority of the cost of the conversion at ~150 dollars, but if you have 300 to spend, that shouldn't be an issue. my worldsport had 27" wheels, and the wheelset i picked up were 700c, so if you're concerned about tire clearance, this might not be the best option, but they've worked wonderfully for me.

i'm not sure how your frame compares to mine, but i really only needed to add a rear axle spacer and the chainline was close to perfect.

one other thing to consider is that my worldsport, which was completely stock, had cottered cranks. the folks at harris cyclery informed me they are dangerous to use if you intend to do any backpedaling (and you probably do) so i also ended up buying a new crankset and bottom bracket, so that was more or less a third of my project's budget.

if there's anything specific to the frame that i might be able to be helpful with, feel free to pm me - i'm no mechanic, but i'll try my best to be helpful! hope some of this is of use, and i'm sure everyone else will have plenty to add (and maybe a few corrections to my post)

i just finished my first conversion last month - ironically enough, also with a schwinn world sport (mid to late seventies, but mine was in good condition) in the end, i spent about 300 dollars, and ended up with a bike that's a joy to ride and pretty solid, imho.

rather than go the route of rebuilding the rear wheel, i chose to get an entirely new wheelset. i bought the track wheelset from bicyclewheels.com. they come with mavic cxp22 rims laced to formula hubs (flip-flop in the back, in case you want to run a freewheel, too) the wheels have been teriffic thus far, and everyone at the company has been super friendly and helpful, so i'd give them my recommendation, if you're considering a new wheelset. it did end up being the majority of the cost of the conversion at ~150 dollars, but if you have 300 to spend, that shouldn't be an issue. my worldsport had 27" wheels, and the wheelset i picked up were 700c, so if you're concerned about tire clearance, this might not be the best option, but they've worked wonderfully for me.

i'm not sure how your frame compares to mine, but i really only needed to add a rear axle spacer and the chainline was close to perfect.

one other thing to consider is that my worldsport, which was completely stock, had cottered cranks. the folks at harris cyclery informed me they are dangerous to use if you intend to do any backpedaling (and you probably do) so i also ended up buying a new crankset and bottom bracket, so that was more or less a third of my project's budget.

if there's anything specific to the frame that i might be able to be helpful with, feel free to pm me - i'm no mechanic, but i'll try my best to be helpful! hope some of this is of use, and i'm sure everyone else will have plenty to add (and maybe a few corrections to my post)

I'm glad to hear a conversion on a World Sport is worth the time. I like the bike and it's simple look and I have been wanting to do something with it forever and it just didn't seem like it was worth it to fix everything up to get it in working order as a roadie again. I think I'm going to get that same wheelset that you got, it looks like that will be the least problematic given my lack of knowledge on the subject. As far as the crankset, I was wondering if I was going to have to replace that or not. Did you get that through Harris Cyclery?

I just may PM you once the project gets under way..

Thanks everyone for the replies!

My conversion is a world sport as well. No problems. I opened up the dropouts with a dremel and round file but thats about it. I may buy a 68x107 BB ($20 shimano UN53 at Nashbar) to move the chainring to the outside position, maybe. I ride 44x17 gear inches (thinking about a 16 tooth cog...) and my cranks are some sugino version (not cottered, but uses a nut instead of a bolt), too lazy to check right now but they have a 110 BCD, which isn't too hard to find.

I just may PM you once the project gets under way..


If you can, keep the thread updated on what you end up buying/installing, etc. as I have a World Sport that I'd like to convert as well, but know very little about fixed gear conversions.

Strange that I see this thread when I'm in the planning stages on the same bike. :D

It'll be a week or so before I really get to work on it. But I do plan to keep this thread updated and try to get some pictures in there if I can get my camera working again.

I'm glad to hear a conversion on a World Sport is worth the time. I like the bike and it's simple look and I have been wanting to do something with it forever and it just didn't seem like it was worth it to fix everything up to get it in working order as a roadie again. I think I'm going to get that same wheelset that you got, it looks like that will be the least problematic given my lack of knowledge on the subject. As far as the crankset, I was wondering if I was going to have to replace that or not. Did you get that through Harris Cyclery?

I just may PM you once the project gets under way..

Thanks everyone for the replies!

i actually got my crankset from bens cyclery (http://benscycle.com/) - i got the sugino rd's on the recommendation of a friend, and again, i've been very happy with them. i didn't even need to swap out the chainring, as i'm running my gearing at 48X16.

keep me updated on the project and let me know if there's anything i might be able to help with - have fun!

If you can, keep the thread updated on what you end up buying/installing, etc. as I have a World Sport that I'd like to convert as well, but know very little about fixed gear conversions.

Strange that I see this thread when I'm in the planning stages on the same bike. :D

i don't have a digital camera right now, but i'll try and get a hold of a friend's sometime this week and maybe take some photos to share how my finished bike came out!

Before and after pics are always thrilling.

hell yeah, WorldSports rock pretty hard. Unfortunately the 28hole Aerohead/formula setup didn't quite handle my 190lbs too well, so I've taken the plunge to DeepVs. Well over 600miles and not a shimmy or a shake. highly recommended.

i bought the track wheelset from bicyclewheels.com. they come with mavic cxp22 rims laced to formula hubs (flip-flop in the back, in case you want to run a freewheel, too) the wheels have been teriffic thus far, and everyone at the company has been super friendly and helpful, so i'd give them my recommendation, if you're considering a new wheelset.

Did you have any spacing problems? I see that the bicyclewheels.com set has a 120mm hub. I'm not sure what the World Sport comes with.

My 1986 World Sport and I have been together for a while now. I picked it up in 2002, converted it in 2004, nearly died while riding it in 2005 and just rode it today in 2006.

Mine actually had decent and unusual cranks -- sugino aeromaxy. I'm using it's bottom bracket spindle with one original cup and one cup from a garbage find fuji and new bearings.

Front wheel and handlebar were replaced after a nasty wreck last year that almost left me dead (the bike pulled through, though). I'm now using a dimension hub double fixed laced to a velocity aero rim, 36 hole in the rear. with the exception of the logo and possibly the color and the drilling, the dimension hub is the same as the nashbar hubs, the soma/somax hubs and some of the hubs that I've seen from On-One. I picked up my wheel from www.aebike.com

I had the same issue as someone above where I had to carve into the drive-side dropout with a round file and a dremel to get the chain tension. some of the older, heavier high-tensile steel models appear not to have this annoying "feature," nor the derailer mount that accompanies it. my 1986 is 4130 chromoly steel.

I also filed down the old JIS fork crown race to the ISO dimension to install the new, cheap nashbar headset.

overalll, a tough but decent frame. Should present just enough challenge to keep you interested, but not so much as to force you away.

don't forget to brake it

I had the same issue as someone above where I had to carve into the drive-side dropout with a round file and a dremel to get the chain tension. some of the older, heavier high-tensile steel models appear not to have this annoying "feature," nor the derailer mount that accompanies it. .

I had to do this to my '85 Giant frame. Round file, patience and/or lots of beer works best.

Did you have any spacing problems? I see that the bicyclewheels.com set has a 120mm hub. I'm not sure what the World Sport comes with.

Just an after-the-weekend bump. Any thoughts on this one?

Just an after-the-weekend bump. Any thoughts on this one?

Use a ruler to measure your dropout spacing.

A Schwinn World Sport was my high school graduation present from my parents and I rode it all through college and several years afterward. God, I loved that bike.

Good for you for giving a fine old bike a second life.

Use a ruler to measure your dropout spacing.

Yeah, I guess...but that would mean that I might actually have to do something. :p

To be honest, I'm concered about getting an accurate measurement...I'll give it a go this evening.

I'm just hitching along for the ride...have an '80's Schwinn Super Sport that am considering for a flip-flop conversion. I'd probably just be asking the same questions as you.

Yeah, I guess...but that would mean that I might actually have to do something. :p

To be honest, I'm concered about getting an accurate measurement...I'll give it a go this evening.

you'll do fine... especially since you have a small number of clearly defined results to pick from.

just do it like this: http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_sp-ss.html#spacing

just do it like this: http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_sp-ss.html#spacing

Wow. Somehow in all of my Sheldon Brown page browsing, I never came across that one. :o Thanks! :)

Wow. Somehow in all of my Sheldon Brown page browsing, I never came across that one. :o Thanks! :)

Jeez, my main site only has a bit over 2,000 pages... ;-)

Generally, the Bicycle Glossary or my local Google Search engine are the best places to start.

Sheldon "http://sheldonbrown.com/glossary" Brown

fwiw, my mid 80's one has 130mm spacing (inside to inside)

I'm not going to have the time/money to switch the bike to fixed until sometime after RAGBRAI. Yesterday while reading a post about a guy building up an old Trek for his son I got the urge to try to make the bike rideable until I can get it totally done out. I took the wheels and saddle off my crappy road bike, took off the broken front derailleur and set the rear one to stay in place. It's a makeshift single speed for the moment but once I took it around the block a few times I knew fixing the thing up was a much better idea than going out and buying a new bike. I must admit all the hills in my area are going to be quite a pain with one gear, but I know for a fact I could use the extra work out. Now I need to decide whether to strip it down and paint it or leave it the ugly rusted up yellow it is now so no one will want to steal it.