Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - converting a mountain into a fixie

i have this mountain bike sitting in the back of my house, we've had it for awhile now and i'm thinking about taking it out because gas prices is cutting into my lunch budget. The brand of the bike is univega, if i was to turn it into a single speed how much money will i be looking at? This is my first bike project of any sort and i heard it was possible if done right, so any tips would be extremely helpful. Thanks in advance

my motto throughout this project is if it's works its good, so my budget on this bike is limitless but i dont want it to cost as much as buying a car by the time i'm done with it

well you are going to need to spend about 150 alone just for the hub that is for vertical dropouts, assuming u have a vert. drop out.

read more about the hub here:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/white-hubs.html

but as for the other stuff, like brakes, handlebars, seat, etc. it is up to you to upgrade.

See here: http://sheldonbrown.com/singlespeed.html

Especially: "The cheapest way to convert a multi-speed bicycle into a singlespeed is to use the original rear hub, assuming that it is made for a conventional threaded freewheel. A single BMX freewheel will thread right on. Unfortunately, the chain line (http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_ch.html#chainline) is likely to only work with your granny gear unless you re-space the rear axle and re-dish (http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_da-o.html#dish) the wheel."

Having horizontal dropouts will make things easiest.

thanks guys i was wandering what the bike shop guy meant about vertical dropouts but i didn't want to ask and sound like an idiot lol

I paid 200 CAN$ for a set of cheap 26" wheels. I had horizontal dropouts. You'll need a new chain and perhaps a chainring. If you change your crank, you may have an issue with your bottom bracket - you may need a longer one). You may or may not need to do that to have a nice chainline.

You're looking at about 250$ for cheap parts if you do it yourself.

It's worth it though, converted my old rockhopper last week. It's a blast!

You can do it for way less than 250 depending on what your bike is specced with in terms of parts...Ideally if you have a freehub and horizontal dropouts it will cost you about 25-30$

Pictures of the crankset and rearwheel area would be nice

edit: fixed will be more expensive than single speed

If you don't want to respace and redish the wheel, BikeIsland.com sells 26 inch wheels with a flip flop hub for about $100. As long as you have horizontal dropouts, you can just take off the two smaller chainrings and put the bigger one where it will give you the best chainline. Shorten your chain and your done for the cost of the wheels and a couple of chainring bolts.

See here: http://sheldonbrown.com/singlespeed.html

Especially: "The cheapest way to convert a multi-speed bicycle into a singlespeed is to use the original rear hub, assuming that it is made for a conventional threaded freewheel. A single BMX freewheel will thread right on. Unfortunately, the chain line (http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_ch.html#chainline) is likely to only work with your granny gear unless you re-space the rear axle and re-dish (http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_da-o.html#dish) the wheel."

Having horizontal dropouts will make things easiest.

Edit: Thought you were asking about single-speed, not fixed; here's the link for fixed gear:
http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html