Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - need tech help

well i've been looking to go fixed for a while, i have a suzue hub being ordered, and as of now im a courier in boston, so i use my bike every day. its a older road bike that i found being thrown out, and fixed it up so that its rideable again. basically, the derailers give me so much trouble, that i just want to get rid of them, and i only ride in one gear anyway, so it wouldnt be a loss at all. my question is, until i get my fixed hub, is it possible to strip off the derailers, and just run the chain around a selected front and back gear?

depends on the drop outs, and a few other things, like how much tension can be applied to the chain based on position of the rear wheel in the dropouts. I knew a guy that did that and kept throwing his chain as there was not enough proper tension.
I am sure someone in here is clever enough to tell you how to use the existing rear mech as a tension device; I would - but everyone knows I am highly stupid.
Welcome to the wonderful world of one. Enjoy your stay...

Rip off the shifters and the cables and just set the adjustment screws on the deraileurs to lock the bike in one gear. You can even go so far as to pull off the front chainring that you're not using.
Is the current rear wheel a cassete rear wheel or a thread on freewheel cluster? In eitehr case you have options for converting to SS for very little or no money. Check here: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/singlespeed.html It should have every bit of info you need, and then some that you don't. Sheldon's site is invaluable.

Not only is Sheldon's site a wealth of knowledge, but you are close enough to get to the man himself. Harris Cyclery is on Washington St. in Newton. It is a few doors down from Blue Ribbon BBQ (YUMMMMM!) and across from the West Newton Theatre.

If you have horizontal dropouts, you should be able to just shorten the chain and put it around the gear that works best, as long as the chainline is pretty straight. I ran my Fuji like that for awhile. Large front chainwheel, middle rear cog, about 70 inches.

yeah, the line i want to run is the back gear, second from the bottom, which appears to give the straightest chainline... sheldon's site is very helpful for just about anything, i didnt know harris cyclery was in newton though, i can prolly just ride out there from the city, i've rode to watertown before on the charles river bikepath thing, and i dont think newton is too far past that. i have a sealed bmx hub laced up to a 26" rim, something i did when i was bored, and i could probably just put a freewheel on that, for less trouble than ripping off the derailers would be, even though they would come off anyway

West Newton is really close to Watertown Square. When you hit Galen ST. at the end of Nonantum Rd. you go left on Galen until you hit the Pike entrance, then go right on Rt 16 until you get to West Newton. Harris is on the right just before Rt 16 jogs left over the Pike again. Blue Ribbon is on the next block so you can fill your tank after you shop. If you already have a BMX hub, you could relace it to a 700c rim, put a BMX freewheel on that and go SS. Or go with the spacer/cog/lockring on your rear and move your big ring to the inside of the spider to get a tighter chainline.

or you may just go to comunity bikes in the south end. those guys are also very helpful and very cool plus they usualy get alot of the messenger busines.