Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - 1993 cannondale M700 conversion?

I have been looking for quite some time now and I thought that I would take the plunge.

My 18 year old son was given a 1993 cannondale M700 in poor shape. He asked me to build him a single speed for him to use at college. The only good parts are the frame,seatpost,stem,bars,cranks and the forks. I am not sure where to start. I think we may change the fork to acomidate a road tire, this youls need a reducer from 1 1/4 to 1 1/8 . The rear could be more dificult. Any ideas? Should I keep or replace existing cranks and just loose some or the chain rings.

I don't want to go to expensive since alot of bikes get stolen on campus. Any information would be helpfull.Thanks.

M700s don't have horizontal dropouts so you'll need a tensioner to make it into a single speed. Why not just make it into a single speed mountain bike with slick tires? All you'd need to do is get MTB slicks, tubes, a front wheel and a rear with a freewheel and tensioner and remove two of the chainrings or get a new chainring altogether. The conversion to road tires would be too hasslesome otherwise.

I use my MTB cranks on my MTB conversions. They are fine. Road cranks on a MTB get to be annoying bc the chainline.

That fork thing is a pain. Does the head tube not have the reducer in it?

Thanks for the help. To awnser the wheel issue, we have to get a complete wheelset since the oones that sere on it are completely shot so I figured I would try and see if road tires would fit. I took the front tire off mu other sons motobecane and it fit the front fork just fine. There is also room in the rear for the 700 as well just have to check to see if the spacing is ok. He does not want to run brakes since he has been running brakeless for many years now on his other bikes. I will probably pull the rear tire off the moto and check the spacing. If we do run a brake we will most likely run a disck and weld a tab for the mount, but thaat is down the road awaise. I have not pulled the forks yet to check the headtube for spacers. The forks are good just the paint is chipped up alot. We are thinking of removing the paint and giving it a brushed raw look.


Thanks agin
Cruiser

Look into an White Industries Eno Eccentric Hub. This way you can go fixed with the vertical dropouts. I think you'd probably want to keep the same size rims to avoid a lot of hassles.

Or if you don't need fixed go with a single speed conversion kit with tensioner. Did this (sans tensioner) on a 1991 Rockhopper and it's a blast. Put big slick Ritchey Moby Bites on it (not sure if they still make these) . After removing the derrailers and extra rear cogs and front chain ring it is really light too. Would be a great college bike.

Otherwise just pick up a road frame which would probably end up being cheaper in the long run and involve less compromises.

Inspiration:

http://ibikedb.net/bikes/1033-cannondale-m700

Hmmm...tag....I have one of these in my garage, can't wait to see what you do with it.