Turning my bike single speed.
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Turning my bike single speed.
I have a GaryFisher Wahoo disc, amazing bike I love it. Although I love this bike to death I am a pretty large man and the lack-luster square taper crankset is not cutting it for me. I plan to convert my bike to singlespeed because I love the ease of operation and lack of work it takes to keep them going. I want to use an EightInch brand crank it comes with a full bottom bracket, I wanted to know what size of bottom bracket to use on my bike and how to measure that. I also don't know how to check clearance so if anyone out there can help I NEED HELP.
Samaican.
Samaican.
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Not cutting it? Are you destroying cranks?
You could just get stronger cranks... square taper's old hat.
Ease of operation, eh? You prefer hauling a too-tall gear upwind and/or uphill and spinning a too-short one downwind/downhill?
Nicer gear needs less maintenance; mid-level stuff in decent nick should stay in tune for ages.
You could just get stronger cranks... square taper's old hat.
Ease of operation, eh? You prefer hauling a too-tall gear upwind and/or uphill and spinning a too-short one downwind/downhill?
Nicer gear needs less maintenance; mid-level stuff in decent nick should stay in tune for ages.
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Not cutting it? Are you destroying cranks?
You could just get stronger cranks... square taper's old hat.
Ease of operation, eh? You prefer hauling a too-tall gear upwind and/or uphill and spinning a too-short one downwind/downhill?
Nicer gear needs less maintenance; mid-level stuff in decent nick should stay in tune for ages.
You could just get stronger cranks... square taper's old hat.
Ease of operation, eh? You prefer hauling a too-tall gear upwind and/or uphill and spinning a too-short one downwind/downhill?
Nicer gear needs less maintenance; mid-level stuff in decent nick should stay in tune for ages.
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-if you are a big/strong rider, you will kill an isis or octalink BB before you kill your square taper, unless it's a rubbish square taper, which it probably is if it's oem on a disc-equipped GF. Regardless, either keep your crank or go with an external bearing crankset. I like shimano's hollowtech II over other competitiors at all but the higher pricepoints.
-gears. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. Actually, neither clause in that last sentence is true, but i found it nigh irresistible. Anyway, do you ride this thing on trails? "Flat" or not, if you ride trails, you'll want a low gear for SS. Even in flatland, you'll encounter short-n-steep hills offroad, plus varying terrain that is best attacked with a fairly low gear. I used to like 32x17t with 26" wheels, and 32x19t with 29" wheels, for off-road use.
Will you be commuting with this thing? If so, the ratios conducive to trail-riding will suck for riding on the road. If I were to be commuting on a disc-equipped atb with a singlespeed, i think i'd be inclined to try a 44x18 or similar in a flattish area and 26" wheels. Just me.
If you plan to ride trails and commute on this same bike, you might want to scrap the singlespeed scheme.
-you don't need new cranks or hubs for your singlespeed project. You can get short chainring bolts and just run one ring up front on your existing (or virtually any other) crank. The chainring you've got is likely ramped and pinned, which can lead to accidental dropped chains in my experience. Ppl will post replies about how this isn't true, and maybe it hasn't been for them. But, too many ppl running rings designed for multiple gears complain about dropped chains, so if you truly wanna do this, get a SS-style chainring.
You can run spacers on your freehub, and use any hg-compat SS cogs you desire. Running the existing wheels with spacers on the freehub body will help you get your chainline right; shift the cog around amongst the spacers until it lines up just-so with the chainring in the front. You can rather easily switch the cog for riding trails one day, and commuting the next. But, this will require different length chains and removing the wheel, the lockring, many spacers, and the cog--then, replacing them all with the different cog. Not very hard, in reality, but much more work than just keeping your derailleurs/cassette/shifters in place.
Your main issue is going to be with maintaining chain tension. Some folks will tell you to seek out the "magic" combo for your bike, where the right length of chain with the right cog and ring will create tension on your bike. This is difficult to achive and, chances are, the gear ratio won't be conducive to your riding. There are other macgyver methods, such as the famous filed-down eccentric axle, but i cannot recommend these, and won't go into them here. There are eccentric rear hubs and, while white makes one that is disc-compatible, running an eccentric with a disc is a frustrating and expensive proposition. The most common way to do this would be to run a chain-tensioner; there are many available, at several different price-points. I cannot suggest any, as i've never used one, but many folks complain about their ability to hold tension off-road. To me, if you're going to mount a rear-derailer-style thing from your derailer hanger anyway, why not just run a derailer?
For the amount of money that you're likely to spend converting this bike, you might be better off keeping it as-is for trails, and buying a bikesdirect cheapie track bike for SS commutes with appropriate gearing. However, i get the impression that you want to do a SS conversion on this GF, and i respect your tinkering instincts. Hopefully, the above has helped ya some. If not, the web is replete with DIY SS conversion info; google away, take your time, research your moves, and things'll likely turn out ok.
good luck!
-rob
#5
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I would propose , if you are so strong a brute, you should revert to a massive one piece crank
forged of steel , and get a thick wall tube frame with the appropriate BB shell .
this has a lot to recommend a Schwinn Varsity for your purposes.
forged of steel , and get a thick wall tube frame with the appropriate BB shell .
this has a lot to recommend a Schwinn Varsity for your purposes.
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ps- there are other options, such as external eccentric BB cups that run in a normal, english-threaded BB shell, which you could conceivably use if you're replacing your crank anyway. I've got no experience at all with these, so maybe someone else can jump in here and help. Still, the one thing i do know about these is that they're expensive, so...
-rob
-rob
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seriously, i think the OP wants to keep his bike, but he's going thru that SS thing that we all went thru back in college. My dad said it was "just a phase", but i still ride SS from time to time.
-rob
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I'd sell the Wahoo, take the proceeds from that sale and the $200 or so you'd spend on the conversion and get something that's ready to roll
Like this Bianchi BOSS for $450.
Like this Bianchi BOSS for $450.
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Conversion can be done pretty cheaply.
STS conversion kit - $45
Truvativ BB - $30
SRAM SS Crankset - $80
Those are normal prices. Snatch them during a sale/promotion and you can go even cheaper. Or go with cheaper parts.
STS conversion kit - $45
Truvativ BB - $30
SRAM SS Crankset - $80
Those are normal prices. Snatch them during a sale/promotion and you can go even cheaper. Or go with cheaper parts.
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I'd sell the Wahoo, take the proceeds from that sale and the $200 or so you'd spend on the conversion and get something that's ready to roll
Like this Bianchi BOSS for $450.
Like this Bianchi BOSS for $450.
OTOH, if you really like the Wahoo, there's a company that makes an eccentric external bottom bracket that is supposed to solve the chain tension issue cleanly. I've never used it, so I don't know how well it works.
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