Giant Single Speed Conversion
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Giant Single Speed Conversion
So I just got a new cannondale for my birthday and had my old race frame sitting around being useless. Its an 05 Giant TCR Alum frame. I decided I needed something for cruising around campus and town and stuff so I decided to convert it as cheaply as I could. Pretty much everything was donated or bought extremely cheap.
I started with chopping the bars and flipping them over.
Then I took off all the unused components like front d, bottle cages, brifters.
I purchased a single speed conversion kit for the rear, and took the big chain ring off.
Put a little aero brake lever on and voila, a super cheap singlespeed. Im running a 36x12 setup, its a little weird but its all I had to work with.
A few questions: Is there any other options for tensioning the chain? I hate having that huge deraillur on it.
Any input, criticism or complements are welcome
I started with chopping the bars and flipping them over.
Then I took off all the unused components like front d, bottle cages, brifters.
I purchased a single speed conversion kit for the rear, and took the big chain ring off.
Put a little aero brake lever on and voila, a super cheap singlespeed. Im running a 36x12 setup, its a little weird but its all I had to work with.
A few questions: Is there any other options for tensioning the chain? I hate having that huge deraillur on it.
Any input, criticism or complements are welcome
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for chain tension:
eno eccentric hub.
chain tensioner.
or a frame with horizontal drops or trackends.
eno eccentric hub.
chain tensioner.
or a frame with horizontal drops or trackends.
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nashbar or performance for cheap.
size isn't really an issue, i havn't seen any too small.
you're still gonna have something hanging down there, no amount of shrinking will solve that problem for you.
size isn't really an issue, i havn't seen any too small.
you're still gonna have something hanging down there, no amount of shrinking will solve that problem for you.
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A trick to making the tensioner look smaller is to have it push the chain up instead of pull it down.
As far as which one to get, just grab a cheapo performance one and roll with it.
As far as which one to get, just grab a cheapo performance one and roll with it.
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magic gear
Also, ghost rings, if you want to mess with them, but I would go for the magic gear.
-Rob.
Also, ghost rings, if you want to mess with them, but I would go for the magic gear.
-Rob.
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If that's not fixed, you probably should throw on a rear brake- no reason not to. Otherwise, cool build, bet it's light. I'm using those same wheels on my single speed conversion.
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Looks pretty sweet, it's not cheap but Surly makes a sweet derailleur style chain tensioner that would probably fix that up nicely...and I second the rear brake idea.
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Thanks for all the replies, ill probably just settle for the tensioner. I heard that if i use the half link my chain will stretch out overtime anyways.
Any specific reason why i need the rear brake?
Any specific reason why i need the rear brake?
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Also, those brake levers look great. Which ones are they? Also, did you have any problems getting them into your chopped and flipped bars? I haven't bought any levers yet, but I'm a little concerned w/ getting them to fit since the bar-chop is along the "curve" of the bars - if that makes sense.
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Im not sure what kind of lever it is, a friend of mine gave it to me. Its just some generic brand. About the bars, i had to shave a little bit off it on the underside but just some brute force got it down in there. But any more curve and i wouldnt of been able to get them to fit.
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The real debate is whether you need a rear brake (or more accurately, whether you need a brake at all) on a fixed gear, but we're not going to get into that here.
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Thought id show an update
Here's what the bike looked like before any mods(except a custom paint job)
I found the magic gear for my bike which happens to be 50x16 or 48x16 46x16 ect ect so if anyone has a TCR then iv done the work for them
And i chopped the bars and got some Oury's
Next thing on the way is a surly fixxer so i can take the front brake off, and then my bike will be done
I dont think this bike weighs over 10 pounds, its light as ****
Here's what the bike looked like before any mods(except a custom paint job)
I found the magic gear for my bike which happens to be 50x16 or 48x16 46x16 ect ect so if anyone has a TCR then iv done the work for them
And i chopped the bars and got some Oury's
Next thing on the way is a surly fixxer so i can take the front brake off, and then my bike will be done
I dont think this bike weighs over 10 pounds, its light as ****
#16
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I was hoping to open this thread and see i really huge single speed...
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I like seeing modern road bike single-speed conversions. Looks fast and light.
Might want to look into these on sale:
https://tinyurl.com/2255og
Might want to look into these on sale:
https://tinyurl.com/2255og