Originally Posted by
marcsp
I had actually thought of that but my LBS told me that I couldn't do it and basically should just buy a new 1x bike. Which didn't/doesn't make sense to me when I look at the cranks ... they have the four bolts that look like I could get just what you said ... could I have run into a bad LBS experience?
I'm not 100% sure of your bcd measurement on your crank, but if it matches the chainring, you shouldn't have any issue. That chainring is 104, but I'm sure you can find them in 110 or 130 if need be. You might also need new shorter chainring bolts...but chainring bolts are cheap and it doesn't hurt to swap them out anyway.
If the shop is telling you to buy a new bike and that you can't do that, they're smoking crack.
I basically just pulled my crankset, took off the 3x rings, put the single on, pulled the front derailleur and cabling, put the crankset back on, and called it good. Took me about an hour or so.