Originally Posted by
crankholio
I have not had a LBS do this, but I found it costly enough just doing it myself. If you use quality parts and don't totally ghetto-rig the bike, you can easily spend $200-$500 on the conversion. Add at least $300 to that if you factor in your LBS doing the work. At that point, you should probably just buy a new single speed bike unless you have strong sentimental attachment to your current one.
Why would it be the price of a new bike ($300?!) just to have the rear wheel set properly lmao wtf?
This is an absolute lie. Even if you had the most vertical dropout without any means of tensioner and had to buy new tools, theres no way it would amount to (a minimum) $200. A chain tensioner is ~$30 (if you're converting a road bike with vertical dropouts) and freewheel (minimum ~$15). If you dont have the tool and need to buy them, a freewheel and/or cog tool should be less than $20, and a freewheel removal tool (assuming that's what you need) is literally $10-20. Redishing the wheel might cost a pretty penny, but if you're running single speed it's a negligible difference running a crooked chainline.
EDIT: just saw that you're looking to convert a multispeed freehub to single. You basically use one of the gears and add spacers to it. The tool for that is ~$20 and the spacers are literally pocket change.