Chicago Al 

I am not only new to SS but new to working on bikes and have been spending a lot of time at the C&V forum this summer. Fun! This is a different project though.

13 y o son and I want to convert his garage-sale-find '96 Specialized Hardrock to SS. Later on, maybe to FG with a flipflop...but first SS. The bike has semi-horizontal rear dropouts so should not need a chain tensioner, right?

As I understand it:

remove cassette (need Shimano tool for the lockring, right?)

replace cassette with single cog and spacers

remove extra chainring

either shorten chain or replace it with a new one (time for that anyway)

remover gripshifters from bars

I have basic bike tools, chain breaker, etc, but not the special cassette tool--maybe something else would work?

This will be a Chicago street bike, so what cog/chainring combo would you recommend? I see SS conversion kits pretty cheap but they usually include a tensioner which I am pretty sure we don't need.

Anything else I should be thinking about?

Thanks,

Al