Plow13

so i want to build up a single speed bike...well kind of. I was thinking of putting a double crank up front and just a single cog in the back...so i could just manual move the chain for hilly days and such...so is this possible and what equipment do i need to do this?

spider-man

You would need a chain tensioner (your derailer would work nicely) or else horizontal dropouts. What wheel are you planning to use?

FlatFender

x2

he may also need something to keep the chain on one of the front rings. A front deraileur would also work nicely.

BCRider

If you use a derrailleur as a tensioner so you can switch front rings you may as well just keep on using the full gear set.

The only gain you get with a single speed is losing the drag inherent in the derrailleur. Otherwise it's not worth the fiddling. That is unless you don't have a shifter for running the derrailleur and are just trying to get by for now.

Mistawes

I'd go for a flip flop hub instead, (freewheel-freewheel) and just flip the back wheel over and you've changed gear (using quick clips you can easily do it on the road with no tools!). Otherwise your chainline will be off and will get noisey if you change gear using the front rings.

I'm using a double crankset atm and this is the problem I face, just won a new crank on Ebay last night so shouldn't be a problem anymore once I make it a single! I was using the old one to keep my bike moving, but it's not all that healthy to do it for too long, tore my chain apart when it snagged on the outer ring the other night!

Just my oppinion on it..

Vanthel

I know someone that does this and it seems to work well for him

tellyho

Yeah, I don't think the messing around is worth your while. Sheldon talks (talked?) about a setup where he found the perfect combo of chainrings and cogs so that his chain length could be constant and he could move from big/small to small/big with no problems. But it sounds like more work than makes sense if you're looking for the simplicity of single speed.

sfclearwater

I have done what you are talking about on a bike with vertical dropouts. Just get a chain tensioner that screws into the derailleur hanger (https://www.webcyclery.com/product.ph...cat=405&page=1) and set the chainline up to be directly in between of the two front chainrings. I used a 3/32 chain instead of 1/8 as they are designed to run at and angle anyway, although the smaller the angle the better so make sure the chainline is right in the middle. Works fine except you get your hands dirty when you change to a different chanring, don't have to carry any tools though.

Would work fine of a bike with horizontal dropout too...