Question about putting adjustable gears on a single speed 80's Peugeot
 

Well I have a 80's Peugeot that I converted to a single speed bike to ride around where I live. I have really enjoyed riding the bike and would like to take it for further rides and ride with friends that have those fancy carbon fiber bicycles on more hilly terrain. I am wondering if there is a kit or a way to convert my single speed bike into a bike with 3, 5, etc rear gears. I really like the setup I have now but it sucks going up hills and when I am on even roads I know I could handle a much steeper gear ratio to get more speed. Please let me know if there is anything I can do.

Thanks!

Here is a picture of my bike. It was a wreck when I found it and had mountain bike handle bars/brake levers among many other horrible things.

http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/q...p/IMG_0023.jpg

Am I the only laughing at the idea of a "kit" to unconvert a bike from a homemade single speed?
Put a rear derailleur on that hanger, a cassette on that rear wheel, and a new/longer chain on. A downtube shifter to match the rear derailleur with a cable and some housing will make it work. It will be more than 3 or 5 speeds, but I think you can deal with that. What cassette is your rear hub designed to handle?

Well, for the least amount of style impact you can get a wheel with an internally geared hub and chuck it in there. I've even seen one wannabee SS rider do a stealth assembly and hide the shifter away up under the saddle....

Anything else and you're looking at a lengthy shopping list - unless you've got the old bits around and if they can be resurrected. If you haven't you're probably better off buying another bike, either as a donor or to use as it is.

Thanks for responding. I know a ton about cars (Mustangs) and trucks (F350!!) but not allot about bikes.

Yea I do not know bike parts very well. I have a friend who is a bike mechanic who built my bike, I just told him what I wanted. That sounds exactly what I was thinking was possible. I only saw 7 or 10 speed cassettes online. I am pretty sure the bike had a 7 speed cassette with the factory wheel. The derailleur was all screwed up so all of that is gone.

What is an internally geared hub? I dont mind running a shifter in the brake lever like those high speed bikes.

I'd suggest selling your single speed bike as-is through Craiglist (if you were in Philly, you could easily get $300 for that bike) and buying a geared bike as a replacement. You'll end up with something quite nice even if you don't put all of the money made on your single speed sale towards the geared bike. Unless you have some sort of emotional connection to that frame, selling it will be cheaper than converting it. If you have a mechanic friend, you could always buy a geared bike and swap the necessary components over to your current frame then sell the remains of the geared bike.

An internally geared hub (IGH) is like the old three speed cruiser my mom road around while I was on Sting-Ray. (Guess how old I am :))They're fancier now, with 7, 8, 11 or 14 speeds. Most IGH shifters are twist-grips or triggers. To run a brifter with an internally geared hub, there is one maker I've seen on the web, but I don't know if it's readily available. I'm going to attempt to use an 8s brifter with a problem solvers travel agent (doubles the cable travel) with my Nexus IGH. Supposedly this set-up will work.

7+ speed IGH hubs are wider than your rear dropouts. I'd still probably look for a donor bike for the shifting bits, or just another bike. That way you'll be starting your bike collection.

Basically your frend built "just what you asked for but not what you wanted". You have discovered the limitations of a single speed/fixed gear bike and that is they only have ONE gear.

I agree with the other posters and consider you have three choices:

1. Spend more than it's worth and convert it back to a derailleur bike or fit an internal geared hub.
2. Buy a properly geared new or used bike for your group rides and sell your current bike or keep it as a beater or casual ride.
3. Keep what you have and accept its limitations.

Did your friend use the original rear wheel? If so I'd just get these things:

1. 7 speed Shimano freewheel
2. 7 speed (or friction) downtube shifters
3. SIS cable and housing
4. pretty much any SIS compatible shimano derailleur
5. New chain

Stick with the single chain ring for now and only use the rear shifter. Get the stuff off ebay or find a bike shop that sells old used parts for the shifter and derailleur. The freewheel, cable, cable housing, and chain should be new though. A few years ago Nashbar was still selling 7 speed downtube shifters. You could get them for $15 or so.

If you don't care about indexed shifting then you don't need to worry about getting a Shimano freewheel or derailleur. You can use any brand, however Shimano's HG freewheels shift pretty nice. If you do want indexed shifting you should stick with their stuff.

If you can use your current wheel, I bet it could be done for $75 or less.

Are the shifter bosses still on the bike?

Just so you know, modern combined shift and brake levers are going to set you back quite a bit which is why I'm recommending the downtube shifter.

If you can go back to your friend for help, I'd do that.

Yea I am going to go back to him. I am sure he can figure something out. I was looking online at other bikes and I was looking at the 1000 to 1500 price range. If I was to get 300 for my current bike then I would need to pay an additional 700 at minimum for a nice road bike. I might as well just spend the money on upgrading my current setup. Plus it would be cool rocking an old steel frame bike!!!

When I bought the bike it was in bad shape. I ripped it all apart, sanded it, painted it and brought it to my buddys bike shop. I gave it to him and he put new wheels, tape, brake levers, seat, rear hub, and made it work really good all together.

So I guess I will have him do like you guys suggested. Get all new rear stuff but I do want to get those trick shifter/brake things.