Ignore my previous post, Ferrous has raised some good points.

Right, i'll try this

1). Buy a freewheel removal tool.
2). Buy a single speed freewheel cog (take a look at this one since it's 14t, and hence smaller than the 16t one)

That's my current plan. I may have to post problems to do with the chainline, but that's for another thread.

If either of you could verify that those are the tools and equipment I need, i'd be grateful.

EDIT: Since i'm adding a new cog (in the form of a single freewheel cog), do I also need a new chain? If so, what do I need for that?

Sorry to keep this problem ongoing, I think we're almost there though!

Forget the single cog and lockring idea - you'd need a track hub with the right threading on it to do that. My oversight, sorry. ;)

As Ferris mentioned, you could just buy another freewheel, and just use the sprocket you want on it, or you could substitute spacers for some of the unwanted sprockets.

Also, have a read of this article as well as the Sheldon Brown one posted earlier.

Was there anything wrong with this?

If it looks fine, i'll order the parts now.

You're going to have lots of problems with chainline, tension etc., etc. if you go down that route, trust me on this...

It would be *much* simpler to buy a new freewheel, and just use a single sprocket on it. :thumb:

Also, smaller sprockets wear out a *lot* faster than larger ones, so have a play using the larger chainrings and larger rear sprockets.

What's wrong with it?

In all seriousness, what makes it worse than some of the more expensive mountain bikes?

Your plan will work and you'll get a manner of singlespeed if you proceed as planned.

Depending on the age of your current chain, you may need a new one too.
If so you need a chainbreaker or 'chain tool' to shorten it.
If you are removing the rear derailleur from the bike, you'll need to shorten the existing chain anyways.

I don't want to discourage you. The differences between your bike and a more expensive one are too numerous to mention here.
You could invest more than the cost of a new or pre-owned single-speed bike into this one and still not have one as good.
That's because you're re-purposing a frame and components in a way they weren't designed for.
One cannot make a silk purse from a sow's ear.

Mashing a tall gear is bad. It's inefficient, hard on your knees and doesn't get you as fit as learning to spin.

It's the so-called 'suspension' that kill me that they put on BSOs like that. If they just left that ****e off the bike, and spent the few pennies it cost on better tubing and components, then they could maybe build a hardtail for the same costs which would be *much* lighter, more fun to ride, less to go wrong, and better components.

EDIT: It *is* amazing what you can buy second-hand now, though - the guy at one of my LBSes said when he saw my 1992 Marin Eldridge Grade hardtail (7sp upg. to 8sp. with XT/DX, Mavic wheels, Shimano hubs) that he recently sold one similar to someone for £100. :thumb:

Good thing is that a lot of younger people these days are unfamiliar with what made a good bike from that era and before, so they don't assign a lot of value to it, pushing prices down. ;)

It looks like you have a busted freeWHEEL; not a cassette.

I've seen such failures. Primarily, at the factory, most likely, they failed to insert one ring of tiny bearings. Usually the outboard set. Why do they forget? Don't know. But I've serviced at these two freewheels in the last 2 years with exactly the same problem. These were either a SunRace or a Falcon freewheel. Once was on the road. And I knew they didn't put bearings in the outboard races, because there was no evidence of metal-wear that would be present if the bearings were there.

The lack of the outboard bearings means the body and the cogs have friction. This means the inside body will rub on the freewheel retaining/lock-ring (the one on the face of the freewheel with two holes for a pin spanner). Normally, if both sets of bearings are in, the edge of that lockring (which is reverse threaded) never touches the side of the inner part of the freewheel body. But without that outer row of bearings, the edge touches and over time, when you coast on the bike and it's in freewheel mode, instead of naturally tightening the lockring, the friction on the edge actually loosens the lock ring. So it comes off, and the whole body slides outboard and then you screw your chain alignment and then you break cogs.

Solution?

Get a $10 Shimano 6 speed replacement freewheel from Walmart.com or some other place. Maybe they have free site-to-store shipping. Remove the body stuck on the hub still (big pipe wrench works if you don't mind mangling the fw body).

Or if you have a bag of 120 or so 3/32 inch diameter tiny ball bearings, and the pawls are still functioning, you can grease the FW and body, carefully fill up two rings of tiny balls (about 40-something on the inner ring and 50 something on the other ring), then insert body carefully with pawls pushed in, and then from the other side, thread on the lock ring and tighten nominally with pin spanners.

There is a reason to avoid BSOs. This is one of them.

Wow - that was a really interesting and informative post.

It's posts like these that keep me coming back to the forum. :thumb:

I've also seen pictures of freewheels that have had bits of curved wire substituted for balls - it's still got bearings in the races, but only a few with the bits of wire placed where the other balls would sit.

I'm not sure whether this was just a cost-saving maneuver (*lots* of bearings over the course of 1000s of units) or whether they might have run short of bearings in the factory that day. ;)

I've got my eye on a few on ebay. One of the big problems with me and bicycles is that the handlebars are always too low. I like the handlebars high up since I don't have to lean over as much, but there seems to be a fashion for having them low. I've read about reasons why this is meant to be good, but I just don't like them.

The next time I go out, i'll post pics of the terrain on my way to work. I can then ask you guys what's the best type of bike for me. I don't think it's rugged or hilly enough to warrant a mountain bike, but it's not concreted over so I can't use a racing bike.




I like it because it feels harder. It actually makes me feel like i'm exercising. I might try riding my Dad's hybrid while my bike is inactive. That has gears on it, so i'll try learning how to spin on that. I might end up liking it.

I've bought a freewheel removal tool and a 6 speed freewheel. Hopefully this will solve all my problems.

Assuming the freewheel tool matches your model of freewheel, you should be good. The tool you linked to is a pretty common one.

Spinning (60rpm+) *is* much better - more efficient, and much better cardio exercise - trust us on this. Makes your bike bits last a lot longer, too. :thumb:

I know what you mean but you won't like it when you realise how much extra strain you've put on your knees, when you can't sit down without your knees hurting and they feel like they're creaking when you stand up again.

I naturally prefer a lower cadence myself for the exact same reasons and have been trying to get used to a faster cadence with less resistance. Another advantage of the faster cadence is that I really don't need quads like tree trunks.