sitwell

How difficult would this be to do? I pretty much always use the same chainring and 8 speeds would work fine for my purposes. It's just an around town/commuter bike. The bike in question is a Motobecane Mirage from Bikes Direct that I got a deal on a few months back from Bike Island.
https://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...FcxAMgodOHYAJw
Would I need a new chainring or a new BB? Just a project I was thinking about. I don't like having parts on my bike that I don't use. Any help is appreciated.

fietsbob

use just the middle chainring .. ignore, or remove the other 2.

gregjones

I took off the fd and left the triple front crankset on with the chain on the center gear. I had to limit the rd to the lower (big) four gears to keep the chain from rubbing on the large chainring.

On my bike, I ran it 1X8 with a single speed cranket and could run thru all eight gears with no trouble. My bottom bracket was 3mm short of the recommended spindle and it lined up dead in the center of the cassette.

I don't know if your bike has removable gears or not. A lot of inexpensive cranksets a riveted or something together, anyway they don't come apart. You will just have to try. You might have to run you choice of gear inside the crank arm to line up or maybe change parts.

Unless someone has worked on the same model bike as yours, with these questions in mind, it would be up to guess and trial.

Good luck. Whatever it takes it should be minimal and work fine in the end.

wphamilton

Going from a triple to single I needed a wider bottom bracket. But consider: you may want the outer chainring or a "bash ring" there to keep the chain from falling outside, or you may alternatively want a chain guide (or use the existing derailleur). So you might wind up not taking all that many parts off.

rms13

I was looking into this a while ago. What I found was to do it right you would at least need a chain guide up front ...or keep the front derailleur in place to keep the chain from falling off. Most of the good chain guides are $50+ so keeping the derailleur is cheaper and easier. All in all it seemed like a lot of work and money for something to shave a few ounces off the bike and make it simpler when you can just not shift and get the same effect. If you want a real simple clean bike look at a single speed/fixed gear

surreal

What exactly are you trying to accomplish? You can go 1x8, but be prepared to buy some new parts. At minimum, you'll need shorter chainring bolts or a bash guard. You may want some sort of chain-keeper or dog-fang to prevent derailment towards the inside of the bike. It's suggested that you get a rampless ring with deep teeth, like a Surly stainless ring. You'll likely need to remove some links from your chain. Of course, you'll be giving up some range, too. You might not use it often, but it's there just in case.

I understand that some folks want to keep things simple, but I question the simplicity of a plan that involves removing several parts, adding several other parts, and spending money on stuff that you don't need.

mprelaw

If it's just an around town/commuter ride, why worry about how it looks? Without knowing what you do, I would guess that you're either riding it in street clothes or carrying a change of clothes with you when commuting. A few extra grams, or aesthetics, don't seem to be worth the work involved. I'd just ride it as is, and not use the front shifter, but it's your bike, not mine.

sitwell

I understand what you're saying. I've ridden ss/fg for years and have some parts lying around. I moved from Chicago to Iowa City not too long ago and it's just hilly enough around here that I could use gears, but I don't need 24. I guess I still have that minimalist mentality though. I'll just try it out and see what happens. Worst case I put it back to how it is now. I'm not prepared to put a bunch of money into a $250 bike, but I don't mind doing some work on it.

azgreg

I'm with fietsbob, just remove the unwanted chainrings, shifter, and derailer and have at it.

DiabloScott

The bash guard idea has some merit though - and the derailleur might be useful as a chain drop protector.

I grew up in Iowa City - I know those hillls... not long but some are kind of steep.

sitwell

If I was 24 instead of 34, it wouldn't be a problem on a ss. Not anymore though. Thank you to all who have chimed in. I'll report back when the project is done.

ArizonaAdam

I did this at one point on my hybrid/commuter because I wanted a rear fender and it would not fit with the fd on the bike. I took off the inner and outer rings, bought shorter chainring bolts, and took off the fd/cable.

I never had a problem with chain dropping, though my commute at the time was only 2 miles each way so I didn't ride much.

Realized I didn't need the fender and put everything back without issue.