Single Speed Conversion
 

I just have a feeling, that this current fad of converting a bicycle to single speed gearing is going to be looked on with disdain in the future by all the guys that like to collect older bikes.

in the future?

(I know, don't feed .....)

I wonder what Claud Butler would think about that. Below is my 1948 CB with stock flip-flop hub. What's old is new again.

Neal

http://web.mit.edu/nlerner/Public/Bi...audButler1.jpg

It's possible to single-speed/fix a road bike without obliterating its identity or making it impossible to convert back to gears at a future point. That is a challenge too few accept, however.

Strip a good bike down, pull off badges and decals, paint or powdercoat and then exchange the original component groups for color-matched grotty new parts. I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but that's just not that interesting to me. It's not the modifying part that bothers me either; it's that there isn't truly distinctive modification taking place, just an endless litany of shaved frames, odd bars and next-to-spokeless wheels. Do you want to make a generic bike? Start with a generic frame.

Check out Fixed Gear Gallery sometime and tell me honestly: How many of those hundreds of bikes are as interesting as they were pre-conversion?

Well, the conversions with the funny-looking bullhorn bars and no brakes are a counter culture fad thing. But I agree with nlerner that fixed wheel riding has been around for many generations. The base model Clauds were fixed 50-60 years ago. Gears were an optional extra. Even when you rode gears, you switched to fixed for the winter to stay in shape and for better control.

I just have a feeling, that this current fad of collecting bicycles for display is going to be looked on with disdain by all the guys that like to ride older bikes.

How many bikes actually get chopped/altered? I've taken the braze-ons off of a couple old junkers (and I do mean junkers) because I was bored, I also stripped and painted a few. I would never do it to one of my nicer bikes. All of the geared parts from my conversions are sitting in 5 gallon buckets, should I get the itch to convert back.

At least the bikes are getting ridden.

How many?? LOTS.... I have heard some horror stories first hand. Some of the fixers have a grasp of value, and care about the work that went into the bike in the first place. But far too many are ignorant hackers.

I'm in the process of de-converting my Colnago from SS to geared.

I dont think your wrong I absolutely know your wrong as many many cyclist prefer SS to geared for reasons that go beyond "fads" I like my SS because there are hardly any hills to climb in my area of Philadelphia not because Im a "Hipster" (Stay out of this EH! ;) ) nlearner has it nailed :)