Hello all you knowledgeable bike peoples,

Within the past half-year I have entered the bike world riding daily back and forth to college. I made what some would call a mistake, taking advice on my first real bike purchase from my fixie-riding hipster frends. I acquired a "refurbished" (cough) single speed Raleigh Record from a less-than-reputable bike shop, and have had a few minor issues along the way. Now that I've been riding, I know that my preference would be for a bike with a range of gears.

My question is: What will it take to throw a set of gears on? I'm not looking for a gazillion gears, just something simple with a few options. I'm thinking a single gear in the front, and a set of gears in the back. I do need a new crankset because the one that came on the bike is a ugly POS. Do I have to get a matching set of some sorts? Do I need to get a whole new rear hub?

I'm not trying to spend a ton of money, just trying to get a better setup.

I appreciate your advice, thank you in advance.

IS your rear hub a single speed hub? Or is it a freehub with spacers and a single cog? If it's the latter then the conversion is pretty easy: get a rear derailleur of your choice (I vote XT) and a cluster to go with it (8 or 9 speed...10 makes it trickier). Up front if you're replacing cranks anyways then I say get a nice road or mountain crankarm set and mount a ring of your choice in the middle mount (maybe have your LBS help you with this). Then put one of these on each side of your ring (same size, one size bigger than your ring): https://www.bbgbashguard.com/

The trick will be, as you will see, whether your bottom bracket spindle is too long or not. If you've been running a single speed hub then you'll probably want a new BB with a shorter spindle. You can get the Truvativ one for $15.

Oh yeah, you'll need a shifter and cable, too. In my opinion the best way to go is just getting some cheap thumb shifters (friction) like these: https://www.ebikestop.com/items/004-LD1102

The Falcons are cheap and bombproof.

I understand your plight. I really enjoy a singlespeed, but there are certain times I wish I had a little range for speed on downhills and climbing...my legs get tired!

It depends on how your bike was built, for instance does it have singlespeed hub, or a ghetto conversion on a standard cassette.

My initial reaction is to tell you to sell that bike and buy something with gears.

To convert your existing bike, you're going to need a rear wheel that can take a cassette, a rear derailleur, and a shifter of some sort.

What about a hub-gear conversion if it's not a cassette freehub? Wouldn't that just mean the cost of a hub, spokes and a wheel rebuild, but probably also a new chainring?

I'm asking, because that's my position too.

I'm going to make a suggestion that is cheap and easy, but would work for some folks and not for others:

1) take your bike and sell it on craigslist.org .... If it has two wheels, two tires, and two tire tubes (all in working order) then it will be worth $40 or more in parts, and the price you're able to sell it for should reflect that.

2) look on craiglist.org for a bike by trek, giant, diamondback, kona ... or other quality bike brand. Lots of great non-suspension bikes from the days when everybody was buying a mountain bike are available for about $100. Many of these were $200 new, 10 or 20 years ago. Now they are in nearly the same condition as then, but selling for $100.

Find a hipster to sell that bike to [include a white belt and an NJS sticker to sweeten the deal], and buy a cheap geared road bike or hybrid.