So I recently decided to build my own commuter. I found this beauty on craigslist and I am trying to acquire it this coming thursday. I plan on making it a single speed, although I may go geared. Tell me what you think. Also feel free to post about your own commuter builds.

that frame screams SS (or fixed?). gears would make it lose some of it's charm.

keep us posted!

I say go SS. I would love to do something like that soon. Would really give me a workout around here since there are a lot of little and big hills that near and around where I live.

It completely depends on your use. I couldn't use a singlespeed or fixed gear for my commute, but I'm sure there's commutes that it would work well on.

Dunno that a single speed is a good idea in hilly KY. And it's really not a good idea if you carry a lot. So I'd probably pick up an internal gear hub. A fancy one with 7 or 8 speeds will make most hills doable, but the really nasty ones will still be tough. (really nasty is 15% grade or worse in my book) Even a Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub will take some of the edge off.

If you'd rather have a derailler if you're doing gears, I'd go with mountain cranks. Sure, you might use a 52 tooth ring going downhill, but I'm chicken and would rather not try to hit 50mph on an Appalachian road. Too many blind curves. A 50 or 48 tooth big ring should be plenty big.

If this is a second bike, do whatever the hell you want .

This is my second bike. I currently ride a specialized hardrock sport that I just bought about three months ago. I have road tires on it, but keep the mountain tires since I still go mountain biking occasionally, and it works for now...it is of course geared. But I want a second bike and more importantly a consistent commuter.

Berea isn't really that hilly, although it does have some hills. My usual route to work is only about 1.5 miles, although if I take the long route it can be up to 4. There is only one hill that I have to ride on, during the normal route and I can handle it easily on a single speed.

If I want to ride for fun or elsewhere that I will need gears I'll probably ride the mountain bike.

How do internal gears work?

Hey, I just picked up a Peugeot frame/fork too. Mine's a mountain bike frame from roughly 1987. It's got that awesome 80s rainbow decal, plus U-brake bosses on the chainstays. It's going to be a city/commute bike with a geared rear hub, big baskets, etc.

Sweet. Definitely keep us posted!

Go Single Speed if you've already got a geared bike...Its certainly cheap enough to try

They're a hub with a planetary gear system built inside (so automatic transmission style, rather than stick shift, if you know cars). The only exposed gear is a regular single speed cog. This gives you many of the advantages of single speed, like the sturdier chain and straight chainline, but you also get gears. There are several sorts of shifter variations, but most of the ones sold new use a twist shifter.

The Sturmey Archer 3 speed design is old enough that you can look up a lot of the servicing documentation online. Real nifty engineering. The fancier ones are newer, so there isn't as much in the way of public manuals. Sheldon Brown has a bunch of IGH information, and his gear calculator covers them.

If you poke around, there are a bunch of internal gear focused threads here too.