Single Speed Conversion Costs
 

Hi, I'm new to the Board

I am a regular commuter to school/work/girlfriends house and I average roughly 40-50 miles/week. I ride an 80's Peugeout Monaco I bought at a Thrift Store. The Frame is in perfect condition, but the some of the components are starting to show some rust/wear and tare. I was looking into converting it into a purely commuter bike and making it a single speed, and eventually by myself something nice (maybe a surly pacer) for longer distance riding.

I was wondering how much it would run at a bike shop to convert it if i buy a new crank and a freewheel. I'm a student, so money is somewhat tight. please help me out

Shouldn't run more than $130 for a crank and free wheel.

yea, i was looking at www.nycbikes.com, they have a cyclone undustries city crank that runs cheap and looks pretty good. I was just wondering how much a shop would charge to get in there and do the work.

Be wary of nycbikes, people on here have horror stories about them.
As far as shop costs go, those vary by the shop.
Just call your lbs and ask .

really? well, the crank wasn't built by them. it's a cyclone industries crank.

Yeah, I think the majority of peoples' complaints had to do with their wheel building and customer service. A quick search will tell you all you need to know about nycbikes.
But yeah, as long as you aren't having them install the crank, there shouldn't be anything to worry about.

i'm gonna say that although they're not the cheapest, NYC Velo has been a pleasure to work with.

But a conversion can cost you anywhere from $100 to well ... i'm about $650 into my quick conversion, but it really only cost me like $200 for the conversion itself. I just get carried away and buy more fun parts only to regret it later.

wow, that's a lot of money. I figured i'd buy the freewheel and the crank, hand it to a mechanic and i'm set.

i'm going from a vertical dropout frame to fixed though, and at first didn't even want fixed just SS. So I went to a new hub with a singleator instead of derailer, new chainring and replaced the chain b/c it was old.

if you can get the old cassette off, all you need is the freewheel and some spacers as well as the new cranks if you want 'em

If you get a new crank, you might be forced to get a new bb as well with a smaller spindle length. Do you need a new crank?

my crank is pretty rusted over. it squeeks, i mean, the bike is a definite fixer upper. maybe this is just beginer's ignorance, but what does bb stand for?

it stands for bottom bracket.

if his bottom bracket sticks his cranks out too much wont this be compensated for a little by having spacers added to his new rear wheel?

if you know how to take your old cranks off, putting new ones on is an easy process that you should be able to do by yourself with the help of maybe parktools.com's repair guide thing. same with installing a rear wheel. not too hard.

but how would i remove the cassette to put on the freewheel?

freewheel remover. most of 'em cost in the $5 - $10 range, but there are a gazillion different freewheel models, so bring the wheel when you go to the shop.

(if the peeps at the shop are cool, and it's slow, you might be able to get them to remove the freewheel gratis).

How rusted over is rusted over? And when you say "crank" do you mean the crank arms where the pedals hook on or the rings on the crank? Unless you're crank is incredibly rusted, this may be as simple as swapping the existing freewheel for a BMX freewheel and shortening the chain to fit. You can clean up a lot of surface rust with some brass wool or dampened tinfoil...

well, i just recently got into cycling, and i'm kind of a big guy. So a couple of times when i'm starting up at a light, it almost seems like the chain skips a little when i put too much pressure on it. I figured a new crank set would fix that.

As far as I know, chain skipping has nothing to do with the crankset. It usually is worn chainring, freewheel and/or chain or combinations thereof. :)

Skipping sensation- what you are feeling could also be as simple as the rear deraileur not being centered over a cog. The bike will try to "shift" when you stand on the pedals and that can feel like "skip skip skip". This may be remedied by adjusting the shifter, assuming it is the friction type...meaning it does not "index" (go click click) to each gear. However, it could also mean the deraileur is bent, but you are going to ditch it for SS anyway.

Point is that the crank may not require replacing which will keep your cost down.

Skipping is probably due to a worn chain and freewheel cogs, unlikely up on the crank or front chainring. When converting to a single speed you will have to replace both the chain as well as get a track cog for the back. Try replacing only the rear cog and chain and leave the crank alone unless there is poor alignment.

Try finding a local bike co-op or somewhere you can take your freewheel off. For a SS you'll be putting on a bmx hub most likely with a circa 80's Peugeot. The freewheel threads onto the hub and once it's off, all you do is spin on the bmx hub. The chain is likely pooched, so get a new on and set it up on the existing rings. What size rings do you have right now, if you can tell?