A few months back when I started working at a shop, I harvested and old Schwinn Frontier GS frame, and some wheels. It started of with the derailleurs locked in place, then I got rid of the triple chainring crank for a single that I put together with stuff I found in the junk boxes. Which left only the rear der. I fashoined that into a tensioner by taking off the backside of the cage,the top pulley, and then stretching it out and placing the lone pulley on top(or the inside) of the chain, kind of like a Surly Singleator. It worked ok, but it wasn't the real deal. So I've been messing around with chainring/cog sizes to find a setup that has enough tension by itself(I have vertical dropouts). I finally found 39/16, which works perfectly. Today I found two cassettes and I busted them apart, took the 16's(one for a spare) and all the spacers, and rigged up a total singlespeed. After messing around for a few mintues I got the chainline just right, and the whole thing runs like a charm. The best part is that I've only spent about 100 bucks!!! SS rocks!

39/16? i'm running 38/18 and i have trouble riding/commuting up the hills. but to you!

Fubar,

You know the forum rules.

Post some pics.

Well, 39/16 tends to be a little tough, but it gave me perfect chain tension. Since I have a vert dropout chain tension was a problem, because I didn't want to use a tensioner.

Greg, pics will come later, but right now I am painting the frame.

Am I missing something? 39/16, 38/18 tough? I run 52/16 with an 18 fixed flip/flop usually, and my vertical drops I've matched a 53 with a 17 nicely, those are tough, I'd spin my legs to butter with a 39.

You da' masher!

my day-to-day bike is setup as a 46/16, and my race bike (when i buy the bits and pieces for it) will be 53/16.

Man i ahve a Norco Rampage and use it to street bike and to do some Downhill. Me and my friend messed around with it and we bought a BMX cassette in the back and a BMX extra large chain and it fits right on. Since then whenever i do some dropouts it actually doesnt make a noise, before when i hoped off the sidewalk my derailer would make tones of noise. So its not only about thension its about all the noise those darn derailers make. SINGLE SPEED IS THE WAY TO GO!! and u got a pretty good deal off it. But i'm not sure waht u got for 100$ i got the chain for 10$ and the cassette for around 15-20$ and its pretty chill

"Am I missing something? 39/16, 38/18 tough?"

I'm guessing because SF is a tad hillier than the twins. ?

For some reason we tend to spin our asses off when riding mtb:s, me I run 32/14 on the mtb and it works, but sure I spin my ass off on the roads towards the wood tracks

36x16, I'm running 44x16 and it's pretty good on hills

Sweet lord people!! this topic was posted a year ago!

"tha nic" definitely needs a batty for this stunt

i read very slowly.

and I'm a hunt-and-peck typist.