Hi, I am considering overhauling my five speed, department store bike to a singlespeed. I would greatly appreciate any serious advice for upgrades while keeping in mind the low cost of the bike itself. I am not looking to make the bike something it is not, I know that it is relatively inexpensive, and that my use of the bike would be for casual riding. That said, the bike does have a great frame and maintains speed rather well. Below is a list of potential improvements that I would consider. Frame is made in Japan. Research on the company reveals that Road King was a Canadian Catalog Company, that sold bikes similar to Schwinn.

Please keep in mind:

• I am taking this on as a project to learn more about bikes (beginner status)
• I won't benefit from suggestions regarding ditching the bike and starting new, that's not really the point of this project, time is not an issue
• I live in a city where bikes are stolen frequently, so balance of cost and benefit is important

Okay, list of possible improvements (what's necessary?)

• New Wheels: Rear wheel hub is too narrow, 5-speed shimano freewheel setup does not allow a simple solution. I can't use spacers like i could with a freehub, I believe (current wheels are stock, but straight). Current Wheels are 26x1 3/8". Spacing is 128/130 mm rear, 90mm front
  
• Bottom Bracket: Current bracket uses terrible, stuck, cottered cranks, crank itself has a slight wobble so I would like to swap the whole bottom bracket
  
• Pedals, Handlebars, Seat: Questionable on all acounts, worn pedals, saddle is what i call the "fanny seat", too wide, handlebars are stock
  
• Paint:I've put a bit of time looking into taking on the task of painting this, I know it is time consuming project but I actually have the bike completely disassembled now as I consider the other upgrades
  
• Fenders/Accessories: I already took off the chrome front and rear fenders, and huge kickstand.

I know there is a bit of work that could go into this. Obviously the simplest thing would be to loose the derailler and just utilize the smallest cog for the single speed. Goals here are to improve the ride, lighten everything as I have to carry this up and down 2 flights of stairs everytime I use it, and to transform to some degree an otherwise worn bike. Thanks in advance to all serious responses!!!

Oh, parts and brand suggestions are greatly appreciated! Especially for wheel suggestions. Painting advice or advice on all acounts is great.

There's info on conversions on sheldonbrown.com and in bob's garage on fixedgear gallery.If you want to do it on the cheap,just take off the 5sp cluster off and thread on a bmx freewheel,then respace/redish the wheel if necessary.For the crank,bulletproofs are cheap and decent.With a 103bb you'll get a 45mm chainline on the outside.

Keep an eye out at your local bike co-op or somewhere for some aluminum wheels. I doubt you'll find any aluminum offerings in 26 x 1 3/8, nor will you find any decent tires for it. You may be able to fit 27" wheels in your frame. If you stick with the steel wheels, you'll barely be able to slow yourself down when the wheels are wet, much less stop.

The best thing to do is keep an eye out for another bike at garage sales or your local Salvation Army/Goodwill or similar store. You're looking at a lot of money to replace the wheels, cranks, bottom bracket, etc. I got myself a Nishiki Custom Sport for $5 at a garage sale. It was built with Tange Double-Butted tubing and had aluminum wheels, Sugino GT cranks, and other decent parts. After stripping all the excess crap, I only had to buy new tires and bartape. I had it running for less than $30 total. If you fix your current bike up, the cranks alone will cost you more than that. There are better bikes to learn with.

And here's my 2 cents on painting:
Don't do it. I have painted a couple frames in my time, and both turned out bad. It's not because I did it wrong; it's just the nature of spray paint. If you want to get it done right, you have to get it powdercoated or professionally done, or else it'll just chip and flake off real easily. Besides, there are so many bikes out there with generic, one-color paintjobs that just look so drab and boring. Leaving the original paint gives the bike character and history.

I know that none of this is probably what you want to hear, but I'm just trying to accelerate your bike learning curve. I've built up about 10 bikes since I got into this whole cycling thing, and only recently have I built something that most would consider decent. Now I have a ton of useless frames and parts in my basement, and only 3 bikes that I actually like.

Build Your Own - yeah I've definitely been been spending some time on sheldonbrown.com researching, my current back wheel however uses a 5-speed freewheel, which occupies a bit more space than a singlespeed bmx freewheel...the chainline would be way off, can i redish to accommodate that much?

imthewalrus - thanks for the consideration. all great points, just had a couple thoughts, - the garage sale route is definately preferred...where i grew up that would be my first thought but i live in brooklyn now, there are plenty of bikes here but you will pay for it. that $40 garage sale find would run you 150-200 here. if it costs less you can assume it's stolen. your thoughts on my wheels not being worth using echos my concern.

painting - yeah i am torn. i do love the fact that the bike feels vintage. the pic however does not show the minor spot rust present around the frame. it's not rusted out, but it shows the signs of age and having weathered the elements. a year ago i took to it with some steel wool to clean the frame, which worked okay but did not eliminate the rusted look. aside from knowing it's relative cheapness, is there something that would make the frame undesirable? that is, anything i should look for in assessing the frame? if only this frame and a 10-speed frame where side by side what differences would i find? rear hub spacing i assume...

I was in a similar situation to yours about two summers ago. I found a Free Spirit (department store bike "similar to Schwinn") that had been abandoned in the basement of the apartment I was living in. I considered investing considerable amounts of time and money into it to make it fixed-gear but eventually I just put a coaster-brake rear wheel on that I got for free at a local bike co-op after a few weeks of looking around. My bike has a very similar style to yours (same handlebars and seat) and looks and rides alot better with the coaster-brake setup. I added fenders to mine and it's now my rain/crappy weather "beater" bike. I believe if you were to just look around for a coaster-brake rear wheel, which can be found relatively cheaply...try craigslist.com or check out any local bike co-ops, you would be very pleased with the end result and not have invested too much time or money. I ended up using the money I saved to buy a new fixed-gear and now I have two bikes and couldn't be happier.

Should be no problem to respace and redish.There's a step by step on bob's garage.

Thanks! Yeah I have been going back and forth awhile on the tire issue. Ironically the bike gets no use while i have it disassembled and debate over next steps. To redish, to buy new wheels. the money saved by redishing would be a welcome thing. However the improved ride of new wheels would also be great.

M-Dub: was the wheel you grabbed for free a singlespeed wheel? spacing seems to be the biggest concern for me. as Build Your Own suggested, re-dishing the existing wheel would be a good alternative to buying new. your suggestion to hunt down a used one is great too...hmmmm

Folkrock: The wheel that I put on the bike was a wheel with a coaster-brake hub, so yes it was singlespeed. Spacing might be an issue for you if you try and do the same, looking back it was probably just a "lucky fit" and might not work on every bike.

thanks so far everyone...anyone had much experience redishing without a trueing stand?

I made myself a dish gauge with a long piece of 1/2" wood dowel and three long wood screws. Two screws were placed into the dowel far enough apart that the heads line up with the diameter of the rim. The third screw was inserted all the way through the dowel from the other side and can be turned in or out to interact with the axle locknuts. (this will make more sense if you check out a picture of a dish gauge)

You can use your rear triangle, brake pads, and the homemade dish gauge to get a pretty well set up wheel.

Your frame spacing isn't too big of a deal either. Check out cold-setting a frame on Sheldon's site.

I agree with the other folks that you may end up putting a lot more money into this than is sensible. The point of a conversion is to do it dirt cheap. You can respace the wheel and throw on a $10 freewheel and be set for awhile while keeping your eye out for a decent ride with aluminum wheels.

You could potentially replace just the rims (~$10 apiece for 27" at Nashbar) but then you're still out $40 or so for spokes. Then again, if you did that, probably should drop $50 for a Formula flip/flop rear hub. With that in mind, $150 for a garage-sale bike with alloy wheels isn't looking too bad.

great, thanks strumcrow...very interesting...
i am starting to lean towards investing in good wheels, i can pickup a pair of 700c mavic rims on formula hubs for about $130...big investment but i do feel it may very much improve the ride...if thats the case i will replace the crankset as well, and see where i am at that point....

So after a bit of debating I have purchased a set of weinmann rims on formula hubs, obviously not as high end as mavic or something similar, but a good compromise for the keeping the cost down. Also tonight I did opt to paint the frame. I definately took into consideration everyone's thought's on painting, and the risk that it may not turn out well. Yet, today I walked past the frame, its paint chipped and flaking in spots due to rust, and decided that I could do no worse by painting it.

Plan is as follows. I purchase Dupli-color automotive paint, sandable primer, and clear coat. Oh, I also have some aircraft remover. Process, based on online research will be:
1.) clean everything, use aircraft stripper to get rid of existing paint
2.) clean frame with paint thinner to avoid any grease stuck to surface
3.) 2 coats primer (wet sand)
4.) 2 coats paint (gentle wet sand)
5.) 1 coat clear
Missing any steps? Should I sand before primer?

Anyway, also made some progress on removing stuck on cottered bottom bracket. Crank had slight wobble to it, cotters were not as tight as they should be. I will have to replace the bottom bracket. Any suggestions on figuring out size? From SheldonBrown I found sizing charts, though the axel to the bracket appeared to be a strange, long size. 142mm length. Also, still learning but existing bottom bracket appears to be strange irregular version. Pics tomorrow I hope.

I'm doing exactly the same conversion you are - with a similar bike. I just bought a Ross Europa(Ross's cheapo high ten model) on craigslist for $60... made in the late 70's or early 80's. It was a ten speed with a 5 speed freewheel cassette. I tossed front and back derailers, same chrome "ringy things' on rear wheel and chainring(chainguard) as yours. It has a wide Schwinn seat, which I like, and the bars and grips are also Schwinn. Stem/neck enbossed with JUN. Wheels are original 26 x 1 3/8 steel with shimano hubs. So far I've stripped the bike of everything, sanded down to the bare steel(final sand was 320grit), degreased frame with acetone, applied 2 coats Dupli-Color sandable primer and 3 coats of Dupli-Color Acrylic enamel color(machinery grey). Once cured, I may just buff it out with compound and polish, which I've concluded will make it easier to touch up later, sans clearcoat. The enamel looks great so far and seems to have adhered very well. BTW, Duplicolor enamel clearcoat is the same formula as their colors. It won't cure any harder or be more durable or glossier(I called the 1-800 # and spoke at length to a rep). When painting it's important to shake the can often .. and with Duplicolor enamels you must apply all coats of paint within one hour.

As for reassembling as a single speed: the bike has one of those one piece crank sets with the cups and bearing cages. I tossed the extra outer chainring, and am left with a steel chrome 39t ring. I removed the 5 speed freewheel and got a 16t freewheel to screw on. I won't know until I start reassembling how my chainline will fair. I may just cold set the frame as mentioned above and on Sheldon Brown's site, but I'm prepared to go the spacers and redish route if necessary. I don't even know if this gear ratio will be ideal for how I ride until I ride it! I may need to replace chainring with 44t? So far I've spent $60 for the bike, $30 on paint and primer, $15 for the freewheel and $20 for a decent new chain. So $125 total so far, and I'll probably get new tires and decent pedals too. Brakes are good. Having the bike apart has given me the opportunity to paint the frame, clean up my BB and head sets and other components, clean and regrease all bearings including wheel hubs, and generally learn more about bikes.

Anyway - I'm with you on the whole hands-on, learning experience approach for your first rebuild/conversion project. This is my first as well. I'm a big believer in doing the best you can with what you already have to work with. I already know that after I tool around on this for a while, while having learned a lot about bikes, I will eventually build up a primo single speed from scratch. For now, I would suggest doing this one as cheaply as possible, while still making it a good, fun, single speed that you learn from and enjoy.

I live in Manhattan (LES), maybe meet up sometime - ride the Williamsburg bridge on our new machines! Keep me posted on your progress. I'll put up some pics soon of mine.

Thanks a ton for your feedback supergymnast. Sounds like we are pretty much on the same track with fixing everything up. Yeah I look back and think that if I had taken the option to just buy a newer, less work-required bike, I would've missed out on a ton of frustration for sure, but also learning about stuff. It's been great so far. Today I got my first chemical burn! Ha! Seriously though, I used aircraft stripper to take the paint off today and I am excited to see some physical measure of progress. The remover worked great, and I see that just a little sanding is taking the frame right back to square one, without rust and ready for new paint. Any thoughts from anyone on the condition the frame should be in before priming. The metal gets much smoother after sanding, but I'm not sure if i should rough it up a little so that the primer sticks. My guess is that it will be fine if it's smooth.

Anyway, I attached some photos below of the progress on the frame.

As for the bottom bracket, I still need to grab the appropriate wrench to get enough leverage on the non-drive side cover. The bracket was not sealed, but 2 screw in caps at either end that sandwiched the bearings between the cap and a lip on the axel. Just getting that off has drastically lightened everything. I plan on consulting a bike shop to see what size bottom bracket will fit. I hope everything matches up as there has been a lot of progress it seems in the line of improving b.b. and I want to be able to simply screw in a new one.

Also not too soon to think about a seat and pedals. Anyone have thoughts on a good seat that will fit in with the upgraded vintage vibe the bike will have? Pedal brands? Thanks!!!

One more random piece as well...foolishly I believed that the paint stripper I used, capable of turning hard enamel paint to goo, would not harm the paper-thin, blue painters tape I used to cover the front decal (see above). Really dumb, I know. But anyone know where you can buy bike decals? I am considering recreating the original or perhaps designing a new one...any sites that make custom decals? thanks! ///

SANDED:

dude, you shouldn't waste so much time on such a low end frame.

Like he said, it's a learning experience. It is a lot more nerve wracking to try out new things on a frame you paid $300+ for.

The BB you need depends upon the crankset that you end up using. Those cottered crank spindles were pretty long, you'll need a newer square taper that will be much shorter. This may be a case where you'll have to try out a couple different BBs to find on that gives you the chainline you want.

sweet comment gargiaulo.mike...guess you read the above info regarding the reason for this project. short of price tag, how can someone tell what constitutes a good frame? This one is a Japanese made, 70s-era frame, straight, comfortable. i guess my thoughts are, the frame is low end if it sits un-used, rusting chained to some pole...but that it has value if it is put to good use. ultimately, is $30 bucks for paint and a couple of afternoons spent learning about bikes that big a waste of time?

keep the pictures coming i love build threads

^^ me too. kinda cool how you can take a beat up old bike and make it worth a few $$$ just by cleaning ti up and putting new parts on it.

It may not be the best bike around, but the learning experience is invaluable. The thing that got me started into cycling was a crappy magna MTB that I repainted. I say go for it, and keep your eyes peeled for good deals to swap components over to. It's not like they're stuck to one bike; the only costs you can't carry over is the paint.

I can tell at a glance. I think it is fine to breathe new life into a bike but yeah, it is a low-end frame. You are aware of this so it isn't a big deal but other people rip newbs off all the time. Just check eBay or CL, there are terrible bikes being "converted" and being sold for big bucks.