So I'm soon to undergo my first and second SS conversions (Mine and My girlfriends). First question is gear ratio. As I know not much of anything about bikes and I'm just jumping in headfirst I am not sure what gear ratio to use. I pretty much stay in one gear on my 10 speed now and I think the ratio is 40 to 13. However the conversion kit I ordered only comes with a 16, 18, and 20 tooth cog. Forte conversion kit is what I went with. It was kind of on a whim and seemed like a cheap option and I figured I could use 2 of the cogs and save some $. So after looking at some chart on the interweb I found that 40 to 13 is about the same as 48 to 16. Is this correct?

Also, I am having trouble deciding on just running a front brake or using both. I like the idea of only using a front brake just because it looks much cleaner and make the bike a tad lighter. But I'm still not convinced.

Well anyways my Schwinn Traveler is about to undergo an overhaul, be it good or bad depends on me not screwing this up. Any suggestions? I've tried doing as much research as I can but I've found that the only true way to learn something is to experience it. Any advice is much appreciated and try to take it easy on me as I'm just an impatient kid who gets bored too quickly for his limited resources.

44 16 is common. what are you going to use the bike for? a front brake would work if you just use it for light duty. but if i was doing front brake only, i'd get a modern brake if you haven't already.

Flat land maybe 4 miles a day tops. It's a short ride to campus. I'm not going to be going on tour or doing any races or anything. My only concern is fliping over the bars in an emergency reflex slam the brake scenerio.

you can do front only. just ride around when you first get it and get used to how much braking power it has and learn to modulate it. actually 90% of the time the front brake is what i use on my road bike and same holds true for most riders.

in short: practice makes perfect

https://sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html Advice on braking technique Practice and you'll instinctively move your weight back and down as you brake. Also important to be very aware of your surroundings to minimize those panic stops.

https://sheldonbrown.com/gears/ A gear calculator that'll give you gear inches, gain ratios, and speed in mph at certain cadences (rpm) It's cheaper to swap cogs than chainrings. A 1 tooth difference on the cog ~4 tooth difference in your chainring. 48-18 = 70 gi 44-16 = 72.5 gi 42-15 = 74 gi for a bike with 700c wheels. The 70 gear inches will probably be a bit low; try the other two. My wife's mixte is 48-20 but she likes it that way. I started out with a 42-17 then switched to 42-15. I use brakes on the front and rear. Front only is fine but when I'm scrubbing speed on a downhill I alternate front-rear, front-rear. Rear brake isn't as effective at stopping you as the front but it will give you more control over the bike, particularly on wet pavement and/or twisty descents.

In fact, just read the entire www.sheldonbrown.com

Since you have a bike you are going to convert, use it to figure out what gear ratio you want to use. Ride it around. Set it in a single gear one day and make that ride to school. Does it work? If not, set it higher or lower the next day. When you have a gear that works for you, get down on your knees and count the teeth on the chainring (front) and cog (rear). The ratio between the two is what you are looking for, not necessarily the same number of teeth. For an extreme example a 25 tooth front and 10 tooth rear is going to give the same ratio as a 50 tooth front and 20 tooth rear.

Don't take the brakes off until you know how to ride. At that time you can make an informed decision.

SS=Front and rear brake.

wet pavement, a seconds distraction, your admitted inexperience, any one of these is a good reason to run both brakes. if you need the fashion o front brake only equip yoursepf with a coaster brake.

its also important to remember that you are heretalking about SS, this is the right forum but many of the fixed fans here are too stupid to know what you mean by SS, so they say stupid things like that with a little practice you can remove your brakes.

be wary of that advice

No one said you can remove the brakes with a little practice.
Be wary of assumptions.

IMO there's nothing particularly wrong with using a front brake only if it's going to be a light duty bike. Some folks might think you're trying to pose as a fg rider, but that's about it.

I ride 2 different SS bikes. One is a girl's mt. bike beater for sandwich, grocery, and beer runs. The other is a road bike conversion with some real speed. If you are not going that fast you can strip down to one brake. Flipping my mt. bike has never come close to happening because it just can't achieve the speed without a giant hill.

I'm starting to like the idea of running 2 brakes more and more. Sure, one brake looks a lot cleaner. However, roadrash on the face could end up looking worse than running 2 brakes.

I have completed the conversion for the most part. I still need to put on the chain, tighten the lockring a tad more, put my back brake back on (I do things without thinking), and then I'm ready to ride.

I'm also looking for a new stem to fit my 1" headset and my 31.8 bars that I got from a guy on BF in the pay it forward thread. I think I might end up having to get an adapter. Any ideas?

My personal preference: something slightly higher than a 3:1 ratio. 1 front brake. Rear brake imo is superfluous.

Your conversion should go pretty fast on your Traveler. Just don't forget your foot retention.

I just converted an old travler to a SS too! I love it so far. I did leave the rear brake on, I'd rather not t-bone some car because of vanity.

Flat and short rides, I wouldn't be too concerned with only a front brake, even for a singlespeed. Only reason I run two brakes is because of the gnarly downhills I deal with. If I still had my old commute (7 miles on a flat bike path) I'd probably take the rear brake off.

I'll probably ride it without the rear brake for a few days and test it out, since it's already off and everything.

I just finished putting on the chain only to find that the cone bearings are loose in my front wheel. At, least I think that's the problem. Unfortunately, I don't have proper tools to fix this so hopefully the guys at the LBS will do it at a discount considering I've spent a few hours and about $100 there on tools and parts in the last few days.