Fixi to free wheel conversion options
 

So I have a 1965 ish Mercian track frame. It is fixed wheel with horizontal dropouts. I have moved from London (flat) to Devon (hilly) and want to get some use out of such a great frame. But how? Mercian can add bits to the frame - I was going to send it to them for a re-spray anyway, but I cannot afford the £110 to add vertical dropouts/gear hanger.

Option 1. Can I pop a single speed free wheel on and have 2 or 3 chain rings on the front?

Option 2. Can I add an internal hub to the rear wheel?

Option 3. ?

Any ideas?

1. Yes and no; conventional shifting is not possible due to a fixed chain tension. But there's the special S3X hub if you're still interested.

2. If you mean by swap via a entire wheel rebuild, yes you can.

Option 3* get a prebuilt rear track wheel and get a larger tooth count cog if you plan to keep your current outer ring as the front chainring. You can remove the rest.

IGH seems the way to go.

I don't know how well/if these work, but:

http://www.freemanscycles.co.uk/prod...=Gear%20Hanger

Thanks....

The S3X is cool, but at £250 I might as well get the frame converted to vertical dropouts (£110) and have the flexibility of buying any drive set.

What about those tensioners? I have been offered a free, single speed wheel which would be nice to use. Can I put a tensioner on with 2 or 3 front chain rings?