I rescued a old Giant Acapulco from some destructive kids that thrashed the poor thing (broken derailers, most of the built in cable holders busted off, and they had set fire to the seat and tried to melt the decals off with a lighter by the looks of it).
i desided to save it for two reasons 1) i had one of these when i was younger and remembered its tough and only 30lbs loaded from the factory. 2) the seat tube is tall enough i barly have to have the seat post out (being 6'1" i never find a MTB that works on) im trying to make this a budget piece and hoping to hit 25lbs or under (i know this meens using lighter components) as my other bikes are 35 - 55lbs and i have to carry them up and down stairs all the time.

so far ive been cleaning the frame up: i riped every last piece of the bike apart (to my supprise the bearings looked fantastic compaired to most older bikes i dig into) i ground off the rest of the cable holders for the shifters (luckly the rear break ones are fine) and i have been stripping the paint because how chipped it is.

the chain ring set was trashed except the center ring so i removed the rivits and left just that. im thinking about rebuilding the freewheel as a ss (take all gears off and just put one back with spacers) im thinking 14t because the cr being 38t. not sure how that will ride.

SS18t.jpg this is a pic of what im thinking of doing for the freewheel convert

im trying to figure out what to do for tires tho... i am used to 26 x 2.1-2.3" wide slicks and i have 700x35 on one bike but for this im trying to find something low cost low resistance and grippy. i was looking at my buddys kenda kontenders (26x1") but i hate the feeling they give me that my weight (210lbs) is squishing the tire flat. any suggestions would be great oh the rear rim is about 1" wide and front about 3/4" wide and im not opposed to running skinnier front.

Edit: goal is $50 or less on parts.

Running parts/cost list.
Bike - free
Tires - $19.98
Tubes - $10.70
Seat - $6.42
------------------------
Total - $37.10 so far

This looks really crappy. I would simply get 3/32 single speed FW and have the wheel redished. safer and stronger.

i was thinking the same thing but apperently my buddy did this like 3 years ago and his is still holding and he beats the heck out of his bike and seeing as im building budget and only on pavement i not too worried.

Do you have a freewheel or cassette on this wheel? My preferred method of SS conversions is a Shimano Cassette Freehub wheel with 1 cog and spacers. So much easier and cheaper than buying SS freewheels.

If you have a freewheel hub I wouldn't bother tearing it apart but rather just buy an SS freewheel, they're only about $15. As far as gearing is concerned, my SS MTBs settle on about a 2/1 ratio while my road bikes are closer to 3/1. I'd suggest a 16 or 17T for the back if you have a 38 up front. IMO, 38/14 will be too high a gear unless you put really small skinny tires on and plan to fly.

I have a freewheel. i have just taken 3 spare freewheels apart in about 10 minutes total. i now have enough spacers to do the ss freewheel and cost will be $0 out of pocket. im thinking because how many parts i hame i might make one 14t and one 16t and see whick i like better. as for tires im wanting to stay under 1.75" but would really like to be in the range of 1.0" - 1.5" wide but that all depends on budget atm. i do want to be able to get up and fly on this bike.

Performance Slick City are my favorite budget 26" slicks. They're 1.25". Pretty fast and totally slick. Low thread count so not all that plush. I run Mr. Tuffy also so even less plush for me.

My nearest Performance has them on clearance for $8 at the moment. $10 online right now, though.

https://www.performancebike.com/bikes..._1035134_-1___

Guys, you do realize that alot of hub manufacturers are making ss specific freehub style hubs. They are rather nice and an adjustable chainline to boot.

@ LesterOfPuppets: thanks for the tire input def. Looking at these and the price is almost half the others I've seen that are similar.

I do realize that they make some great ss setups and if I build a higher quality / bigger budget bike I'll def. get a nice shiny new one like your talking about but the only money that in going to spend on this low budget build will be tires, tubes, and bearings if needed.

I did something similar to this several years ago with PVC plastic spacers and miscellaneous cassette parts. I would not be concerned about this setup. Looks pretty solid to me.

Yea I think it will be a fine setup not planning on beating this bike.

I just ordered a pair of Forté Slick City ST tires. I was able to sell a few spare parts I didn't need (love Craigslist) and covered the cost of the new tires.

Had a small mishap with the primer I sprayed on the frame (finger prints on the top tube are a bad thing) so I just sanded it and will re spray that area later today. I'm trying to take my time on this and remember spring is a bit off still so there's no big rush but I keep getting excited and want it done. It's looking like a whole new bike already.

On a note when I weighed the frame/fork before stripping and after I took off about 3lbs of paint. Kinda scary how much paint was on this bike. And I weighed with the primer on and its less than 1/4 lb heavier than bare metal. Hope the paint/clear doesn't add back all the weight I took off LOL.

Forté Slick City ST tires arrived and look great. they are light and are rated to 100psi. cant wait to ride on them... thanks again LesterOfPuppets for the link.

had a day with good weather today and was able to get the base coat of paint on the frame. its supposed to be really nice mon and tues so im goping to get a lot of painting done on this thing. i hate how long spray paint takes to cure... it helps i have a room i use just for curing paint. small room with exhaust fan, dehumitifer, and thats around 80*F all the time cuts the dry/cure time down a bit but i dont put the parts there till they have sat outside in my makeshift spray room for a few hours.

hoping to have this done around the end of this month.

I'm a little late to this thread, but I used an old MTB for my conversion, too. I found that 38x17 was a good gearing for 2.1" knobbies. When spring gets underway, I plan to throw on some 1.75" slicks and change to 38x15 for more of that "get up and fly" thing.

Can't wait to see some pictures of your bike!

Thanks. I've been riding my 21 speed in 38/16 for a week now and think ill be using the same pb this proje
ct unless next weeks 38/14 feels better to be stuck in. For now pics are limited because there's nothing but a pile of parts and a frame I'm attempting a very unique paint job. I'm attempting my spray paint art on the frame and its not easy. I'm used to doing spray art on glossy poster board.

Here's the only pic of the paint I've taken so far..


And trying to keep low budget and only use parts I already have I did get tires and tubes but that was $31... I picked up a new seat on close out for $6.

A bit of an update this morning.
I relaced both wheels ... Decided on three leading - three trailing.

Front is true and new tire and tube mounted


Rear still needs true but its laced and I mocked up the ss freewheel for a pic. Im too tired now to true it so I'll finish tomorrow