I have an older (cantis only) surly 1x1 that I am building up. I have almost all the parts except the wheels. I am thinking of just buying a pair of beater mountain bike wheels and converting them to a one speed. Who makes a decent quality one speed conversion kit for a cassette? Do these things work well?

The conversion kits work well... mostly because the cogs you use are straight toothed and get better traction.

I used a DMR singlespeed kit for my Specialized M2 Stumpy, no problems at all. I suggest you buy extra spacers so you can get your chainline as straight as possible.

@65er, thanks for the reply. Who makes a good quality conversion kit?

Not trying to go against what these guys above are saying, its good advice. I personally found conversion a hassle because it takes time. I just bought a new wheelset. That's just me tho

You don't need a "conversion kit", as most of those kits are to convert frames with vertical drops to go SS. All you need is a quality cog with a wide base (Surly, Homebrewed Components, etc. Do NOT get stamped cogs--they will jack up your hub body). Then just buy spacers. Or, if you're cheap like me, make them out of PVC pipe. I believe it is 1.25" PVC pipe and cut them to whatever length you need. Make sure to use a table saw to get the cuts STRAIGHT. Been using mine for 4 years with zero issues.

Also, none of my wheels are SS-specific. All geared wheels with spacers.

Or, if you are even cheaper, just disassemble a couple of old cassettes for spacers.

That's even better, Root. It will fit better than the PVC.

cheap is good; I checked out surly's 3/32 cassette cog and it looks good. That makes things easier since I have an old road crank I was going to use. Surly's website says that a single speed cassette cog needs to be wide so it doesn't dig grooves into the freehub body. So I guess there is no advantage in going to a 1/8 chain, cassette, and chainring over going with all 3/32 parts. Too bad because the 1/8 stuff just looks cool.

Also the Surly 1x1 has more then enough room on the frame and stock fork to fit 700c wheels. I used to have a 1x1 built with 650b/27.5" wheels and 2.35" wide tires.

Here's a pic...

Sweet, 700c would fix my wheel problem cuz I have road wheels but my surly is cantis only so I'm sticking with 26 inch. Cool handlebars; what are they?

That's an On One Mary bar. Got one on my FGMTB. I like it.

Looks like the love child between a riser bar and the classic swept back bar found on old 3 speeds; I may have to get one!

Origin-8 makes a better version of the bar, which I use on my 29er mtb.




As far as the brakes go...they do make adapters that raise the mounts. Not pretty, but do.
https://www.biketrailershop.com/xtrac...er-p-1600.html

Also could check to see if a caliper brake might work up front, depending on the distance to brake surface.

Also remember that the rear frame spacing is 135mm since it is a mtb frame. Using nutted 29er wheels would fix that or a 135mm hub laced to the rim. I actually have the stock set of 29's that came on the black one above. PM me if interested.