OK, convince me!

I noticed today that the deraillier on my peugeot rubs on the spokes when im in a low gear  Seeing as the only time the bike comes out of its very highest is when I want to burn away at the lights, I reckon its a good candidate for getting rid of the blubbery bits.  How much money?  How much effort on an old french non-standard racer?

Most likely a threaded freewheel. Youll want to have a shop remove it, or get a tool and do it yourself. Replace it with a bmx freewheel. Notice that your chainline is nuts. Take bike to shop and have them redish the wheel and move the axel so the chainline is better. This will also have the consequence of making your wheel stronger as it removes dish.

If youre a bit crazy, thread on a track cog with locking compound. Tada! Youve got a fixed gear. Yes you can potentially unscrew the rear cog as theres no provision for a lock ring, but after a hard ride, itll be dang tight and difficult to move.

If its a cassette, remove, get some spacers, slap on a Shimano DX cog somewhere in the shuffle, tighten down wiht lock ring.

Get bmx chainring bolts, remove large ring, put small (42) on outside, attach with the new shorter bolts.

Put on your new chain. Whatever you want short of a 10 spd chain. Cheap bmx chains are fine, as are inexpensive derailleur chaings. Single speeds dont care much.

42x16 is virtually perfect for everybody for street riding, but do change as needed. I sometimes rock a 17T rear in winter.

So the short list
1. Make rear wheel into single speed wheel
2. Remove derailleurs and cables.
3. Convert crank into single speed.
4. String up new chain.
5. Adjust chain tension, not crucial on a single, but essential with fixies

Cost in dollars:
15 redish and move axle, labor.
15 bmx freewheel
10 new cheap chain
5 chainring bolts

bout fifty clams and you get a virtually maintenance free ride.

Me too,  Singlespeed is a phase, youll grow out of it and realise the superiority of gears.

I went SS whilst I waited for BETD/Goldtech to make me some stronger hangers, SS takes all the skill out of riding.  Planning ahead for what gear to be in, whether it will give you the best start or not.

Ive been single speeding on and off for a decade. Its not a phase, its a style of bike. I invite you to visit Chicago, NYC, Philly and look at what the veteran messengers use. Usually fixies, but almost always singles.  Part of it is affectation, but its mainly functional--you can dedicate more brain cells to staying undead.

If you think it takes the skill out of riding, Id have you watch my bud Justin race cxcross on his fixed gear--he routinely beats geared bikes as he indeed thinks way ahead of them. By artificially handicapping himself, he has become a much smarter rider.

Use gears or not, just dont be dismissive of one or the other.  In my world internal hubs are good for fetching milk, geared bikes are fine for that as well, and also good for racing and some training. Singles are great for utility bikes, bikes with less theft appeal, and especially for training.

Wow, Max has a short teather tonight!

You obviously missed my bait picture.  And it works! I got a bite

/me reels max in.

Soop, I just dont like your consistent "everybody should have a bike just like mine with Deore XT and everything else suxxors and is for stupid homos" juvenile attitude about bikes.

Its a done deal, im going SS, im a physical monster, ill climb any hill or descend any mountain on a single gear... no problem... i am the man... youll see... YOU WILL FEAR MY 100KG CALF MUSCLES.

From now on you will be known far and wide as Veal-Boi! Children will throw flower petals in your path, and you will crush them with your uberosity!

All the carbon in the world doesnt make up for an inefficient chainline and pulley drag.

Nice single speed though, for the North American market the best bang for the buck is th Gunnar Street Dog:

http://www.gunnarbikes.com/streetdog.php



I hate those bars, tho.

No, but the gold plating does

Pshaw, red bikes are faster.