Quote from: funkychicken9000Freewheel ordered, waiting to hear back from the guy about whether I can pick up the cranks.  Then I just need to redish the back wheel

Redish after you move the axle to get the freewheel to line up with the chainring.

Quote from: funkychicken9000What chain do I need?  Also, I have no bike-specific tools bar a few spanners.  Anything Im likely to need?

Chain=the cheapest piece of crap you can find, or shorten your existing chain. I like KMC gold colored bmx chains as theyre the Mr. T of the bike world.

Tools needed:

thin wall socket to loosen crank bolts, probably a 14 or 15mm. Most arent thin enough, I made my own with a regular socket and a grinder. PITA, tbh.

crank puller:



or have a shop pull the cranks for you.

Freewheel remover:


these can be brand specific. take off wheel, remove skewer, put remover in place, secure with skewer, remove fw with bigass wrench.
spoke wrench:

cone wrenches to move that hub axle. I like the cheap park ones like in the pic:



spoke wrench to dish and true. Good luck if youre a noob.

Might be worth having a buddy with proper tools help, as the price adds up.

Better yet, get a toolkit and save money in the long run.

also:  http://www.sheldonbrown.com/singlespeed.html

Wooyay.

Reckon Ill get the bike shop up the road to redish the wheel and switch the cranks.  Theyre supposed to be pretty friendly

I may buy a freewheel remover though, as if I find 42x16 too much of a challenge Ill be able to switch easier!

Quote from: funkychicken9000I may buy a freewheel remover though, as if I find 42x16 too much of a challenge Ill be able to switch easier!

Pretty much anybody and their grandma can ride that gear ratio with no problem. I find it comfy from 8mph grinds and spin it out at 25mph+. 18t rear feels awful, but I still do it in the winter sometimes. 15-17 is the magic zone with a 42T front.

One gold plated BMX chain ordered, Ã,£7 inc P+P

Quote from: maximusottercrank puller:

Will that work on a Bush?  

(GW for instance)

Quote from: funkychicken9000One gold plated BMX chain ordered, Ã,£7 inc P+P

lol youll be wanting bling for your wheels and frame next.

http://www.instructables.com/ex/i/5DEE2302C85C10288256001143E7E506/

http://www.instructables.com/ex/i/EFC90EF418D410299AD7001143E7E506/?ALLSTEPS



lol

if i was sad that would be cool.

Quote from: funkychicken9000One gold plated BMX chain ordered, Ã,£7 inc P+P

LMFAO! Now you have to find lycra shorts with a "sag".

Ill try to find some chrome spinning valve caps you as well.

Quote from: funkychicken9000One gold plated BMX chain ordered, Ã,£7 inc P+P

I think you need one of these too

Some interesting developments!

Went to find the shop selling that single crank on ebay.  Turns out its about 200m up the road and down a little back street  I spoke to the guy there and told him what I was doing.  He had a look at the bike and ummed and arred a bit, and said that redishing the wheel probably wouldnt be ideal.  He said the only place that would redish it in cambridge would be Haywards (my friendly LBS), and they might not be able to get it right.  He did suggest an alternative though, and after scouting around the back of the shop for a bit, came out with a Rigida double skinned ally rim and an old large-flange BMX hub, with threading for a single freewheel.  Anyway, the long+short of it is that hell get it sent up to his wheelbuilder in Leicester to get it laced up, and the whole lot should cost about Ã,£23.  Hell fit the new crankset for Ã,£3 too.

So all in all, a bit more expensive than I originally reckoned on, but Ill have a nice shiny new back wheel and no worries about the chainline being a bit bodged

Hes lying to you. Ive redished a dozen wheels into singles for myself and friends, its so simple as to be yawn inducing.  There are no hitches or things to go wrong, its just something that works every single time like gravity. Tell the asshole to blow you.

"Dishing the wheel isnt ideal" Goddamn horsehockey of gargantuan proportions. Big steaming piles of ass curds must have come out of  his mouth when he said that. When you convert a freewheel hub to single speed, you move the hub to the center of the axel and effectively remove the previous dish needed for the freewheel--you return the wheel to a more natural and strong state of lack of dish. My god is he blowing smoke up your ass.

Seriously, this guy is taking you for a ride. Is he going to re-axle the bmx hub and add spacers? Bmx rear spacing is 110mm, yours is 126mm.

I hope you havent given him any cash, as youre being bullsh*tted big time.

You dont want to confront him? PM me his number and Ill call long distance and tell him hes full of it.

Reckoned youd say that

Redishing the wheel isnt the problem, he suggested it was more that the hub I have might be tricky to get central without fouling anything.  He said it might well be possible, but that the only place in Cambridge that would do it would likely charge me Ã,£15+, so an extra Ã,£8 for a completely new wheel would be more economical.  Plus it means I still have all the old gubbins that could be fitted back on if I wanted to flog the peugeot later and slap the new wheel on a slightly nicer frame.

As for the BMX hub, he reckoned on a 5mm spacer each side.  The axel is long enough to cope with that.  And to his credit, he wasnt just trying to shove old parts off on to me.  Sourcing my own hub wouldnt be a problem, its just that he said the BMX hubs worked quite well on other SS bikes hes built up in the past.

Get a goddang cone wrench and spokie and do it yourself. Takes an hour and a six pack if you go slow and methodical.

Hmm.  I might give him a ring tomorrow morning and ask him to hold off on sending the wheel in, pop down to the other bike shop and get a second opinion.

Just remembered one thing he mentioned:  Something about there possibly not being enough thread on one side of the spokes to allow the rim to sit central on the hub?  Hence possibly needing a new half-set of spokes, =money++.  Sound plausible?

Quote from: funkychicken9000Hmm.  I might give him a ring tomorrow morning and ask him to hold off on sending the wheel in, pop down to the other bike shop and get a second opinion.

Just remembered one thing he mentioned:  Something about there possibly not being enough thread on one side of the spokes to allow the rim to sit central on the hub?  Hence possibly needing a new half-set of spokes, =money++.  Sound plausible?

Very much so!

Btw, this pissed me off so muchly, that I created a Usenet topic on your plight, so get a third opine:

http://tinyurl.com/of7dj