Converting mountain bike to fixed gear

GerryRyan

I've been looking into converting my mountain bike (Salcano, front suspension) to a fixed gear, or single speed.

Reasons:

• I do alot of cycling around busy towns and Dublin (the odd day doing deliveries)
• the few fixed gear that I've been on seem to take more abuse
• less money is wasted on upkeep and repairs

Found this site earlier on

Obviously it's a big job (if it can be done).

What would I be looking at in terms of - Time, money, parts etc?
Looking for any input from someone who's converted or build their own.

Thanks in advance.

GerryRyan

Another question - how do I go about working out the gear ratios? Trial and error - or are there general recommendations for city riding ?

<edit> the bike I'm looking to convert - not the exact model, but close enough

Morgan

You can't convert that frame into a fixed-gear since it doesn't have horizontal dropouts. You can convert it to a singlespeed easily enough, using a chain tensioner.

Here's how:
http://www.mtbr.com/faq/ssfaq.shtml#ssConversionsHowTo

Itsfixed

Well, first off, the chances are your mountain bike frame has a vertical dropouts as opposed to track or semi-horizontal dropouts, which makes tensioning the chain on a fixie or singlespeed much more difficult.

There is a neat solution but its quite expensive. The white industries ENO hub. check out this website for an explanation as to its virtues. Expensive, but good quality.

A cheaper solution is to just get the right length of chain without it being too tight or too loose, and this can be done using a half link.

Alternatively, as your pic shows, you can run a chain tensioner but this only works properly on a single speed rather than a fixed.

how much it will all cost depends on what approach you take, but particulary whether you use a singlespeed or fixed specific hub onto your rear wheel or buy one of those gizmos, such as a Surly Fixxer, to convert an existing MTB hub.

cheapest solution is something like an on-one singlespeed kit and a chain tensioner.

GerryRyan

Yeah, point taken. On second thoughts - I might just buy a cheapish (but good quality) frame and build it up - to spare me the hassle of wrecking my mountain bike.




I'll have a look into parts and prices. But is there much work in it after getting the saddle, wheels, chain etc ?

Morgan

The costs of buying everything separately quickly add up - unless you get bargains off eBay etc. It's often cheaper just to buy a complete bike. You can get complete fixed-gear road bikes for as little as €450.

GerryRyan

Morgan wrote: »

The costs of buying everything separately quickly add up - unless you get bargains off eBay etc. It's often quicker just to buy a complete bike. You can get complete fixed-gear road bikes for as little as €450.

True, but the initial price of parts will be worth the hassle-free days with a built fixed gear, and I get a lot more satisfaction out of building things myself (weird I know).

*off to trawl e-bay*