mongoose hardtail ss conversion

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biulding up what apears to be a mid 90's mongoose switchback cro-mo frame as an SS. i have started by putting a 16t freewheel on a treaded hub wheel and removed those aweful ****maNO bits from the bike. what is the easest and cheapest way to put a chain tensioner on.

is there a way to make your own, as this is just a hack bike to get 2 school on so i dont have to take the xc bike or roadie so it doesnt have to be flash but i would rather not use the complete derrailer as the tensioner. what is the best brake setup to use old deore canti's or cheap shimano v brakes

thanx in advance

Originally posted by scott adf man
biulding up what apears to be a mid 90's mongoose switchback cro-mo frame as an SS. i have started by putting a 16t freewheel on a treaded hub wheel and removed those aweful ****maNO bits from the bike. what is the easest and cheapest way to put a chain tensioner on.

is there a way to make your own, as this is just a hack bike to get 2 school on so i dont have to take the xc bike or roadie so it doesnt have to be flash but i would rather not use the complete derrailer as the tensioner. what is the best brake setup to use old deore canti's or cheap shimano v brakes

thanx in advance

The easiest cheapest is to use the derailieur I don't know what kind of drop outs that bike has but if you have any movement of the rear wheel from front to back then you might not need a tensioner at all. Have you looked at Sheldon brown's web site? www.sheldonbrown.com
its a good place for tons of info.
Brakes are preferential... I don't ride a mount bike frame so I can't really help.

Jeremy

is there a way to make your own, as this is just a hack bike to get 2 school on so i dont have to take the xc bike or roadie so it doesnt have to be flash but i would rather not use the complete derrailer as the tensioner. what is the best brake setup to use old deore canti's or cheap shimano v brakes
thanx in advance

I use a derailer as a chain tensioner - works fine for a semi-hack bike.

For your brakes, use whatever you can get cheaper, they both work as good.
Most people find v-brakes easier to setup though. I got some cheap v-brakes
and swapped out the canti's for them. The canti's still worked I just got the
vee brakes cheap and you can usually find better brake pads for vee brakes.

hippy

have you considered running a phantom chainring? most people think it looks stupid, but i think it looks neat...also it gives you to ability to run a bike with vertical dropouts as a fixed gear without attempting to find the magic gear. it has its disadvantages, such as: increased chain wear, clearance problem on some frames, somewhat strange appearance, blah blah blah...
but, there are advantages as well...like: ability to run a fixed gear (given you are not using a freewheel/freehub (duh)), super cheap, lighter weight, easy set up, somewhat strange appearance!
basically all you do is take a smallish chainring (30t or so...) and stick it in the chain between the chainring and the cog moving it back closer to the cog to increase chain tension!!! wheee! how easy is that?
oh...i think there is a picture of this on mtbr.com in the singlespeed faq under achieving chain tension.