Hey singlers, just wanted to know whether there are many SS riders in Melb, I spoke to a guy at my LBS today, and he is into it, in a big way. Seems like i'll be speaking to him for help regarding converting my bike. I may also be buying my first roadie from him too....

Cheers!

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Yeah I'm one What sort of SS'ing are you getting into Road or MTB? I've got a road SS. I use Abbortsford Cycles. Though, can be hard for some people to get to being in Richmond.

Seems to be a bit of it around at the moment, I am just about to start converting my 20 yo apollo road bike into a single speed. Have been into Cycle Science in Mitcham a few times recently and they were helpful/knowledgable on the topic. I think any decent LBS would be able to help.

What type of bike are you converting?

I'm thinking about converting my mtb... Would be (hopefully) used for trails and commutin... Want to maybe get a rigid fork too! I am also looking to a get a road bike atm anyway, so would want to keep that how it is anyway - i'd use it for higher speeds and travelling lomger distances. So far two of the shops I've been to have a least on SS tech head... So there seems to be a fair amount of knowledge availiable in person. Cheers!

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Hey guys! After further looking at SSs, I think i'd actually prefer a road ss. I've found a secon hand felt100 that i was looking at converting; pros/cons of this frame? Is Alu bad for SS, or is that just a subjective issue? I'm looking at setting up the bike to have a nice ride to uni- its pretty flat most of the way into melbourne for me... So i think i'd be looking at a relatively high ratio? 45:15? Or is that too much for a beginner? Cheers, and thanks!

MoD hope future single speeder!

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I don't know the frame, but it sounds like it have vertical dropouts? This makes it harder(?) to get chain tension spot on, though with a chain tensioner you can solve this. I could bang on about this, but why bother when someone else has!
This lovely web page should answer all of the questions & give you some more info too;

http://sheldonbrown.com/singlespeed.html Thanks Sheldon for all your free info

With gear choice, I'd suggest riding a geared bike around for a week or so over the terrain you think you will come across on your SS in one gear. Remembering not to change gear, SS simulation Then you can see which gear is more suited to the riding you want to do.
I commute in Melb on my roadie SS & I ride 70.9GI (42-16).

Hope this helps


Jay Woo

i dont think the frame material will make too much difference, the dropouts are the biggest issue.
45-15 is a pretty big gear, I am planning on something lower, but then I do encounter a few hills. Like Jay said, go for quite a few rides simulating single speed before commiting to any combination

hmmm. so where can i find out which bikes have horizontal/vertical dropouts? cos of the pics i can view dont show this area in any detail. im interested in an all alu frame= lighter than steel, with horizontal dropouts, hopefully not too old. where can i find such a frame/bike? any suggestions? it appeals to me because it would already be lightweight, then taking off unecessary components= lighter again! woo hoo!

thanks!

as for gearing... i'll still have to test that- my mtb atm has different ratios due to wheel size etc... limits my top speed, making commuting slower...

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[QUOTE=~MoDCoN~]hmmm. so where can i find out which bikes have horizontal/vertical dropouts?

As far as I know apart from track bikes, you will be looking to find something around 20 + years old. My old apollo frame is from 1988 if I remember correctly, and it has near horizontal drop outs, I dont think there are too many bikes around younger than that which have them

[QUOTE=SEGFTG]in that case, would it make sense to put a chain tensioner on the bike, as mentioned above? or is this really a stop gap fix?

and where can i find old bikes? being gen y, i dont know what a newspaper is! :P jk, but all the papers/memo boards etc i've looked at have nothing...

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chain tensioner is only an asthetic issue it seems, its a cleaner look and simpler setup without the tensioner.
one option for an old frame would be bicycle recycle in moorabbin, lots of old stuff there

Only one place to go in Melboure......www.shifterbikes.com


All your singlespeed and fixie needs, talk to DAN.........he was the first person in Aust to ride/race a singlespeed.

props to Jay, one of the wrenches at bicycle recycle. whenever i'm looking for bits or pieces for my ss beater, he's always happy to let me rummage through the "recyclables" out the back.

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