Atvantages/Disadvantages of Conversion vs. "True" SS

meehs

My curiousity is peaked and I've been thinking about building-up a single-speed for use on my daily commute. I'm trying to decide between getting a "true" single-speed frame with horizontal (track) drop-outs or just getting a regular MTB frame and using a chan tensioner.

What are the advantages and/or disadvantages of each? Also, is there anything else I should know about building-up a single-speed that I might be missing? I'm a fairly competent bike mechanic but I have no experience whatsoever with single speeds!

Thanks for your help!

tcklyde

Hey Meehs!

I ride a "true" track frame on my commute, but that's mostly b/c my first serious bike was a track and I got into road bikes later. The advatages are nice: I don't have to futz around getting the chain aligned and cut right and of course the hubs fit, etc.

But that's just a matter of convenience. I think it would be a lot more fun to build up your own ride. I'd get a rear wheel built up on a fixie hub and not worry about that part of the conversion...too much trouble, but other than that, building up the rest of it sounds like a cool weekend project. Most of my fixie riding friends built their own rides up.

But why use a MTB frame? Get an old steel road frame and use that. Older frames, as you know, will have more horizontal dropouts and will be well suited to a conversion. I helped build up a 1987 trek and it was super easy. The rear triangle bent to the hub easily and the dropouts were almost horizontal.

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Harry

meehs

Thanks for your input. I never really considered a road frame and I don't know why. Especially since I'll be riding this bike almost exclusively on pavement. And it's true that a lot of the older steel frames have horizontal drop-outs. Perfect! I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for a suitable road frame. Thanks!

Guzzi Rider

There are a couple really cool websites out there that deal with single speed/ fixed gear info. www.sheldonbrown.com is cool and shows info on geting the right gear ratio so you can use a frame with vertical dropouts (chain adjustment issues) and www.fixedgeargallery.com cool rides from tons of other like minded folk and a great source of ideas.
I built up an old Italian steel frame road bike. tossed a single speed freewheel on where a six speed sat and adjusted the spacers on the rear hub to ge the tire in the right vicinity. Mind you the wheel really needs to be un-dished but I wanted to try it for awhile first before I sunk a bunch of dough into it. I run a 45/16 combo and find it Hard enough and easy enough to not do damage and to get me down the road at a good clip. I just got back into riding a couple weeks ago and find this style is more challenging and thus more likely to keep me interested. My nickles worth..
Jeremy