BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Sheldon has a pretty good guide.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/deakins/how-to-fixed-conversion.html

Take the shifter bits off. Find a straight chain line between the smaller chainring and whatever cog it lines up with best in the back. Shorten the chain.

That bike probably isn't worth new wheels and brand new brakes. I know I sometimes seem like debbie downer on this board about fixing up junked bikes, but old department store bikes aren't worth putting good money into. No matter how much money you throw at them they still weren't all that good when brand new. More than $20 or $30 and you really need to start questioning if a $300 Torker single speed wouldn't be a better investment, as it's a much better, lighter bike with modern serviceable components on it and all the benefits of 30 years of bike engineering evolution and trickle down tech.

Free ride is looking like the answer the more I read about it. I'm about 60% sure that back wheel is shot, so if I replace it, new is no way to go, is what you're saying. The brakes may just be the brake pads themselves. I haven't tried to ride it since December '09, so my memory of the brakes is obviously distorted.

Exactly. A cheap or free replacement wheel, brake pads, cables and a chain is reasonable.

so, this may be little OT but my family has at least 3 or 4 department store bikes whose conditions range from "shot" all the way up to "in working condition but ugly". I'm riding one now as a beater, but I was thinking about taking the rest to free ride. Do you think they can use them for parts or something. I really hate to see bikes just sitting around when I know they'll probably never be used again (my family has found the novelty of bike shops, with real bikes, and real bike mechanics. go figure)

EDIT: The bikes are in storage so they're not going to be going to free ride any early then spring. I'll post pics and/or details if anyone here wants one before we take them over.

Free ride will accept anything you take over to them. They will then use every usable bit and part. Good framed bikes are reused, others torn down. My fav part of volunteering is stripping BSO's of their usable parts - I highly reccomend it as a stress reliever.

What Marko said. They'll take anything. If they're totally worthless they'll get scrapped. Eitherway they're off your hands.

In any case, Freeride is closed till spring anyway.

good to know thanks!

what brad said about the conversion. just take all the shifting components off, pick a gear and, shorten the chain. it will serve you well as the beater bike that you wouldn't mind leaving locked up outside the bar when you don't feel like riding home in the snow.

haha, it's actually going to be for a friend who's moving into town soon, and needs transportation. I think once it has good brakes and such, it'll be a decent "first bike" for him.

@RubberFactory: Does not look to be the best candidate for SS conversion, as it appears to have vertical dropouts rather then horizontal. Brakes are Weinmann centerpulls? If the bike has 27" wheels, those brakes will allow you to use the more versatile 700 wheels. Slap a couple of KoolStop pads on them and you'll be good to stop. Freeride is your way to go. In the meantime, if you can true your rear wheel, leave the derailleur attached, but disconnected from the cable, and use it as a tensioner to set the chain to your choice of gearing.

@BikeLove2010: freeride opens March 8, but we are still accepting donations in our bin at Construction Junction. It even gets emptied on occasion throughout the winter.

@Marko82: Though we are closed until March, tomorrow, Sunday, we are open for staff. However, if you want to relieve some stress and strip some bikes, drop in. Zach, who's hosting this staff/mechanic open shop, writes: "Howdy folks,

Freeride will be open as a mechanic day this Sunday (1/16/11) between noon and 4 p.m. This is a one day thing for now, and we will not be open regularly until further notice. Also, donations have piled up this winter, and as always, volunteers are absolutely welcome. Things will be pretty relaxed so come out and listen to some tunes, wrench and hang out,Zach."

Ice-bicycle! Don't let your ride become an bike-icicle.

it definitely has horizontal drop outs. anything with a bolt-on rear derailleur hanger like that has to have horizontal drops for the binder bolt to bind to something.

fungicyclist is your picture that bike on hatfield st in lawrenceville that was completely covered in ice?

i totally took a picture of that today too

Does it? My mistake. I've had three monitors fail over the past week and am reduced to stone age viewing: feel fortunate to be able to read text.

Convert away.

Yup, that's the Hatfield bike-icicle. Camera battery died after that, so only got the one shot late last night. Your photo is probably better; perhaps post it in "So about that Snow?" thread? Interested in seeing how it looked in the light of day...

@fungicyclist. Thanks for the Freeride info, I'll try and make it.

RF

I did just what they are talking about on my red bike project.

http://fatguyorangebike.blogspot.com/search/label/Ventura

stripping off the shifters, deraileurs and the like and shortening the chain. it was easy peasy.

I did buy a new back wheel but put the old cassette on it since it gave me more leeway when trying to find a pretty straight chainline.

this is for fungicyclist

That's one way to make sure no one cuts your shitty lock.

@fungicyclist - OT to bikes, but if three monitors are all bad, I'd suspect a bad video card. This happened to me a couple months ago. Swapped monitors, same bad. Dug out a scrap frame in the attic, yanked the video card, popped it in place: bingo, the original monitor was fine.

@erok: Thanks for the alternate perspective; appears quite different in daylight.

@stu...: Thanks for the suggestion, but it's the monitors. Run Snow and Win7 on this quadcore cobbled together a couple years ago, with multiple gfx cards. One lcd has a bad capacitor, one crt is just plain old and unable to muster up the energy to display optimal resolutions, and one, well, in moving I think a feline urinated into the works so when initiated it shorted and gave up the ghost and an odour quite pungent and distinctive. Apologies if that is too much information.

Suffice to say with the 15" monochrome crt backup used, couldn't make out too much detail on the drive of the bike in question.

BTW, if those are steel wheels, might want to swap them out regardless?

i just want to reiterate something here, find a cheap (non-steel) front wheel and put new brake pads on the front brake, this does wonders in improving the safety of old conversions, i wouldn't recommend depending on this back to get you around the city unless you do this.