I agree with most of the replies here about stripping down the bike, but I'd be a bit leery about leaving the cassette/freewheel in place and just using the middle cog for SS use. I did exactly that for some friend's son a few years ago with an old Schwinn Collegiate. Cassette/freewheel cogs are designed to be "shifted" from one to the next with only the pressure of the derailler jockey and idler wheels holding the chain in place and keeping tension on it. So, as I should have expected, without those the chain jumped off the middle cog of the freewheel (even though I had put plenty of tension on it when tightening the rear hub bolts), got wrapped in the spokes, and the kid crashed. Fortunately, he was not hurt, but I had to go back, hat in hand, and replace a dozen or so broken and bent spokes. Only this time I took along a SS freewheel. The teeth of the SS freewheels (or a cassette conversion cog) are longer and are not cut and bent in a way that facilitates shifting. The parts are not that expensive and it's worth the extra effort.
On Sunday, May 24, 2015 at 12:53:41 AM UTC-5, hangtownmatt wrote: > > My son ( a 2nd year college student) just informed me, on his actual > return trip today to the University, that he "may" need a bike to get to > his summer job. (Those of you with teenagers, or have who have raised > teenagers, can probably sympathize with me). Huh? And why didn't you tell > me this while you were at home all week?. Anyway, he's a really strong > rider but has not shown any "ownership" interest till now. I don't even > think he can fix a flat tire let alone maintain a bike. So I'm thinking > simplicity is best. In other words, I'd be happy if it didn't get stolen > and he occasionally lubricated the chain. But don't get me wrong, there is > nothing more I'd want than for my son to get bitten by the bicycling > lifestyle, so I want him to enjoy the ride. But as we all know, the love > of bicycling is an evolution, only appreciated by those who have > transcended the ranks, and he will be skipping a few steps :<( > > I have a 1986 10-speed Nishiki with horizontal dropouts that I put some > money into Rivendell'izing before getting my Sam Hillborne. I'm thinking > I will take off the valuable stuff (Nittto handlebar and stem, leather > seat, decent wheelset, early 80's Backburn rear rack, etc.), and replace > them with UC Berkeley street worthy stuff I have on hand. But I'm also > thinking a single-speed conversion could be smart simply for its ... > simplicity, and the further removal of valuable transmission parts. Theft > is a real concern. However, I'm not knowledgeable in single-speed > conversion setups and do not have a lot of time. I'd love to research all > the ins and outs of converting my beloved 1986 Nishiki 10-speeed to a > single speed but with such late notice I simply do not have time. I have > between now and next Friday. And between now and next Friday, I have a > couple days of pay-the-bills work and my youngest daughters High School > graduation (which includes the visitation and entertainment of the in-laws > and out-laws) to determine if I should convert to single speed or just > replace the obvious and leave well enough alone. So, if those of you that > have experience with single speed conversion would care to share your > expertise I'd be grateful. Keep in mind this conversion must be done > economically. This is not supposed to be up to Rivendell standards. For > example, I'm thinking, at least for the summer anyhow, simply removing the > front and rear derailleurs, shifters and associated cables of course, and > continue to use the existing triple crank set and freewheel/cassette (?). > However, if it can be done cheaply, I'd much rather replace the > crank/rings, as well as the freewheel, with single speed components because > of the confusion it may cause my son during roadside repairs. However, I > do not have the time to re-dish wheels or resize axles. What do you all > think? > > And for those of you familiar with the Berkeley Hills around campus, is > single speed even feasible? > > Matt > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
