hi,

i've got an old raleigh record class bike that someone gave me for free, and I'd really like to convert it to a single speed (not fixed) to use for riding across town to the pub.
i'd like to spray the frame and do it up so it simle and nice, but i've no idea how much it will cost for all the parts, so i dont know if its gonna be worth doing?

i'm not good at building bikes but someone is willing to help me, so i (hopefully) wont have to pay for any labour.

could someone please give me a rough idea of how much everything else would cost if i only have a frame and forks to start with? i spose i would just use low end shimano stuff.

any advice would be helpful,

thanks.

hippy
is the page yours? you are a genius, fucking LOL, I will definitly use it.

benji
back wheel £70 aprox

the rest can be reuse form the old bike, if you nedd to get something else (new chain, new chain ring, cog, locking ring) around £30 or £40 in ebay in patience

An SS is just a geared bike with the shifters and all but one set of gears removed. Not rocket science. Just make sure the chain is straight on the selected sprockets and use the existing derailer as a tensioner.

cheers for the replies.

that link u gave me was very useful :P

Yeah I'm helpful like that ;)

Read this: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/singlespeed.html

this was my lovely Record.



It built up real nice,felt great to ride, and I really ended up depending on it.

But its been almost a month now that I snapped the chainstay dropout, got a few leads for fixing it. But in honesty I do not think the punch-pressed thin dropouts of 80's raliegh records etc are up to the rigors of urban fixed wheel riding.


my new frame has the thicker campagnolo style dropouts and fat circular columbus stays. Im hoping its going to be a lot more sturdy.

Give Paul at kiwicycles a call.

are you looking for a cheap-as-you-can build or a modest, mostly new build?

@ skeletonboy... lucky you spotted that... it can be fixed easily though

im thinking a modest, mostly new build probably, but it depends on how much its gonna cost me.

thanks for replies guys.