London Fixed-gear and Single-speed

I have a Trek 4500 that I would like to convert to a fixed gear bike. I don't know much about putting together or building bikes, but so far I have learned that I am pretty good at taking one apart................. I apologize if the questions are a little strange. I am new to rebuilding.
My plan:
Take everything off the frame and get a new fork instead of the judy Rockshox Judy TT suspension... this I need help with because I have no clue what fork I should get... I just know that I want something that is not a shock and is rigid and lighter.
Oh, and I am having a hell of a time getting the cranks and the gears off the bottom bracket. Am I just too weak or is there something that I'm missing?
Then I'm gonna get everything that I can repainted a solid color... can I paint the handlebars and the stems? I would think I couldn't because they aren't aluminum... what are they made of? Should I forgo the straight bars and get drop bars?
Then I want to convert the gears to a single fixed gear. I have no idea how, and the conversion information on the internet basically makes me think I am going to have a hell of a time because of my vertical dropouts... Any and all help would be appreciated.

Oh, and I'm Amercan, so feel free to dumb it down for me.

You're making a rod for you own back, I recommend going for an OTP (Off The Peg) Fixed.

This is the bike concerned I think. Why not flog it and put the money towards an OTP?

your getting way ahead of yourself thinking about cranks and drop handlebars.

That is a really bad choice of frame to start with. Just go to a car boot, or to the local tip and pickup of fucked road bike for £5.

It will work out infinetely better than what you have there. Even if you just wanted to make a fixed wheel mountain bike, the fact that you have vertical QR drops would make it extremely difficult.

You will need tools, many special tools to perform special tasks

question 1. forks
answer 1. kona project 2
question 2. cranks
answer 2. you need a crank puller
question 3. paint bars and stem
answer 3. yes and they are aluminium
question 4. bars
answer 4. no dont get drop's this is a mountain bike not a road bike. low rise or flats only anything else is just stupid.
question 5. fixed
answer 5. dont bother. convert to SS if your planning on using it on anything other than roads fixed will make you very sore (as you will fall on when you pedel clashes with a tree stump/rock/ground)

if you want a fixed get a road bike if you want an offroad bike with 1 gear get a SS and run a tension device such as DMR tension seeker.

i have a MTn bike SS conversion and i love it.

I'll dispute that. Fixed offraoding is great fun.
But that frame is not good for an offroad fixed machine.

each to there own. it takes a lot of skill to ride fixed off road. and a larger chance of pedal strike from roots etc.
i've ridden fixed off road and loved it but sometimes you think it's a bit scary when you can't stop on a twisty bit of single track going down a stupidly steep hill. hence i have a single speedie.

I'm not saying SS isn't fun off road, just that some times I like to go fixed instead.
I think the fear is why I enjoy it.

sorry that came across as i was slating you. far from it. i can relate with the fear being half the fun though. fort william was a bit much for a fixed though was very happy to be running the single speed that day. it scared the crap out of me as it was. :)

No offence taken dude. Fort William would have been brutal.

great fun thats for sure. specially the world cup run man thats steep in places.
codi bren was great fun on it aswell. sadly i had to put gears back on that bike though. so now have a single speed just for the light stuff.

I'm actually building my Surly Steamroller up as my fixed bike for cross country so that I can go back to using my DMR Trailstar as purely as a heavy duty SS play bike.

yey dmr trailster. i snapped one of them can you say whoops. great bike but couldn't afford another one. so i bought frame instead and i love it.


see

You managed to snap a Trailstar???
I've had mine since 1998 and used it for everything from Cross country through racing a DH season to Trials and it's only got ever received a couple of dents.

10 foot step down that went a bit wrong. i walked away the frame didn't. (neither did the shity rockshox that went ping)
it was one of those "look at bike shake head moments" shortly followed by a concusion apparently i was coherent and chatting away about how funny that must have looked etc. then out like a light 5 minutes later. i don't exactly remember but i didn't break anything so guess you can call that walked away

novocaine thanks
I have another road bike so this is more of a project than a regular rider for me... I don't really use it as an off road bike, and would still like to convert it to a fix gear. I read something about flip-flop hubs and an ENO eccentric hub that helps with the vertical drop outs. Are those viable options?

once again.. is it really worth it! by the look of the picture of the 4500, its a £400 or so mtb..

once you start buying all that crap, you may as well have a just bought a decent Off-the-peg(tm)

don't do it.

sell the thing and get something suitable

what is "off the peg"?

A Fuji track or Charge Plug - cheap and good! Or get a second hand langster.

^mass produced bikes that u can buy from shops

personally i'd leave it as a xc bike

Why would I want to buy it when the pupose is in the process?

Like I said, it is a project, less for the end product, more for the knowledge. Its and old bike that I wanted to take apart anyway... I guess I could have gone the easier route and started a project with a old road bike frame, but I felt like learning about the bike I already own.

So, now that we have ALL decided it is a bad idea, would anyone be willing to give advice that is constructive to the purpose?

Buy an old bike. Then do the project. Have a look on ebay for an old racer with horizontal drop outs.

You need to read Sheldon Brown (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/)

You won't get much help here unless you have specific questions, and when this is the case people here are very helpful. There is a mass of information on this site, and also Sheldon, all you need to do is search.

You are right.

Thanks again... Novocaine... for answering my specific questions.

Yes, you are right.

Thanks again ... Novocaine... for answering my specific questions.

Thanks again... everyone else... for answering the questions I didn't ask, namely "Should I do this?" or "What should I do instead?"

yeah, don't fucking try to turn that mountain bike into a fixed wheel road bike.

it's a moronic idea.

you've been told, been given good advice and you don't like it, tough shit. we're just trying to help you, to stop you from making a massive mistake.

you go ahead, dburbott, don't listen to these losers. you'll show 'em, and show 'em good.

Thank you RPM, for your insight. It has been duly noted, and was, effectively, given to me in the second post of the thread.

However, it obivously hasn't stopped me from asking the question of how I should procede with this moronic mistake... so if you would like to help me there, that would be great. Have you ever converted a mountain bike to a fixed gear?

Dude you are just going to end up spunking loads of cash on that bike for specialist tools and parts, give yourself a massive head ache, and in the end have a mediocre bike for the road. Just take the advice that people are offering and stop having a strop at people giving opinions. Not the way to make friends or influence people.

Built a trek 850 into a s/s and it was fun, but you are gonna waste a lot of time and money trying to fix a MTB! You can learn everything you are wanting to by following the advice here and get an ropey old road bike and fix that!

If you insist on trying to fix this, you will only get off replies here for asking dumb questions, when everyone has said don't do it.

I've converted mountainbikes to singlespeed.

but that's easier.

for fixed you'll end up needing to find a "magic gear" for tension,or use an eno hub (which is ridiclously expensive for this bike) it'll ride like shit anyway, unless you still want to use it off road in which case it'll still probably ride like shit, because at the end of the day, entry level MTBs don't have very good componentry, geometry or design.

It is lunchtime here, and I plan on making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich... I hesitate to ask anyone if they know how to make one, as they may tell me that I'm an idiot and that I should make a ham and cheese sandwich, simply because it is easier.

RPM, what do you mean ride like shit? Wouldn't it ride the same as if I hadn't converted it?

You also might want to check out [link]....

Seriously guy, relax yourself!