Teach me about single speeders (bikes) on the look out for a ratter
 

Not wishing to hijack Trouts thread, I'd start my own.

Can anyone here enlighten me on single speeders? I'm on the look out for a ratter just to get fitness levels back up, and stop using the car for nipping to the shops on or the next town.

I can't cycle to work as I hear the police have a problem with cyclists on motorways :D.

But you can buy a bike on the ride to work scheme :)

Dunno how much I fancy spending, but yes, and when it was offered I declined it as the semi decent bikes were more than I paid for my now nicked GT avalanche.

Very easy to do.

First get any old mountain bike. Ideally one where you can remove individual front chain rings to leave you with just one. Then remove the rear cassette (cogs) and replace with a singlespeed cog (Gusset 1ER is the one I've used) and a tensioner (if required) (do a Google for "singlespeed conversion kit". Add a chain but remove unnecessary links. Job done.

However, what many do is also replace the front crank and chainrings with a custom one to get a cleaner look (is lighter too).

Or go the whole hog and build a lightweight singlespeed from scratch :)

Cheers

Ian

I waas hoping it was going to be as easy as that. A thought I did have was have 2 sets of wheels so I could convert from ratter to MTB if I wanted to.

Now I just have to decide on frame size, biggest problem being I have ducks disease (Back is longer than my legs). So I eather end up with a bike I'm sitting up on or 1 thats too big for me legs :(

Guess I'll go round the bike shiops on the weekend and see whats about and what feels right.

Guessing a car boot might be a good place for a cheap and nasty frame.

Quick 1 for you all. Do they still make frames that can take V brakes? I had disks on my GT and came to the conclusion the cheaper ones are pants, and unless you spend silly money they ain't worth it unless your racing.

Yep, most frames still have V brake mounts.

Exactly what I did for my singlespeed. Used Avid Single Digits, better to have a good V brake setup than a cheap disk setup.