How to Convert a Bike to Fixed Gear

Get back to basics with a fixed gear. You'll improve your form and your conditioning dramatically.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Understand that you will need a bike with horizontal dropouts. Many road bikes from the 1980s and earlier have these dropouts, so they are excellent candidates for fixed gear bikes.

2. Remove your derailleurs, derailleur cables, shifters, etc. Hey, your bike just lost about two pounds!

3. Convert your cranks. Remove your big chainring and bolt the small chainring back on with single or 'shorty' chainring bolts.

4. Convert your rear wheel. If you have a freewheel hub, you can remove the freewheel and thread on a cog. You may want to consider using a lockring to hold the cog in place, and you may want to switch to a solid axle. Otherwise, it is best to buy a track hub or a flip flop hub and build up a new wheel.

5. Adjust the chain tension by moving the wheel back and forth in the dropouts. You want the chain fairly tight, but it shouldn't bind in any position.

6. Check your chainline. Your front chainring must line up with the cog in back.

7. Keep your brakes. Some people remove both brakes or the rear brake to get a cleaner look. But in the real world, it's nice to have the stopping power of two brakes.

Tips & Warnings

• Many fixed gear riders prefer 42 x 16 or 17 gear, but experiment to see what works for you.
• Of course, you can always just buy a track bike. But keep in mind that track bikes have pretty steep angles and somewhat twitchy handling. They also have no brakes. For road riding, it is best to convert a road bike.
• Consider shorter cranks. Remember, you're going to have to pedal through all corners.
• Riding a fixed gear bike is fairly dangerous. You are forced to pedal through corners, and when you go to brake, you must remember to keep your legs moving. It is also fairly tough on the knees.

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[fixedgear]

on 12/10/2007 After you are done converting you should submit your picture to http://www.fixedbicyclegear.com

[thehumble1]

on 4/20/2007 the chainline is important. check to see if the chain is coming off the top teeth of the chainring at an angle. Move the chain back and forth on the chainring and then spin the pedal to see if the chain pulls back to one side. There are a few things you can do to prevent this. If it isn't bad you can just rotate your chain frequently to even the wear. If it is more than a half inch that the chain has to move, you'll need to adjust your rear wheel or chainring. The easy fix is to put spacers on the crank spider to move the chainring out/in. Sometimes you can mount the small ring on the outside of your crank spider if you use spacers and/or different bolts. You may also have to add or remove spacers on your back wheel to bring it over towards the dropout. You will probably want to go to a 1/8th" chain too, which is standard for single speed setups, but won't be on the original one.

[jeratzlo]

on 10/4/2006 I ride up some very steep hills on the way to work. They would be virtually impossible to climb without being able to shift down.