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We brought our son's bike with us to cape cod, and realized the shifter, casette, and chain are all worn. Rather than replacing everything, its so flat here we'd just like to convert it to a fixie for him to use at MIT this fall. Its not a fancy bike, kind of a hybrid like frame with mountain bars, 26" wheels with road slicks, 7 speeds. Can anyone tell me how to do it.
My son (a recent fixie convert) said to check out http://sheldonbrown.com/singlespeed.html to get started.
Don't know what you'd need to do to go fixie, but you can turn just about anything into a singlespeed for next to nothing. If it's a triple chainset, you'll need to get some shorter chainring bolts and you'll need to find some old cassette spacers, but that's all you'd have to have that you wouldn't already have on the bike. This is an absolutely vast thread from another forum, but you can find out everything you need to know about making a ghetto singlespeed in the first few pages. :)
Handy chainline instructions and diagram.
Probably better to go singlespeed over fixed, at least at first. You need a different sort of hub for fixed gears from what I've read, and a singlespeed can work on a regular hub. Surly has a fair bit of info on singlespeeds and fixed gear bikes (check the "Spew" section in the sidebar). They also sell the spacers that you'd need, so any bike shop should be able to order them.
If you want to convert this bike to a single speed (not fixed) at absolutely no cost, simply lock the front derailleur onto the middle ring, remove front derailleur cable and housing, remove the rear derailleur and cable/housing, pick a cog somewhere in the middle of the cassette, and shorten the chain. You can also get rid of the shifters if they're separate units from the brake levers.
Thanks for all the great info! Clearly the single speed route is easiest and cheapest, but he thinks a fixie is cooler. We don't have time to do it now, but I'll just let him take it to school and do the conversion himself when he's there. It does look pretty straightforward, but I'm not sure its worth the cost of a new rear wheel for this frame. It seems like you can get an already converted bike on ebay for not too much more than the prices of parts to do your own conversion.