Left hand drive cruiser. Anyone ever?

[Willg]

Yeah you shouldnt have any problem, just put the cranks on backwards, which isnt difficult, then get a freewheel rear wheel if you dont have one already, than put on a fixed gear cog, and screw a lockring on overtop. Should work perfect.

[roadmaster]

They sell left hand drive single-speed freewheels for the flip flop hubs. If you lace the hub into a cruiser rim you should be fine. Most old cruisers (my 37 colson is a good example) have the same frame design on the left and right. If I mounted my crank/sprocket backwards I'd have no problem with frame clearance. I'd say it's absolutely do-able. And since you're thinking of fixed gear, I'd just tack weld the rear cog to the hub shell. You'll have to remove the guts from the brake arm side if you need to clean/regrease the guts ever. Also you might never have access to the inner drive side bearing again. And if you weld, do small bits at a time so you don't overheat the bearing or grease.

And there it is!... i'm finna weld it up good to make sure that cog don't move.
So my plan was: 1. Thread a track cog onto a cheap steel 26" rim from a mountain bike and weld it fully. I am a powerfull rider
and I have a few friends who live to weld and can weld just about anyhting from steel, stainless and alloys
and aluminum.
2. Run the cranks in backwards and I think i'm gonna have to chaulk up the chainguard.
3. Add a hand brake up front because this would not only be my first "fixie" build, but also the first fixed
gear bike I have ever riden. What I lack in experience I will make up in comphrehension of theory, so the
brake is probably a wise add on.

Why am I doing this you ask?... because I wanna "pop my "fixie" cherry and i'm down to try something different. I also wanna build a bike I call Leviathon, being a full sized tandom bike with a trike rear conversion kit (heavily reinforced, of course) and a homemade utility tadpole tandom type front end (kinda like an ice cream vendor trike) actually making it a quad cycle having four wheels. And to even make it more ridiculous, I may even extend the rear tricycle section a few more feet and add two more smaller wheels behind the rear trike wheels, making it a six wheeler. Oh, and a small bicycle trailer behind it with a homemade 5th wheel style hitch coming up from the front of the trailer hooked up to an automotive ball trailer hitch mounted on the extended rear section 5th wheel style. Leviathon, totally obsurd and ridiculous contraption that probably wouldn't be street legal on it's best day.

But for now, a left side drivetrain cruiser it is. Will definatly post picts later this spring when I get to it.

[Bicycle808]

And there it is!... i'm finna weld it up good to make sure that cog don't move.
So my plan was: 1. Thread a track cog onto a cheap steel 26" rim from a mountain bike and weld it fully. I am a powerfull rider
and I have a few friends who live to weld and can weld just about anyhting from steel, stainless and alloys
and aluminum.
2. Run the cranks in backwards and I think i'm gonna have to chaulk up the chainguard.
3. Add a hand brake up front because this would not only be my first "fixie" build, but also the first fixed
gear bike I have ever riden. What I lack in experience I will make up in comphrehension of theory, so the
brake is probably a wise add on.

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but some things to consider:
1- You'll need to redish the wheel if you use a mtb rear wheel. Even the freewheel hubs for MTBs (which is the only type of cheap mtb wheel you could actually thread a track cog onto without modification) are probably going to be spaced 135mm; you can find ones at 130mm or even 126mm, but you'd need to look around, and even in those cases, you'd need to respace and redish the hub. Not entirely impossible, but unless you already have a rear wheel that fits the description, you'll need to spend $$ on that and time to make it work (how much is your time worth?) and then you'll run into the "make it work" issues, to whit:
-if your friend welds your track cog to the english threaded mtb hub, he will damage the bearings, unless you dissemble the hub first. Even if you do dissemble the hub first, you may damage the race surfaces.
- When that track cog wears out, you won't be able to replace it. Doesn't seem like a big deal now, but that's more time and money you'll have to spend when the time comes.
2- If you just reverse the cranks, your pedals will need to be constantly tightened. Like, every ride. Maybe this seems like another small point, but I sure am glad I don't have to do that on any of my bikes. Even if you get a crank designed for LHD, you may experience clearance issues, depending on your frame and how big the front sprocket is.
3- Good idea to run a front brake. Regardless of what the cool kids said back in 1998, you probably want to run a front brake on your fixed gear. Even on well-built fixed gears, and even if you have "madd tight skillz with the skidz, yo", the fact remains: Unless you have brakes, you will crash when the lady in the minivan backs out of her driveway without looking just a few feet in front of you. On a jury-rigged welded-up conversion with loose pedals, the brake seems like an even better idea.

I know how incredibly awesome the LHD concept might seem, but I don't think it'd be worth the investment of time and $$ to do it. That's just my opinion, and I wouldn't want to tell you not to make a LHD cruiser, b/c you probably don't care what I think anyway. But, you might be better served with a more sensible fixed cog idea (How about the old disc-ready front hub with the bolt on cog? That'd have the same MacGuyver appeal, without the drawbacks...) and with a crank where the pedals stay tight. (But, what's to stop you from having your buddy weld those on, too?) I know ppl who have tried this (Although, not on a cruiser), and while it never ended in tragedy, it typically ended in disappointment.

I'm not trying to be critical; I'm honestly just trying to help. LHD cranks and a track or disc-track conversion can be affordable, and way easier.

-rob

[roadmaster]

All very good points and if I were to ride this bike much, probably very valid. I wanna try this with a 84' Huffy Seqoia mtn bike frame that I had parted out recently. A visual inspection of the bottom bracket and the layout of the chain stays are symetrical enough for the chainring/cranks to go in backwards. Since this is a bike I will rarely ride, and this first Seqoia build up prototype before I decide to do this with a cruiser I care about riding.

As for redishing the rear wheel, i made a 99' Huffy Santa Fe ss cruiser with a freewheel mounted on a cheap mountain bike rear wheel and the difference in chainline and offset of a multi speed dished wheel wasn't enough to make me correct them. But if I do move the idea to the next level, i may do that. I also figured I can buy a BMX type 16 or 18 tooth freewheel and just put it on backwards to change the direction of freewheeling and drive. Worth a try and I have a ss freewheel that I remember being reversable. thanks for all the good advice guys!

[deorman]

Blue Loctite for the pedals, ring spacers for dishing/cog alignment issues, install the axle bearings after welding. Sprockets that don't have to derail last a long time.

[roadmaster]

Blue Loctite for the pedals, ring spacers for dishing/cog alignment issues, install the axle bearings after welding. Sprockets that don't have to derail last a long time.

Now that sounds like a good idea. I even thought that when I had put a single speed BMX style 18tooth freewheel on a Huffy mountain bike rim, that I almost threaded it on "inside out" which would theoretically would be freewheeling the right way to work on a left hand drive set up. I was lucky enough to have no issues with the chainline on my last conversion/