"single speed" bike

Advertise with us
Bike Wall
shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum

Help Support Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
ratina

ratina

Joined
Oct 20, 2007
Messages
3,747
Reaction score
28
Location
Lombard IL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I keep seeing "single speed" bikes on chicagos craigslist, where all the person did was strip the derailers, but leave both front chainrings and a 5 or 6 speed cog in back. I guess technically its a single speed, but who would actually buy this? I saw like 3 the other day like this. It looks ridiculous.

heres one: http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/bik/914728829.html

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/bik/913775311.html - This ones also "MINT" note numerous scratches, duct tape, and rotted front tire...

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/bik/913053387.html bent fork also

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/bik/912569526.html
 
Fixed gear bikes seem very popular in Chicago, mainly because if the city's flat terrain. But I don't really understand the point of it; they sell good though. There was some guy in my town who did bike business and would charge $20 to convert your multi-speed bike into a single-speed (aka he gets $20 plus free derailleurs). :mrgreen:
 
bikepusher said:
i suppose that makes my old road bike with broken derailleurs a 'single speed' too!
Click to expand...
That is so true! :lol: On the 1st one :he had it converted.... :roll: More like:I ripped off the derailer and shortened the chain!(to dumb to install a freewheel or a cog to go true fixie :wink: )How LAME! :roll:
L8 EM
 
well, there is a ghetto way to do everything and that is actually haow i got my 59 roadmaster ss cruiser years ago. it had a 26" ten speed rim on the back with the chain set to like the middle cog, bmx handlebars and like 3 holes drilled senselessly in the frame. i figured that the previous owner was a crack entheusiest and i am not just saying i think so for as i knew the people it came from indirectly.

as ugly and sensless as using a multispeed freewheel as a single speed set up is, it works don't it? you and i would either use a tool to remove the old fw and go buy a bmx style 34mm ss fw to put back on or get a proper track fixie set up to do it right, but i guess if they didn't want gears or were able to afford them and this is all they had, then good for them.
 
roadmaster said:
well, there is a ghetto way to do everything and that is actually haow i got my 59 roadmaster ss cruiser years ago. it had a 26" ten speed rim on the back with the chain set to like the middle cog, bmx handlebars and like 3 holes drilled senselessly in the frame. i figured that the previous owner was a crack entheusiest and i am not just saying i think so for as i knew the people it came from indirectly.

as ugly and sensless as using a multispeed freewheel as a single speed set up is, it works don't it? you and i would either use a tool to remove the old fw and go buy a bmx style 34mm ss fw to put back on or get a proper track fixie set up to do it right, but i guess if they didn't want gears or were able to afford them and this is all they had, then good for them.
Click to expand...


still when you advertise a single speed you imply that the bike has actually been converted, not just stripped of some parts.
 
good point. i guess for some out there they are finished bikes and i guess thats the sad part. no, no it's not. trying to sell them to us is the sad part, but i see this alot more than i care to admit. not on any of mine. im too ocd to let that happen.
 
I found an old 700c Schwinn 10spd on the side of the road the other day. The wheels were rusted through, the freewheel sprocket was jammed, and there were no brakes. But the frame was pretty tall, lightweight, and in good shape so I took it home. I'm buying a cheap 26" coaster wheelset with 1.75" tires, slapping on a spare front C brake and making it my new commuter. After its done, I'm tempted to put it on CL as a "Custom single speed: the look and ease of a fixie but made for the comfort of a part-time rider"
16.gif
 
Most five speed clusters are just sprockets stacked together, with the last two threaded on.
I created a single speed by removing all the sprockets from an ordinary five speed freewheel and just putting the fourth gear sprocket back on.
 
roadmaster said:
i figured that the previous owner was a crack entheusiest and i am not just saying i think so for as i knew the people it came from indirectly.
Click to expand...

I have a friend on the East Central Illinois Anti-Drug Task Force. He told me that in every raid they've done on meth labs and meth dealers, they find at least one of these three things. Large collections of either...pornography, indian arrowheads, and/or bicycles! At least one, but sometimes all three. The porn didn't really surprise me but I couldn't figure the arrowheads and bikes. He told me the meth heads get all tuned up and don't have anything to do. They're all wired up and have to move. They go out in cornfields or along the Corps lake or river and walk for hours looking for arrowheads. (arrowheads are fairly common around here) And get this, they do it at night with a flashlight as they hate bright daylight while on the meth.
As for the bikes, they would pick up any bikes they could get. At the salvage yards, dumps or wherever.(likely steal them) They bring them home and disassemble them...completely, every nut and bolt, while they are on their stuff. Just for something to do. They don't sell the parts, they are laying everywhere in piles at these meth houses, inside and out.
So my cop friend asks me if I still have my bikes. Er...a...yes, but mine are all together and rideable...no loose parts! He laughed and then asked if I still hunted arrowheads. Er...well...yes, but I never go at night, honest! :p At least I don't have any porn or meth. Whew! B607
 
Ha Ha...that's some crazy stuff.

So the moral of the story....if you need your messy garage reorganized, hire a meth junky.

They get complicated tasks done quick! :lol:
 
meth is huge in my economically depressed county in northern california. i myself am actually a recovered meth entheusiest ( 2years clean :D ) so i know how the drug works. if you never done meth or crack, don't!!! it's the devil. that is why it is kinda hard for me to pick up on my love and hobbie of bicycles this last year when the last time i was into it, i was on the pipe. clean now, my work and projects are alot better, and as for collecting porn, arrow heads and bikes, i can understand why and thats why they call it tweeking. i never lowered myself to steal or take bikes when high or sober. thats just bad karma.
 
Looking at the CL ads it does seem weird that someone would go through the time, trouble, and expense to "convert" something to a single speed but leave the cogs and rings on there. If it wasn't working right, why not just tune the derailers? It's not that hard. Neither is a proper fixed gear conversion.

Here in Cleveland the younger, low-level drug dealers use bikes to get around until they are old enough to drive, but they're nothing like this or that they might have bought off a junkie or tweaker. The kid who sells drugs to the homeless guys at the big shelter down the road has a pimped out muscle bike, like a cheaper version of the twisted low riders, which he uses to advertise his presence.

I'd also be a little cautious of someone who says they're moving to Europe but NOT taking their bike. That would be like "I'm moving to the Bahamas but I'm not going swimming".
 

Latest posts

Back
Top