UKC

Hi

Got a road bike that I mainly use for commuting in London. It's a 9-speed Trek 1400 from ~2007-9, with carbon forks. Thought I'd be safe with 2 locks and a cable, but had handlebars, shifters and front brakes removed from my bike the other day. Unfortunately can't get 9-speed 105 shifters anymore, so it's going to be a very expensive fix, and to be honest I don't want to plough that much money into the bike to upgrade the casette, derailleur etc.

Was considering a single speed conversion - was wondering what other's experience is with this, and whether it's doable without much knowledge..

Anyone done this?

Cheers

In reply to Daniel80:

Yeah I did this to my old racer. I just took both the front and back mechs off and then adjusted the length of the chain to fit on my chosen gear.

If I was you I'd buy new flat handlebars, a couple of cheap brake levers and a front brake then you're good to go. Tools/experience you'll need a few allen keys and a chain breaker should be very easy to do.

Hope that helps, shout if you want advice about fit ect.

In reply to Daniel80:
It depend if you have horizontal or vertical dropouts, if vertical you'll need a chain tensioner and some knowledge. If you're happy to keep your old cassette that simplifies the job, but a new single sprocket is better, again you'll need some knowledge and tools to change that.

If you're reasonably practical you'll be fine, all the info is available online, just read up first.

In reply to Daniel80:
Ouch, that's the expensive bits gone but no need to change derailleurs, chain rings or cassette.

For single speed the rear derailleur will act as a tensioner as it does normally, just adjust the end stop on the rear mech to see what gear you can get.

You can still get 9 shimano speed shifters for flat bars or bar ends and even down tubes for drop bars (eg chain reaction). Old school friction shifters will work.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/gear-shifters?f=4294964100,4294963681

Flat bars easier to set up?

http://en.m.wikibooks.org/wiki/Bicycles/Maintenance_and_Repair/Gear-changin...