Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Building My First Single Speed

Well, actually my first bike of any kind, to be honest!. I picked up this used Surly Karate Monkey frame and fork yesterday and thought it'd be a great first bike to build out. Since the frame is touted as being incredibly versatile, I figured it'd be worth trying a single speed build on.

I posted this list of items that I think I need to one of the BF single speed forums:

Handlebars - $20 - I prefer drops - many on ebay.
Stem - $20 - tons of Dimensions in this range.
Headset - $25 - not anything like a King, but saw a bunch in this range.
Brakes - $20 for front and back handbrakes
Wheels - $100 - CL listing..29er wheelset. Shimano XT 32 hole disc hubs (6 bolt) laced to WTB Dual Duty rims with Wheelmith 1.7/2.0 stainless spokes.
Tires/Tubes - $40 - set of Kevlars like I have on my roadbike on ebay.
Seatpost - $10
Pedals - $10
Chainring - $10
Cranks - $30 bulletproof
Bottombracket - $15 shimano un54
Chain - $10
Seat - I realize this is wide open..just going to leave it open right now.

Without a seat, I'm at $310 if I was to just start ordering and buying stuff off Ebay/Internet, with the one CL item. Of course, shipping will kill me if I don't order from the same seller where possible. My question is, in general am I on the right track here, or am I missing anything big? I picked up the KM because of it's reported versatility, and thought it'd be a great frame to start tinkering with, without screwing up my daily ride. I'd rather learn a bunch of this stuff than always feel like an idiot when it comes to the mechanics of my bike.

And someone pointed out that I'd also need:

brake levers, chainring bolts, star nut, headtube cap, brakelines, housing, freewheel, bottom bracket, grips or tape

as well as......

...spoke cards, knickers, half-a-pack of unfiltered Lucky Strikes, Me-Too Antiestablishmentarianism, and a painfully self-conscious sarcasm. Oh, and spoke cards.

and..

Rim tape.

and...

grease and lube.

and of course I had already thought of tools, but I didn't include them in my list as those are something I'd probably end up with to work on my other bikes for the long haul anyway.

So, if you have any input, or any parts I might want/need, let me know! I'm going to keep updating here!

Thanks.

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