Building up my “new” singles speed bike wasn’t quite as easy as stripping it down. A few snags earned it a difficulty rating of 1, as measured by unplanned trips to Home Depot.
Running just a 32-tooth chain ring and bash guard on the front meant cutting down some bolts with a Dremel, and getting the chain tensioner screwed in required a bigger bolt to re-cut the stripped threads. The tensioner itself was a bit confusing; after taking it apart to swap bolts, I couldn’t get all the pieces together again, but found it worked fine without one. The final product isn’t as light as a purpose-built single speed, but it’s still quite respectable and a bit more meaningful to have my old frame under me again.
