How do you make a road bike into a fixie?

Question

How do you make a road bike into a fixie?

Answer 1

It's a little more challenging, but you can do it with vertical dropouts just fine.  

Buy a fixed-gear hub.   Don't mess with trying to create a fixed setup on a normal freewheel hub...it's not worth it and they almost always slip.  If a fixie comes undone while riding, it can ruin your frame or wheel....hopefully not taking you down to asphalt in the process.   :o)

So get the hub, and a lockring if it doesn't come with one.  Choose a good strong cog, and pick up a track or singlespeed chain....the halflink chains are great, but expensive. They're stronger, and they also make tensioning the chain 1000% easier if you're on vertical dropouts.

Swap your chainring bolts to steel if you're using aluminum now.  You might consider using a flat track ring, even a good steel one, but the rings you have now should work ok.  

That's pretty much it unless you want to start removing brakes or using different handlebars.

I vote for singlespeed, too.  I think fixies are fun/beneficial for training rides or longer rides away from traffic, but I don't think they're all that smart for urban riding.  I know I go against that trend, but there's just too much that can go wrong and at this point I'd rather take my risks on jumps and rocky mountain bike trails instead of city streets.   :o)

Answer 2

You need hoizontal dropout on your frame to tension the chain properly and for it to be strong enough to run fixie.  You can run single speed though...  how are your knees..?

Beware that the load on a fixie is MUCH different than a single speed - because you can coast on a SS...  Furthermore, if the chain on a fixie is not tencioned correctly the chain WILL jump off.

Unless you want "Shadetree mechanic" type of setup..?