Generic question

GoldenMotor.com
Aug 21, 2010
37
2
8
Kingman AZ
I have a mountain bike with a 48cc Skyhawk engine. The changing of gears sometimes does not go as planned. I was wondering if I could just change "something (or 2)" and just make a regular peddle in one gear bike and have a coaster brake. If NO then that's it. If YES, then what is entailed?
Thank you.
 

maniac57

Old, Fat, and still faster than you
Oct 8, 2011
4,484
22
0
memphis Tn
All it takes is a good rim and a chainbreaker to shorten the chain to the proper length for the single speed.
Remove the derailleurs and bolt it up.
 

Dan

Staff
May 25, 2008
12,765
115
48
58
Moosylvania
Just to add

Tom, just wondering, when changing gears, what goes wrong? Could it be fixed by adjustments? I personally like having gears and not a huge fan of coaster brakes. Lots of folks love em. I just find em hard to deal with by having to have them in the right position at stops, for taking back off when the light changes or when it is my turn to go when it is my turn in traffic.

Dunno how many gears you have but you can adjust to just 3 or even one gear so it is not a major deal to accidentally up or down shift.

And is just turning a set screw to adjust a derailleur rather than the expense and labor to swap out a wheel.

All just based on my own preferences and not meaning to influence ya.
 
Last edited:

crassius

Well-Known Member
Sep 30, 2012
4,032
158
63
USA
a multi-speed chain often is too thin to fit a single-speed sprocket, so grinding or filing the rear teeth may be required too
 

Stormsorter

Member
Jun 10, 2010
122
1
16
Jasper County Illinois
I agree with Dan, keep your gears if you can. It's easy to readjust the shifting system. With the turn of a couple screws you can set up the derailleur so that it only go so far each direction. I wont waste time telling you how, Sheldon can take care of that http://sheldonbrown.com/derailer-adjustment.html. Also don't forget to check your chain itself, a link or links can be twisted and/or bent which can be hard to notice and easily overlooked causing all kinds of trouble. I ripped a derailleur off the frame and almost got killed crossing the highway due to a twisted chain. That was an extreme case though, the chain had came off and got stuck a block or so before and I was so mad I just ripped it out and didn't think to make sure it wasn't twisted in the process.

Also as Dan said it may just be your shift levers, especially if you have the twist grip style. The twist grip style has always gone bad quickly in my experience but I've never bought or used an expensive bike with nice ones. I like and have never had any issues with this style http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/shifters.html#underbar and if your lucky your local bike shop may have some used ones cheep. You may want to make sure you have a Shimano cassette first though most bikes do.

Switching to a coaster is a more involved process. You have to buy a wheel and probably a chain too since single speed sprockets are thicker and require more space between the links. Hub spacing is also different, 110mm for a coaster and 135mm for typical 7-9 speed cassettes, so you will have to add spacers and center/align the wheel yourself. Then you will have to make sure the rear sprocket will align with one of the front sprockets, which will most likely be the smallest. I can't say for sure since I have never tried to turn a geared bike to a single speed. And obviously you have to swap your engine sprocket over to the new wheel and align it properly to. Just make sure you go with a Shimano coaster, they seem to be more consistent when breaking than other brands. I've also seen pictures, here on the forums somewhere of Falcons or Hi Stops that cracked under the extra speed and/or weight of the engine.
 

maniac57

Old, Fat, and still faster than you
Oct 8, 2011
4,484
22
0
memphis Tn
I agree with keeping the gears if possible, even thought I don't use them much. I prefer rim brakes over coaster brakes.
 
Aug 21, 2010
37
2
8
Kingman AZ
Thank you all. I stopped by the bike shop today and he didn't mention keeping my multiple gears. He only responded to my idea of abandoning the derailer system for the simpler single speed with a coaster brake. He did mention that if I did that I should also keep the hand brakes. The hub would be about $60 so with all the other stuff I would have to put about $100 into the project. So far it's just a thought. It's getting cooler here in Northern Arizona so I have until springtime to decide. I would have to think that if I could just decide on one gear I could keep the status quo and life goes on. I might be trying to complicate things by re-inventing the wheel. I will check out the links so kindly offered in the other posts and see what it leads to. Thank you again.
 
Jan 24, 2012
143
21
18
letterkenny, ireland
hey tom if you really want a single speed but not anting coaster brake, you can just remove the freewheel off current wheel and get a single speed gear pretty much any size you want and thread it on, adjust chain size and off you go, alot cheaper, buy a cheap bicycle repair kit contains all tools needed.