At the beginning of this year, I needed a new singlespeed for Sea Otter. Since I broke the frame I was riding last summer and didn’t have my new Timex Trek 69’er yet (since there was a delay in availability), I converted last year’s hardtail, and thought I should share this beautiful, sensual process with everyone. The process for creating a singlespeed is really quite simple and takes less than 30 minutes, “It’s breathtaking, I suggest you try it”. If you’re not ready to go buy your own, like the Trek 69er, this is a great way to get an inexpensive introduction to singlespeeding.
Take any currently functional hardtail mountain bike, that you most likely don’t ride anymore if you don’t race and have joined the rest of the 20th century with full suspension.

1. Remove all shifting related apparatus: shifters, cables, derailleurs
2. Remove big and small chain rings, move the middle 32 tooth ring to the outside position install with custom chainring bolts ($5)
3. Remove cassette, install single 18 tooth cog ($6) with spacers ($5)
4. Shorten chain, install surly singleator ($30) if necessary
5. Weigh bike and marvel at it’s light weight and simplicity (My temporary Giant = 19.5 lbs)
6. Ride & smile

Try it and have fun! Here are 2 pics: last year’s Kelly, and this year’s Trek.