Finally finished the single speed conversion on my Stumpumper the other night, and I must say I am quite pleased with the results. My goal was to do the conversion for less than $130, and the parts came in around $135.00. I am no bike tech but it was fairly straightforward, big thanks to Sheldon Brown and the good folks at Surly for all their help. I removed the old 8 speed cassette and replaced it with an 18 tooth Surly cog, the spacers are from Gussett and the tensioner is a Surly Singulator. The hardest part of the whole conversion was spacing the rear cog to get a decent chainline, and finding a 38 tooth/94 bcd chainring that fit my old Deore LX cranks. I was going to buy new brake levers, since the originals were the shifter/brake lever combos, but since I was trying to do this on the cheap I decided to just cut the shifters off, it turned out pretty slick. I grinded them down and you can't even tell.
Surly 18t cog- $20.00
Race Face 38t chainring- $40.00
Surly Singulator chain tensioner- $30.00
Chain- $25.00
Seat- $20.00
New chainring bolts- free from local bike shop
Listening to: Songs:Ohia- The Magnolia Electric Co.
