First off the Bike is a Nishiki Olympic 12.
Frame: Kawamura
Frame Material: Chrome molly
Cranks: Sugino 170
Front Hub: Sunshine
Rear Hub: Shimano
Freewheel: Maeda Industries 6-speed
Derailleurs: Shimano Vx
Shifters: Suntour Power Shift
Rims: Araya 27"
I'm trying to decide if I should convert this into a single-speed bike, or if I should keep it as a 12-speed. Either way I don't want to do anything that is going to make (semi) permanent changes. Right now, I am thinking conversion, but as I am broke, the conversion would have to be cheaper than keeping it a 12-speed (or within a few bucks anyway). Although, I have to think that in the long run I am going to save money with a single speed. There is just less shit to break.
Anyway. The first thing to do when doing a conversion is to look at the rear hub and determine how difficult and costly it will be to switch the gears out. What I found is that I have a Maeda Industries 6-speed Freewheel. I think its the freewheel. That is too bad, it seems more modern hubs have the freewheel built into them (cassette hubs) and are coonsiderably harder to convert.
I am going to post some questions to Bike Forums and try to get some specific info on how to do this.
I will post some links to my questions a lil' later.
