grizzly907la

I went a little crazy and purchased a used Windsor Wellington, road bike. It needs some work...of course, all my bikes are tainted, and impure, until I overhaul them. With that out of the way, how much of a challenge would it be to convert said bike from a 3x8 to a 1x10 drive train?

Thanks.

Andrew R Stewart 

No challenge if you're up to the task. But some $ as a bunch of parts will want changing. Do you have issues with front shifting? Andy

icemilkcoffee 

No real challenge. Just put on 10 sp cassette, RD, chain and brifter. The existing crankset, wheel and freehub should be good for it.

grizzly907la

I can do the job no problem. I just got the bike, and I don't know yet. I want to go with a 1x10 or 1x11 to reduce some weight on the bike. while eliminating a possible failure point at the same time.

grizzly907la

I would get a wolf tooth adapter and my existing 8 speed derailleur, a 10 speed cassette, new chain and brifter of course.

icemilkcoffee 

what is the adaptor for?

some people would get a narrow-wide chain ring for 1x, but that’s optional.

dedhed

I'll assume he means a roadlink to run a larger cassette as is often the case on 1X

​​​​​​https://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/products/roadlink

veganbikes

I probably wouldn't put much into that bike. It is a pretty bottom of the barrel bike to begin with and if needs a lot of work and parts the cost just isn't worth it unless you have way more money than sense. I had a former co-worker who did eventually throw some old 105 on there from one of his other bikes but he was already upgrading and had those parts laying around after he rode them for a long long long time.

I would say instead of having a bunch of low end bikes save all that money and put it towards something nicer. Collecting bikes is cool but if the bike is $300 new it is almost like collecting old newspaper or ketchup packets or something like that, rather than collecting something cool. Having a beater bike is fine but having a whole collection of them just seems a little odd.

grizzly907la

I understand what you're saying, and I would agree. The only $500 and up bike I have is my Diamond back Insight II. I was only able to get that because my sister hooked me up with a $100 gift card from Amazon and I had enough extra cash to get it. Before that I was rolling on a GMC Denali road bike. The frame was great the components were garbage. I got the Basecamp for $250 and probably spent more than I should have considering the work I put into it. I got the Windsor Wellington for $75 and I'll be investing extra into that. The other reason is that I like wrenching on bikes.

I don't plan on racing, or mountain biking. I'm too fat and old for that stuff. I get things that fit my budget. Would I like to have a $1000, to $1500 to build a great bike...of course, but I am working within my constraints and for, taking old broken things and making them new and useful again, is one of my core beliefs.

veganbikes

No I get ya but you keep buying the bottom end stuff instead of just going for one nicer bike. Save up money and maybe look into financing a bike at some point instead of throwing good money at cheap bikes.

NOBODY IS RACING. If you are racing you aren't going to be here or if you are it won't be for a bikes direct special. I don't quite get people's proclivity to mention racing as if that is a major segment of cycling that a lot of people do. I am not saying cycle racing is not a thing and a big thing but probably a good 70% of riders are not racing and of the other 30% probably a reasonable chunk of that 30% aren't super serious and also do a lot of other riding.

Wrenching on bikes can be quite fun but putting good money towards not so good isn't a great way to go unless you really have some sentimental attachment. A bike with Tourney grade components isn't a good bike to start with and really isn't worth upgrading when the upgrades will cost more than the new bike costs. If you are like me and have access to a really solid parts bin and co-workers with the same you can make some really excellent bikes but if you are having to buy a lot of new parts to put on something like that it just isn't worth it. Save up towards a good bike run the other bikes into the ground and take your time and consider your purchases during that time.

grizzly907la

I would love access to a really good parts bin, or to have the cash to buy stuff in lots. It does have a Sora rear derailleur. I know that the Sora's are not that great, and If I wanted to, I could buy better components piecemeal. Here's the bike. It's dinged up, but it wouldn't be too hard for me to repaint it, if I choose to.

I also look at it this way. I can cut my teeth on wrenching on these bikes, and not worrying about breaking or doing something stupid, so I'll be a seasoned hand at it when I do get better bikes.

veganbikes

It looks like someone did an upgrade on that bike already. I wouldn't go further and just get it running as cheaply as possible if you are dead set on this bike. I wouldn't paint it or do anything besides make it functional run it into the ground save up money and boom nicer bike.

However yes it can help learn how to wrench and if you do make a mistake the bike can be tossed easily without a lot of loss.

cpach

Honestly, for me personally it wouldn't feel that worth it to me unless I could do at least a legitimately wide range cassette (11-40 at the minimum), preferably with a clutch. The cheapest thing that would make sense to me would be Microshift Advent for drop bars, 1x9. By the time you buy a road link you'd be better off using at least a 8-9 speed Shimano MTB derailleur.

grizzly907la

I finally finished building the Wellington. I wimped out and went with riser bars. The induhvidual I bought it from, left it outside, and much to my chagrin the barrel adjusters on the frame, seized. I had to drill them out, which was a PITA, and in the process dinged the headtube nicely. I am going to patch it with some bondo, and touch the area up once the bondo has set, and has been smoothed out.

kctrading

I agree

squirtdad

that seat pad has got to go.......

Kimmo 

Oh man

Broctoon

I am a perfect example of what you often (as here) identify and advise against.


I have spent many hundreds of dollars--thousands, in fact--fixing up bottom to mid-grade used bikes. I usually become attached to them and don't want to sell or donate them (sometimes do so anyway, but there are a few I continue hanging onto). I have learned a lot, and I eventually come up with some bikes that are quite nice, at least for my purposes. But when I look back on it, I have to admit that I've invested way more money than the bikes are worth. Had I just saved up and forced myself to be patient, by now I could have bought one or two really good new bikes. I would have much more space in my garage. As it is, there are seven or eight bikes taking up space there at any given time (including one for my son and one for my wife). I have more bikes than I can ride, unless of course I decide I want to use a different one each day of the week.


Part of the problem is that I can't leave stuff alone. I get a bike set up pretty nice and working well. Then I see a new component I like or get another idea for how the bike could be reconfigured. So it's back to the drawing board, the work stand, and the parts ordering. More money spent, and the bike ends up even nicer than before... at considerable cost. This has been going on for years and has still not come to a halt. It's like a sickness.


I don't truly regret my habit of buying older bikes and customizing them to my taste. It's been a fun hobby, and several of the ones I've kept are really good now. But it's true what you (@veganbikes) always say, that if a guy would just save up his bike money instead of constantly spending it on upgrade components for cheap frames, before long he could afford one super nice ride.