DIY Singulator Shenanigans

Perhaps you’ve been hungering to get rid of all your gears and convert your bike into a single speed…

but you’re on a budget. And perhaps your bike has added challenges, such as “vertical” dropouts, and needs a Singulator to create chain tension. Why you ask? Since the wheel can’t slide back to make the chain taut (so it doesn’t fall off!), it needs this added mechanism to tighten the chain for you. Really it’s a magical invention, helping unsuspecting bike owners with these frames to not cry tears of sadness when they learn they can’t just take the rear dérailleur off and go.

Yes, you can buy this singulator from your local shop, and viola! you’re all set – or you can give this a whirl:

(Apologies for the blurriness) Some fantastic person created this DIY beauty, but we’ll never know the original source. It’s called a ‘Dingleberry’ which seems mildly crass to me, but who am I to say.

A 6-inch piece of cable is attached only through the dérailleur- at the barrel adjuster and at the pinch bolt. Since the barrel adjuster has no way to hold the cable, a spare pinch bolt is attached the end of the cable, and with that in place the cable can be tensioned so that the dérailleur sits in line with the single cog.

Amazing. Fond thanks to Huck for letting me (poorly) phone photograph his bicycle.