[Piers]

Has anyone tried the Paul's Melvin to convert their vertical drop-out frame to a single speed?

With wet whether on the way here in Portland I'm looking to find a way to cut down on maintenance, and less gears means less cleaning.

The Paul Melvin seems like a good way to go (a lot cheaper than a new frame). but I thought I'd ask if anyone had given 'er a go...

Let me know what you know....

 

[riderx]

I don't have any experience w/ the Melvin, but here are a couple of suggestions. A friend has converted a Specialized M4 and then a GT Zaskar without needing a tensioner. Both frames fit a 34x17 gear combo perfect. So, you should play around a see if you can get away without a tensioner. This article gives a few hints:
http://www.singlespeed.cc/drop_mod.htm

Also, this guy has a cool online calculator that will tell you what gears you can run on your frame without a tensioner.
http://www.peak.org/~fixin/

And over here, you can find plans for a do it yourself tensioner. Had another friend who did a similar design and it worked very good. He mounted his to the derail. hanger and hooked an old derail. spring around the chainstay and the tensioner and this kept things nice and tight.
http://www.geocities.com/mtnwuff/SStens.html

An SS is a perfect winter bike, no shift cables to get wet and then freeze. Welcome to the dark side!

 

[Roß]

I have a Melvin on my SS ('91 Yeti Ultimate) and it works perfectly. Much more tension than the Surly Singleator and adjustable for chainline as well. It has 2 pulleys which allows enough slack to run dual chainrings in front, giving you a 2-speed kind of setup.

Typical Paul stuff...well-made, functional, and way too expensive for what it is.