turning a single speed into a ten speed.

Question
I recently found a BMX bike in my building and for the most part its in great condition. its a single speed with front and rear breaks. i want to turn the bike into a ten speed, but i don't know how to do it or if this is even possible. if it is possible to turn a single speed into a ten speed, what parts would i have to get and how would i go about doing it.

Answer
Its possible, but not likely. I once converted an old 3-speed English Racer type bike to a 5-speed and that was a project.

To add speeds to the rear you need to replace the rear wheel (or at least the hub). Multi-speed bikes use a freewheel or cassette on the rear wheel to provided mutliple gearing. But the problem will be the width of the rear dropouts. A multi-gear wheel will be wider than a single speed and you may not be able to fit the wider hub necessary. Nor would I recommend trying to widen the gap as that will damage the frame integrity.

If you can fit a multi-gear wheel, then you would also have to add a derailleur, longer chain, handlebar shifters and gear cable. Frankly this may bring your costs up to where it may not be worth doing.

Hope this helps
Scott<>

Just saw your comment, if there is any term you didn't understand feel free to ask a followup.

If you look at any multi-geared bike, you will see the back wheel has a set of cogs on it. Each cog represents a different gear or speed. The derailleur is the divice that shifts the chain from one cog to another. The shifter tells the derailleur to change gears.

Hope this helps
Scott<>