fixed gear build up

I rode a fixed gear for the first time today. quite an interesting feeling.
very cool if not for a slightly too hard saddle.

My question to you tech people is this: how much (or little in my case)
spend building up a fixed gear from used componentry? I'm not sure how
cheap I could get a frame, so let's leave that out. Say i have most of a
road bike and I want to go fixed. what's it gonna cost? and how much more
to build it up as a "flip-flop" fixed-gear/singlespeed, so I can coast
around streets, and not on campus?

Mike
Mechanical Engineering 2006, Carnegie Mellon University
Remove nospam to reply.

On Thu, 02 Oct 2003 18:49:07 +0000, Prometheus wrote:

My question to you tech people is this: how much (or little in my case)
spend building up a fixed gear from used componentry? I'm not sure how
cheap I could get a frame, so let's leave that out.

Well, the frame should either be one you have around (doesn't everyone
have enough parts to build up at least one full bike?), or should be a
"find". Look for horizontal dropouts on a road frame, or a real track
frame, which would be less likely to be found cheap.

Depending on what usable stuff is on the frame, your costs could be very
small.

Minimal for most folks:

1) Rear hub. These cost $20-$80 depending. Sheldon
Brown has a good selection. You can us a n old road hub, but that will
not have a lockring. This always starts up debates about whether or not a
lockring is needed. I side with the "needed" folks, due to an unfortunate
experience years ago when I loosened a cog.

2) Sprocket(s). Collect a set, but start with one that will give you a decent
ratio. Find that by using comparable ratio on a road bike for a while to
see how it works. Sprockets cost $5-$15 per.

3) Chain. Get eitehr derailleur type chain, or 1/8" chain meant for bmx,
3-speeds, and track bikes -- depending on the thickness of the sprocket
you have.

You can use the road cranks, if you have them. Typically using the inner
position for the chainring gives the best chainline. Most use a 42-48
tooth ring. Any other stuff would be the same for a road bike. If
missing, you will need to replace, but...

Take off derailleurs, leave on brakes. Ride.


Say i have most of a
road bike and I want to go fixed. what's it gonna cost? and how much more
to build it up as a "flip-flop" fixed-gear/singlespeed,

The cost for hubs is about the same for flip-flop, unless you want double
sided fixed-fixed (which can take a single-speed freewheel, too). You'd
have to re-build the wheel, of course, which may or may not mean new
spokes. Given a reasonable bike to start, your cost can be lower than
$50. I helped a guy do this once, who managed to spend ten times that.
But he replaced a lot of stuff, and always went the priciest way. Weird.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | You will say Christ saith this and the apostles say this; but
_`\(,_ | what canst thou say? -- George Fox.
(_)/ (_) |

On Thu, 02 Oct 2003 15:49:07 -0700, Prometheus wrote:
I rode a fixed gear for the first time today. quite an interesting
feeling. very cool if not for a slightly too hard saddle.

Once you start riding, you'll realize that the saddle was probably just
right and you put too much weight on it.

It's not for bearing load, you know... it keeps your hips in position and
relieves a bit of strain when you need it, but you don't actually sit on
the thing.

A fixed gear bicycle should teach you pretty quickly that your legs are
for pedalling.

My question to you tech people is this: how much (or little in my case)
spend building up a fixed gear from used componentry? I'm not sure how
cheap I could get a frame, so let's leave that out. Say i have most of a
road bike and I want to go fixed. what's it gonna cost? and how much
more to build it up as a "flip-flop" fixed-gear/singlespeed, so I can
coast around streets, and not on campus?

You can do this relatively cheaply. Depends on whether you want to build
your own wheels or what.

My first fixie was a Schwinn World Sport on which I just replaced the rear
wheel with a cheap one I built (my first, actually). I used a Suzue
Junior flip-flop hub, Surly cog, Dura-Ace lock ring (not for cred, but
because it is good and fits the hub thread), a cheap rim and straight
gauge spokes.

Most of these parts came from the local bike co-op: Hub $30
Cog 25
Loc 12
Rim 30
Spoke 15

That was really enough to get me going.

(I also bought a $20 Shimano freewheel for the other side of the hub,
but... see below.)

I realized a few things right away.

First, spending a little more on the
hub makes a huge difference in ride. I would recommend one of the
relatively bullet-proof sealed cartridge bearing jobs you can get pretty
cheap. I'm currently riding a Miche that I got for maybe $70. Second,
the flip-flop was totally useless. It's sort of like when I moved to a
sensible operating system on my desktop computer. As long as my computer
booted to both, I used the old one as a crutch. Eliminate the option of
doing what you don't want to do and you won't do it. I first took off the
freewheel (and put it on another bike that had a broken derailleur so that
I had a second bike).

Next, I started on aesthetics (which are unimportant when you have no
money). I replaced the chainring bolts with the short stack variety so
that I had just the one chainring up front. That helped. Then I got
some new tires (the afore- and often-mentioned Armadillos). Eventually,
I dropped the frame and replaced it with an old Bridgestone (I think...
serial numbers ground off and bad rattle-can paint) frame from a
different bike co-op's basement for $30. I cleaned it down to the steel
and repainted it, then applied some great reflective adhesive film used
for road signs. It's sharp looking and bright as hell at night, even
without lights.

I got some good brahma bars to replace the old drops and a bar-end brake
lever for my single front brake.

Last month I got a fancy new Thompson-esque microadjust seatpost and a
Brooks B17, which I absolutely love.

A few months ago, someone in the parking lot at work hit my bike on the
rack out front. There was some scratching along the reflective film and
the rear wheel was ruined. However, the boss-man offered to reimburse
whatever I spent to replace the thing, so I rebuilt it with the Miche
track hub and a Mavic rim (I would've gotten Velocity rims, but I really
didn't want to go TOO far over the original value). I must say it's MUCH
more pleasant to ride and I LOVED it before!

Anyway, that's part of my story. There you go.
Elmo King

Following-up myself. Apologies.

On Thu, 02 Oct 2003 17:37:43 -0700, Elmo Spam King wrote:
A few months ago, someone in the parking lot at work hit my bike on the
rack out front. There was some scratching along the reflective film and
the rear wheel was ruined. However, the boss-man offered to reimburse
whatever I spent to replace the thing, so I rebuilt it with the Miche
track hub and a Mavic rim (I would've gotten Velocity rims, but I really
didn't want to go TOO far over the original value). I must say it's
MUCH more pleasant to ride and I LOVED it before!

I forgot to mention that I also replaced the cog with a Dura-Ace cog (and
the Miche hub has a unique threading, but came with a lock ring).

I was going to buy a new Surly cog for my Miche hub, but the fit was
terrible (the threads seemed all wrong, though it would thread on with
ENORMOUS force) and it wasn't wide enough to stay locked between the ring
and the hub flanges!!! Turned out, there was great variation in these
cog widths from individual to individual.

The Dura-Ace was actually cheaper and of better quality.

And while Dean at Bike Central said I'd blow my knees out, I'm pretty
happy with the 46x16.
Elmo King

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/fixed.html


"Prometheus" wrote in message
...
I rode a fixed gear for the first time today. quite an interesting
feeling.
very cool if not for a slightly too hard saddle.

My question to you tech people is this: how much (or little in my case)
spend building up a fixed gear from used componentry? I'm not sure how
cheap I could get a frame, so let's leave that out. Say i have most of a
road bike and I want to go fixed. what's it gonna cost? and how much more
to build it up as a "flip-flop" fixed-gear/singlespeed, so I can coast
around streets, and not on campus?

Mike
Mechanical Engineering 2006, Carnegie Mellon University
Remove nospam to reply.

Prometheus wrote in message .. .

My question to you tech people is this: how much (or little in my case)
spend building up a fixed gear from used componentry?

Assuming you have all (or most of, as you wrote) a road bike laying
around, at a minimum you'll need a rear wheel built on a track or
flip-flop hub. The cheapest hubs run around $30, if you can reuse your
rim. Prebuilt wheels start at $100 or so. Cogs are under $10,
single-speed freewheels are around $20. I assume you can reuse your
chainring and chain, but you'll probably want shorter chainring bolts
($10) so you don't have a vestigial ring on your crank. So $150 might
buy the parts to do the conversion. Harris Cyclery
(www.harriscyclery.com) has all of this stuff, and they built up my
fixer, and I love riding it.

I'd also keep an eye on Ebay's Home All Categories Sports
Sporting Goods Cycling Road Bikes & Parts category. There are a
few folks who post fixer conversions fairly regularly. It's also a
good source for vintage steel frames with horizontal dropouts, which
make a good staring point for a road fixer conversion.

JLS

Prometheus wrote in message .. .
I rode a fixed gear for the first time today. quite an interesting feeling.
very cool if not for a slightly too hard saddle.

My question to you tech people is this: how much (or little in my case)
spend building up a fixed gear from used componentry? I'm not sure how
cheap I could get a frame, so let's leave that out. Say i have most of a
road bike and I want to go fixed. what's it gonna cost? and how much more
to build it up as a "flip-flop" fixed-gear/singlespeed, so I can coast
around streets, and not on campus?

Mike
Mechanical Engineering 2006, Carnegie Mellon University
Remove nospam to reply.

I built a single-speed out of a "found" Raleigh frame and wheel parts
I had sitting around. Had I not been extravagent and kept the
original fork, I could have built the whole bike for the cost of the
single freewheel. If I'd wanted a fixie, it would have been free.

If you were here (Portland, OR), you could get an adequate frame and
fork for about $50 from Citybikes Co-op. If you can scrounge an old
ten-speed that's the right size and has a freewheel rear hub, the
build-up will cost you $bike + $cog + $lockring. Keep the brakes-
even the fixie-riding messengers around here usually retain the front
brake.

Jeff

Elmo Spam King wrote:

Once you start riding, you'll realize that the saddle was probably just
right and you put too much weight on it.

It's not for bearing load, you know... it keeps your hips in position and
relieves a bit of strain when you need it, but you don't actually sit on
the thing.

The hell you say! I have two fixies, both with nice high bars and
both with plump saddles that get sat upon. I wouldn't have it any
other way.

A fixie will bring you plenty of pain and suffering regardless. No
need to invite more.

Chalo Colina

Prometheus- My question to you tech people is this: how much (or little in my
case)
spend building up a fixed gear from used componentry? I'm not sure how
cheap I could get a frame, so let's leave that out. Say i have most of a
road bike and I want to go fixed. what's it gonna cost? BRBR

Not much. You can use your levers, your crank/BB(one ring on the inside), your
front wheel and brake. There are way to convert some rear freehubs to fixed
gear hubs, or get a wheel with a freewheel hub and put a track cog onto that.
Some track chainring bolts, perhaps a new rear wheel-go ride.

Hopefully the frameset has horizontal dropouts, essential for a fixed gear.
tensioners will not work with a fixed gear, for single speeds(BMX
freewheeltype).

A flipflop hub starts about $35(Suzue basic)

Peter Chisholm
Vecchio's Bicicletteria
1833 Pearl St.
Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535
http://www.vecchios.com
"Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

Chalo- A fixie will bring you plenty of pain and suffering regardless. No
need to invite more. BRBR

Don't get this. I love to ride my fixie, don't hurt or suffer at all...

Peter Chisholm
Vecchio's Bicicletteria
1833 Pearl St.
Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535
http://www.vecchios.com
"Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"