Fixed/Single Speed Commuting

il_principe

cjcp wrote:

_Brun_ wrote:

North drinks was impressive last night. About fifteen folk headed up there from Trafalgar Square, and there must've been at least thirty up at the Flask for the majority of the evening. A lot of people seemed to be heading back South afterwards, so had only made the trip up to Highgate for the hill and the beers, good effort.

The Flask is a lovely pub. At least it used to be when I lived there 11 years ago. Now I feel old.

You lived in a pub :shock: Good man

In other news, my sodding chain came off again last night. I've duly fitted a new chain (a red KMC one, Bling). The old chain was actually quite stretched. I guess running a big gear on SS is bound to increase chain wear really, but I would expect KMC to last longer.

Cleaned the bike last night as well, white wheels and hubs all lovely and then it rains this am. Grrrrrrr.

lost_in_thought

jashburnham wrote:

cjcp wrote:

_Brun_ wrote:

North drinks was impressive last night. About fifteen folk headed up there from Trafalgar Square, and there must've been at least thirty up at the Flask for the majority of the evening. A lot of people seemed to be heading back South afterwards, so had only made the trip up to Highgate for the hill and the beers, good effort.

The Flask is a lovely pub. At least it used to be when I lived there 11 years ago. Now I feel old.

You lived in a pub :shock: Good man

In other news, my sodding chain came off again last night. I've duly fitted a new chain (a red KMC one, Bling). The old chain was actually quite stretched. I guess running a big gear on SS is bound to increase chain wear really, but I would expect KMC to last longer.

Cleaned the bike last night as well, white wheels and hubs all lovely and then it rains this am. Grrrrrrr.

Again I may be talking b0llocks here, but this is one of the reasons I was told that half-link chains are good - they stand up better to the stress of pushing a big gear.

May be something to consider...

il_principe

Yeah I may try one. Just had a spare KMC at home so whacked it on.

lost_in_thought

I also find they run smoother. KMC do one that is specifcally designed for small sprockets - all the way down to a 9t - which is what I have on the bowery.

il_principe

hang on, you have the chain on the Bowery or a 9t? :shock:

biondino

Guys - can you tell me if you think this is a nice bike, and approx how much you think it should cost?

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12607533

lost_in_thought

jashburnham wrote:

hang on, you have the chain on the Bowery or a 9t? :shock:

The chain the chain the chain.... :shock:

lost_in_thought

biondino wrote:

Guys - can you tell me if you think this is a nice bike, and approx how much you think it should cost?

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12607533

It doesn't matter if WE think it's a nice bike, it's whether YOU think it's a nice bike! I can't see the pictures because of the evil net nanny, but it looks from the google that it's listed on www.bobjacksoncycles.co.uk at £345...

il_principe

biondino wrote:

Guys - can you tell me if you think this is a nice bike, and approx how much you think it should cost?

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12607533

Lovely. A very sought after frame actually, and Nitto bars are "desirable" and NJS certified (i think) - something some place much stock in.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihon_Jitensha_Shink%C5%8Dkai

It looks bigger than a 56 though.

Also - excellent hubs, in fact it is very well equipped all round. God knows on price though, components alone must be worth a decent whack. ie - hubs @ £70 +, bars @ £30 +, chainring £180?

gtvlusso

Just sold the Raleigh Banana Fixie for £170! Dead chuffed as the frame was £25 and the parts were about £50!

Have a Hill Special frame at Argos cycles in Bristol being re-sprayed Cambridge Blue - will build something very special out of it, quality components only. Will then sell it on!

The Barron will undergo a re-spray soon too - getting surface rust after riding in the wet and road salt.

Bob Jackson stuff looks grea though! May be some cash going his way for the track frameset!

Clever Pun

jashburnham wrote:

biondino wrote:

Guys - can you tell me if you think this is a nice bike, and approx how much you think it should cost?

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12607533

Lovely. A very sought after frame actually, and Nitto bars are "desirable" and NJS certified (i think) - something some place much stock in.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihon_Jitensha_Shink%C5%8Dkai

It looks bigger than a 56 though.

Also - excellent hubs, in fact it is very well equipped all round. God knows on price though, components alone must be worth a decent whack. ie - hubs @ £70 +, bars @ £30 +, chainring £180?

those hubs would be over £200 new... best of the best.

Nice bike, shares a lot of componentry with my project

steve-m

_Brun_ wrote:

Nice work! Feels great when you get to the top doesn't it? Hope you treated yerself to a well deserved pint, the Pride was decent enough last night.

I wish, was already planning on going to the gym so just carried on, did a bit less on the legs than usual though.

It did however make me think it could be an interesting pub crawl though maybe a pint after every other hill.

In lieu of panniers, I will attempt Muswell Hill while towing a particularly watery melon.

I think my next one to try is Bittacy hill near Mill Hill East, have cycled it on the roadie a number of time and it part of one of my more hilly runs

biondino

Thanks for your help, guys. I'm going to test ride the bike, hopefully tomorrow. Any other (informed) guesses on the total price would be very useful! LiT, I found the frame for £345, yep, that's the one, thanks for the pointer!

itboffin

Nice bike Biondio but I suspect you're going to have to pay through the nose for that level of finish.

Would it be a sin to have a SS with 2 poss 3 cogs at the rear? I love my el cheapo SS but really would like to have the option of perhaps high/med/low without running a full geared bike or a heavy old SA hub.

44 upfront
16, 17, 18 at the back

Is that even possible?

il_principe

itboffin wrote:

Nice bike Biondio but I suspect you're going to have to pay through the nose for that level of finish.

Would it be a sin to have a SS with 2 poss 3 cogs at the rear? I love my el cheapo SS but really would like to have the option of perhaps high/med/low without running a full geared bike or a heavy old SA hub.

44 upfront
16, 17, 18 at the back

Is that even possible?

Yes and yes:

http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/userimages/procart5.htm

http://www.whiteind.com/singlespeedgearing/freewheels.html

Littigator

biondino wrote:

Guys - can you tell me if you think this is a nice bike, and approx how much you think it should cost?

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12607533

BD that is a very high specced bike. As CP said the hubs alone are more than 200 quid. I'd put it up towards a grand to be honest with that level of spec.

If you fancy a shiny Sunday best fixed ride, I'll be selling this one soon before i head to Kenya. Would be looking for around 400 for it. You get first dibs if you're interested.



It's a Raleigh Superbe frame, resprayed recently, fitted with Raleigh original headset, BB and cranks. Vintage Maillord hubs laced to Velocity Deep V rims and Nitto Radonneur bars with handstiched elk-hide bar covers

wgwarburton

biondino wrote:

Guys - can you tell me if you think this is a nice bike, and approx how much you think it should cost?

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12607533

Mmmn, yummy!

What it's worth? Hmm, I'd reckon the fact that it's slightly used would pretty much offset the cost of building it up, so it's probably worth the value of the parts.

It's more expensive to build a bike like this than to buy a production one, 'cos there's no economy of scale.... OTOH, this is more "desireable" than an OTP.

Bottom line- if it's exactly what you want, it's a good deal for the price of the parts. If you would have specced it differently then it's worth less to you than your own custom build would be, so factor down accordingly.

It's worth what you're prepared to pay for it... If it's exactly what you want then that could be substantially more than the value of the parts, if it isn't, then quite a bit less...

A bit of googling and some ebay research should get you pretty close....

Cheers,
W.

biondino

Thanks again all! Litts, that is a lovely bike too! I'll let you know how I get on tomorrow and if the bike/price isn't right I'll be in touch for a test ride...

Ta

don_don

jashburnham wrote:

itboffin wrote:

Nice bike Biondio but I suspect you're going to have to pay through the nose for that level of finish.

Would it be a sin to have a SS with 2 poss 3 cogs at the rear? I love my el cheapo SS but really would like to have the option of perhaps high/med/low without running a full geared bike or a heavy old SA hub.

44 upfront
16, 17, 18 at the back

Is that even possible?

Yes and yes:

http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/userimages/procart5.htm

http://www.whiteind.com/singlespeedgearing/freewheels.html

Well I didn't know they did those as well...

I've just bought a Surly Dingle from charliethebikemonger. Not received it yet but I hope it might be an easier answer to hilly rides.

You could potentially run one of each on a fixed/free hub and have 2 fixed gears for speed and 2 free for the hills!!

Clever Pun

Littigator wrote:

biondino wrote:

Guys - can you tell me if you think this is a nice bike, and approx how much you think it should cost?

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12607533

BD that is a very high specced bike. As CP said the hubs alone are more than 200 quid. I'd put it up towards a grand to be honest with that level of spec.

If you fancy a shiny Sunday best fixed ride, I'll be selling this one soon before i head to Kenya. Would be looking for around 400 for it. You get first dibs if you're interested.



It's a Raleigh Superbe frame, resprayed recently, fitted with Raleigh original headset, BB and cranks. Vintage Maillord hubs laced to Velocity Deep V rims and Nitto Radonneur bars with handstiched elk-hide bar covers

with that frame what's your seatpost size?

itboffin

I put a little more slack in the chain but still the cranks move backwards or forwards like a fixed.

My freewheel is new so is the chain and cranks and chain ring, that really only leaves the rear axle I think?

Littigator

Clever Pun wrote:

with that frame what's your seatpost size?

Diametre is 25.2 length...not sure.

Or am I missing a joke again :?

wgwarburton

don_don wrote:

Well I didn't know they did those as well...

I've just bought a Surly Dingle from charliethebikemonger. Not received it yet but I hope it might be an easier answer to hilly rides.

You could potentially run one of each on a fixed/free hub and have 2 fixed gears for speed and 2 free for the hills!!

Sheldon Brown[RIP]'s site has a section on some exotic fixies he built along these lines- you can use a double chainset as well, or instead, depending on what you want to achieve.
The limiting factor is the amount of adustment you have in your track-ends or dropouts to accomodate the different chain lengths you get. Not an issue if you have a SS with a tensioner but a challenge if you ride fixed.

I ran a 48/52 double on my winter hack (before the frame rusted out :-( ) against a 22T rear sprocket. This gave me either a 64" or 56" gear, whereas the dingle typically gives you a bigger difference between options since the ratio change is more dramatic at the rear.

I probably won't use this setup again, though, after the first few months I didn't bother changing it.

Roll on s3x... though I'm not convinced the ratios are ideal....

Cheers,
W.

don_don

WGWarburton wrote:

The limiting factor is the amount of adustment you have in your track-ends or dropouts to accomodate the different chain lengths you get. Not an issue if you have a SS with a tensioner but a challenge if you ride fixed.

I ran a 48/52 double on my winter hack (before the frame rusted out :-( ) against a 22T rear sprocket. This gave me either a 64" or 56" gear, whereas the dingle typically gives you a bigger difference between options since the ratio change is more dramatic at the rear.

I probably won't use this setup again, though, after the first few months I didn't bother changing it.

Roll on s3x... though I'm not convinced the ratios are ideal....

Cheers,
W.

I take your point. I've got the 17/19 coming, which seems to be a reasonable gap without too much difference in chain 'length'. It was partly curiosity on my part, coupled with a desire to make gear changes easier on hilly rides.

I had a look at the prototype s3x at the Cycle expo last year. Seems like an interesting idea but I hope they can make it a bit lighter. It felt like it weighted about a kilo.

Feltup

You know that fitting anything more than a single cog means you are not single/fixed speed and will be asked to leave the thread. You will be pariahed, stuck between the world of fixed/single and that of multiple gears where people can change gear at will.

Clever Pun

Littigator wrote:

Clever Pun wrote:

with that frame what's your seatpost size?

Diametre is 25.2 length...not sure.

Or am I missing a joke again :?

nope just wanted to know, thanks

I've not got round to measuring mine yet

Littigator

They come in.2mm differntials and you need the spot on right one. I found this out to my error when I bought a 25.4 instead of a 25.2 :evil:

don_don

Feltup wrote:

You know that fitting anything more than a single cog means you are not single/fixed speed and will be asked to leave the thread. You will be pariahed, stuck between the world of fixed/single and that of multiple gears where people can change gear at will.

Strictly speaking, on that basis, you could argue that the unicycle is the only true fixed/single speed :P

Personally, I'm not too uncomfortable with the idea of experimenting outside the boundaries of what is accepted/acceptable. Call me 'bi-fixual' if you will

Feltup

don_don wrote:

Feltup wrote:

You know that fitting anything more than a single cog means you are not single/fixed speed and will be asked to leave the thread. You will be pariahed, stuck between the world of fixed/single and that of multiple gears where people can change gear at will.

Strictly speaking, on that basis, you could argue that the unicycle is the only true fixed/single speed :P

Personally, I'm not too uncomfortable with the idea of experimenting outside the boundaries of what is accepted/acceptable. Call me 'bi-fixual' if you will

You like two rings then? (come back GregT it just aint the same coming from me)

cjcp

Dear all

I have a spare frame in my shed which I can either sell, use to build up a geared bike or possibly convert into a FG/SS. I'm not particularly bothered about the second option because I already have two of those and the next geared bike I buy will hopefully be a cross bike. A FG/SS build could be reasonably cheap too.

The drop out on the frame is pictured below. If I want to build up a FG/SS to pootle to the grocers etc round by me, do I need chain tensioners and what not? Grateful for any pointers. (This does not mean I'm becoming a fixer )