The latest project

Rich158

As a way of keeping myself entertained I've decided to embark on a fixie/singlespeed build. as a cheap bike to get arround London

Being bored this morning the frame is already on it's way

Flea bay latest

I'm trying to track down a Cinelli quil stem and some matching bars - They look pretty decent and retro, but in reality I know nothing about them, can anyone enlighten me as to whether they are worth it

Now the big question is wheels, I have a Bonty Race X lite front that'll do the job, but the rear needs a complete re-build. Do I get the rear re-built and put a ss conversion kit on it (not fixie I know, but needs must), or do I track down a rear with flip-flop hub from flea bay or some other source.

Also brakes, I've got some cheap front and rear units that'll do the job. I'm tempted if I go down the fixie route just to use a front, in reality how safe is this in the London traffic? and brake levers, can anyone recomend some nice retro levers I could try and track down.

And before any calls me a hypocrite (I may have made the odd disparaging remark about fixies in the past :shock: ) I'm am - but a CX project is definately not in the pipeline

Oddjob62

Rich158 wrote:

snip

If i had bought that frame, it would already be a fixed gear.

Absolutely no issue with riding fixed in London? Why would it be any less safe than any other bike? Fixed gear no brakes... that's another story.

Frame looks pretty much like an 80s Raleigh Record Sprint that i converted into a fixed. It's easy to do, but usually getting a cheap rear wheel is usually easier than converting an existing wheel. No need for a "conversion kit" (assuming you mean a tensioner, as you have horizonal dropouts so can adjust the rear wheel.

SS or FG that's a choice you'll have to make. I love FG, other people i know love SS, and wouldn't change.

Sorry... been out for the beers so might start rambling... will stop now. Any more questions feel free to ask.

roger_merriman

how safe is it with just the front? i'd personally always want the rear brake as well apart from any thing else part of my attraction to FG/SS is the looks and just the front just looks wrong!

most of the time most of the braking force is on the front any way so should be safe.

oh lovely looking bike!

Rich158

It's a Puch frame, never heard of them before but it was cheap as chips so that's not an issue.

I think a new rear wheel is in order, I've realise I realy need bolts rather than a QR.

I'm almost convinced that I should commute on this new prooject, 22 miles each way ss - is it do-able? And more to the point would it be goood training

roger_merriman

Rich158 wrote:

It's a Puch frame, never heard of them before but it was cheap as chips so that's not an issue.

I think a new rear wheel is in order, I've realise I realy need bolts rather than a QR.

I'm almost convinced that I should commute on this new prooject, 22 miles each way ss - is it do-able? And more to the point would it be goood training

well get the odd folks coming out on club run into the surrey lanes on fixies most seem to be worringly fast up hills!

Oddjob62

roger merriman wrote:

how safe is it with just the front? i'd personally always want the rear brake as well apart from any thing else part of my attraction to FG/SS is the looks and just the front just looks wrong!

SS you should have front and back.

FG you don't need the back but no worries if you want both.

roger merriman wrote:

well get the odd folks coming out on club run into the surrey lanes on fixies most seem to be worringly fast up hills!

I find going uphill easier than going downhill on my fixed, although my hills are steep and short. Nothing more fun than beating a roadie up Hampstead hill

Rich158

That's it, I've made my mind up, it fixie or ss all the way now

Just waiting for the frame, which has raised a few questions in my mind

I'm told the rear spacing is 127mm, is this normal for a road bike (I'm more used to building MTB's)? Most track hubs appear to be 120mm, if the threads are long enough I assume a couple fo washers will provide the correct spacing without compromising the chain line.

I'm looking for a decentish rear hub, pref flip/flop, can anyone give me some pointers please. This is an area I know nothing about :oops:



There's nothing like building a new bike to get the enthusiasm going again

Deadeye Duck

I'm in the same boat as you with my newly aquired old steelie. I'm in two minds whether to turn it into a FG/SS flipflop or whether to leave it with gears, simply because there's a lot of hills around here.

You're rear drops look the same as mine which is reassuring if you're able to make it into an SS/fixies, as I always thought you needed backwards facing dropouts like most SS/fixies.

I've been told by the other half that the project has to wait till after the wedding though, because I've not talked about anything else since I bought my roadie

Rich158

Deadeye Duck wrote:

I'm in the same boat as you with my newly aquired old steelie. I'm in two minds whether to turn it into a FG/SS flipflop or whether to leave it with gears, simply because there's a lot of hills around here.

You're rear drops look the same as mine which is reassuring if you're able to make it into an SS/fixies, as I always thought you needed backwards facing dropouts like most SS/fixies.

I've been told by the other half that the project has to wait till after the wedding though, because I've not talked about anything else since I bought my roadie

Sounds like you're in the same boat as me, forward facing drop outs are fine as they still allow you to tension the chain with the added benefit that you can get the wheel out if you have mudguards fitted.

I've decided it's all or nothing, so it's fixie for me, but I'll have to sell my current commuter to finance the rest of the build (in a rare display of common sense for me - v odd as I've no woman nagging me). I've decided to MTFU on the hills, most of mine are short and sharp anyway.

Good luck with the wedding by the, if my office is anything to go by it seems to be the wedding season :shock:

Deadeye Duck

If my office is anything to go by, it's the 'realise you've never been right for each other and chuck him out' season :shock:

Thanks buddy. All thats worrying me is the quickly increasing number of our friends who are trying for sprogs. Doesn't look like I can hold off the idea after we tie the not. Then where am I going to get money for blinging bits of bike

roger_merriman

Rich158 wrote:

That's it, I've made my mind up, it fixie or ss all the way now

Just waiting for the frame, which has raised a few questions in my mind

I'm told the rear spacing is 127mm, is this normal for a road bike (I'm more used to building MTB's)? Most track hubs appear to be 120mm, if the threads are long enough I assume a couple fo washers will provide the correct spacing without compromising the chain line.

I'm looking for a decentish rear hub, pref flip/flop, can anyone give me some pointers please. This is an area I know nothing about :oops:



There's nothing like building a new bike to get the enthusiasm going again

modern frames are 130mm so with only 3mm you'll be fine.

Oddjob62

Deadeye Duck wrote:

You're rear drops look the same as mine which is reassuring if you're able to make it into an SS/fixies, as I always thought you needed backwards facing dropouts like most SS/fixies.

Nope, forward facing is fine. That's the same as my first conversion.You'll need to remove the hanger though (Edit: You don't HAVE to but it'll make adjusting your chain easier).

Spacing: my Raleigh had 126mm spacing, but a couple of 3mm washers on each side of the hub sorted that. As you say as long as you axle is long enough to get the nuts on it'll be fine.

Hubs: Have a look at http://www.londonfgss.com/thread9696.html

Rich158

[b]Deadeye Duck wrote:

If my office is anything to go by, it's the 'realise you've never been right for each other and chuck him out' season [/b] :shock:

Thanks buddy. All thats worrying me is the quickly increasing number of our friends who are trying for sprogs. Doesn't look like I can hold off the idea after we tie the not. Then where am I going to get money for blinging bits of bike

Yep, I've been hit by that this year and I've never knowingly been near your office :shock: Hence the free reign to build even more bikes

It must be the spring air, there's some very worried looking blokes arround my place as well Take my advice, get them into bikes from an early age, and you've always got an excuse to be on the bike, looking at bike stuff (birthday presents ) or fettling the bikes.

Cheers Roger, I think it may just be a dodgy measurement in that case. I think I'm better off looking for a correctly spaced hub rather than trying to space out a track hub, which I suspect wouldn't be deisgned for road use anyway.

Deadeye Duck

Rich158 wrote:

Yep, I've been hit by that this year and I've never knowingly been near your office :shock: Hence the free reign to build even more bikes

It must be the spring air, there's some very worried looking blokes arround my place as well Take my advice, get them into bikes from an early age, and you've always got an excuse to be on the bike, looking at bike stuff (birthday presents ) or fettling the bikes.

She's slowly getting into cycling. (put in her C2W quote a few weeks back for a trek hybrid). I'm well known for being obsessed with a hobby for a bit then forgetting about it completely though, which she's worried I'll do after spending a lot of money on bike bits.

I reckon all this commuting will prove her wrong eventually

I think she's just happy that I'm not sat in the spare room playing xbox all night anymore

Rich158

That's the way, slowly but surely draw them into your world, before you know where you are she'll be surreptitiously ordering bike bits and trying to sneak them into the house without you noticing

Deadeye Duck

So, basically the same as what she does for clothes and bags

I can't say much, I snuck in a new pump, pedals & bottle+cage before she even realised I was buying things!

The steelie I have is a wee bit on the small side for me, so I'm trying to convince her to have a try on drops. She's currently having none of it

Rich158

Deadeye Duck wrote:

So, basically the same as what she does for clothes and bags

I can't say much, I snuck in a new pump, pedals & bottle+cage before she even realised I was buying things!

The steelie I have is a wee bit on the small side for me, so I'm trying to convince her to have a try on drops. She's currently having none of it

You've got a way to go fella, I went through two complete re-builds on my mtb before I had to own up, and that was only down to me going from a hard tail to full suss :shock:

Deadeye Duck

It was the new gloves, jersey, shoes, helmet, bartape & the steelie itself, that caused me to have to own up. One minute I'm in shorts and tshirt, the next im head to toe in lycra...

Coming home from work every day with a brown box that got delivered to work. It was only a matter of time before, me bringing stuff home from work wasn't going to cut it, as she realised I wasn't taking any of it back

Rich158

How I managed to get a complete frame through the house and into the shed without being discovered is beyond me. :shock:

There's always that horrible point when you realise there's no way you'll get away with it this time and you'll have to own up :roll:

Deadeye Duck

We don't have a shed/garage. The bikes are stored under the stairs. So when a new one arrives, it's hard to not own up to it

Chapeau to your ability to get a frame through though. Did you hide it in the wheelie bin untill she popped to the shops or something

Rich158

tbh that's lost in the mists of time. I did manage to get a set of dual crown forks, Rockshox Boxxers iirc, so not a small box, through while she was watching TV :shock:

I think my usual tactic was a staged approach, the car boot, to under the stairs (v messy and therefore easy to secrete various odd & sodds), and then the shed.

I wouldn't listen to me too much either, I'm now single and broke :roll: but I do have some very nice bikes in the shed