First Fixed & Edinburgh Qs

thedaffodilfish

Hi all

Just picked up a second hand langster on the cheap so will now be trawling this forum after commutes instead of the roadie pages

Got a couple of noobie questions

1.
The bike was on freewheel when I collected it but I flipped it over to fixed. I'm pretty sure Ive done it right but it's making a hell of a noise - souds like the chain is rubbing off a derailleur... the local LBS (not my regular LBS, so I'm not sure of the service) checked the chain tension and told me "that's just the noise SS fixed wheels make..." Shirley that can't be right? It sounds like a rusty tractor! My geared road bike is silky silent smooth compared to this. Any thoughts - are fixed gears particularly noisy?

2.
Bike came with 49 tooth on front and 17 on back. One of the reasons for riding fixed was to improve my spinning and cadence. Now I know cadence is personal and relative to the rider, but this combinaton is quite a high gear and while I don't mind it, it's not encouraging me to spin. What's the best way to lower the gear - change the front or change the back? Does it make a difference?


3. Finally, one for the fixed gear commuters in Embra - any suggestions for gear combinations to hanlde all the lovely hills you encouter while riding across Auld Reekie?

Thanks in advance

ince

My fixed is silent, the only sound I get is from the tyres.

I'm new to the fixed thing too, all I would suggest is to check the chain alignment. I would guess that this not being correct would cause some noise.

Could it be the free wheel cog making the noise?

thedaffodilfish

I originally thought it was the freewheel as it was noisy as I rode it home. However it's still noisy after flipping it over.

It sounds like its coming from the front cog/cranks. Was worried it may be bb but tested it by spining the arms with no chain and it was silent. LBS said that as SS chains are much thicker they make more noise when connecting with gear teeth.

So yours is silent, huh? If my roadbike made this noise I'd clean the chain and the cassette and regrease - but there's not much to clean on SS and everything is clean anyway.

Oddjob62

1. Check your chainline. I recall on some Langsters there was a big difference in chainline between the ss side and the fixed side.

As with Ince my fixed makes no noise, the loudest thing on it is the sound of tyres hitting road.

2. Doesnt matter which one you change. Use this to calculate your GI http://software.bareknucklebrigade.com/ ... pplet.html

3. London sorry... went to Ed a couple of months ago for a stag do... woah... wouldn't want to be riding fixed there (at least in the centre)

Oddjob62

thedaffodilfish wrote:

I originally thought it was the freewheel as it was noisy as I rode it home. However it's still noisy after flipping it over.

Actually... you say it's the same on both sides?

Maybe the chain is just past it.

My chain can make noise after a good clean before i've lubed it.

DanielCoffey

It should be practically silent... as said above, the most likely culprits are dirt or chain line.

As for gearing... I have 42/16 on my Surly Cross-check and it is pretty low, but my main ride takes me up Holyrood road and that nasty little hill in Westport with the lights at the bottom. I am beginning to find the 42/16 a little too low now my fitness is increasing.

I don't know where you took it to get it checked, but the Edh Bicycle Co-op have some good Fixie riders in their staff.

lost_in_thought

Try getting a new chain - mine makes a noise at the moment because the chain's ridiculously stretched. But it shouldn't really make any noticeable noise...

For the gearing, I'd change the rear, but just because it's easier and less fiddly, and often you can have 2 different sprockets on the fixed and free and flip it with no chain length adjustment.

But other than the above it makes no real difference.

Oddjob62

lost_in_thought wrote:

For the gearing, I'd change the rear, but just because it's easier and less fiddly, and often you can have 2 different sprockets on the fixed and free and flip it with no chain length adjustment.

Good point.
I have 18 and 15 on my back wheel. So for long flat rides i'll go with 15 and for hilly rides i'll use the 18, and as LiT says, no need to mess with the chain length

thedaffodilfish

Thanks for the help and advice everyone, much appreciated.

DanielCoffey wrote:

It should be practically silent... as said above, the most likely culprits are dirt or chain line.

As for gearing... I have 42/16 on my Surly Cross-check and it is pretty low, but my main ride takes me up Holyrood road and that nasty little hill in Westport with the lights at the bottom. I am beginning to find the 42/16 a little too low now my fitness is increasing.

I don't know where you took it to get it checked, but the Edh Bicycle Co-op have some good Fixie riders in their staff.

That westport's a wee toughie, but it's the longer drags that i find harder. Been using it nonstop since Friday (despite the noisy chain) and getting a feel for the gearing now. Took it up Dundas St-Hanover St-The Mound... that was pretty evil but it put everywhere else into perspective

I normally use The Bicycle Works who are reasonably priced and very good with pretty quick turnaround. Because EBC are a big name, I've always found them to have over-long waiting lists and they're not the cheapest.

lost_in_thought wrote:
For the gearing, I'd change the rear, but just because it's easier and less fiddly, and often you can have 2 different sprockets on the fixed and free and flip it with no chain length adjustment.

Oddjob62 wrote:good point.
I have 18 and 15 on my back wheel. So for long flat rides i'll go with 15 and for hilly rides i'll use the 18, and as LiT says, no need to mess with the chain length

Excellent idea! Embarrasingly I think I was under the impression one side *had* to be free-wheel... having 2 fixed sides you can switch between makes much more sense.

Which leads to another query:
Do any of you use QR skewers or is it The Law that you must secure bolts? I'm sure I read Sheldon Brown somewhere exploding the myth that QR skewrs are a no-no for fixed riding. Just wondered if anyone has any experience of this?

Cheers, Stephen

lost_in_thought

Hmmmm, well I actually didn't mean that you could have a fixed and a freewheel sprocket, but I suppose it might be possible - depends on your hub really. What I meant was that you can have 2 different sprockets, one with a freewheel and one fixed.

For hillier rides, it can be nice to have a freewheel.

On the QR skewers, I wouldn't, mostly because I would rather not worry that my wheel could be removed so easily. Also, I don't know if a) you can do them up as tight as normal ones, or b) you can fit chain tugs to them.

The last 2 options relate to chain tension - it's rather important if you like riding with the chain on the sprockets!

majormantra

I ride 48/18 fixed (70") in Edinburgh which seems to be about right. I can get up all the hills in town on it including the one around Arthur's Seat though it's not the easiest.

My Flyer is a little noisy too. I've been assuming it was the slightly out chainline but I'm now wondering if I should check for chain stretch as I never have...

Matthew

majormantra

Was this the one in Newington by the way? Wish I'd seen that, I'm looking for a cheap backup fixed.

Matthew

Oddjob62

thedaffodilfish wrote:

Oddjob62 wrote:good point.
I have 18 and 15 on my back wheel. So for long flat rides i'll go with 15 and for hilly rides i'll use the 18, and as LiT says, no need to mess with the chain length

Excellent idea! Embarrasingly I think I was under the impression one side *had* to be free-wheel... having 2 fixed sides you can switch between makes much more sense.

Ahh no, i've got a fixed/fixed hub (ie lockring threads on both sides) A langester would have a fixed/free hub as standard. You could bodge a fixed on the freewheel side using locktite and a bb lockring, but i wouldn't trust it personally.

thedaffodilfish

lost_in_thought wrote:

On the QR skewers, I wouldn't, mostly because I would rather not worry that my wheel could be removed so easily. Also, I don't know if a) you can do them up as tight as normal ones, or b) you can fit chain tugs to them.

http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html
"Track hubs generally come with solid axles and track nuts. This is because most velodromes have rules requiring this type of wheel attachment.
As a result, it is widely believed that quick-release axles are not suitable for fixed-gear use. This is false!
It is my belief that the velodrome rule dates back to long before the invention of the quick-release, when the choices were standard nuts or wing nuts. The protruding "wings" of wing nuts might constitute a hazard in a crash, and I believe that's why the rule was instituted. Since quick-release skewers don't have any sharp projections, that becomes a non-issue in practice.
If you are going to use a quick release with a fixed gear, you should make sure to use a good quality enclosed-cam skewer."

I suppose it would only be a concern if I was planning to flip the wheel a lot.

Oddjob62 wrote:
Ahh no, i've got a fixed/fixed hub (ie lockring threads on both sides) A langester would have a fixed/free hub as standard. You could bodge a fixed on the freewheel side using locktite and a bb lockring, but i wouldn't trust it personally.

Ah, so its the hub that makes the difference - I thought you just put a lock ring on ... I'll see how I get on for just now before messing around with the rear wheel.

@MajorMantra, it was the one in Newington yes and holy cow, when you say you can get up the hill aroudn Arthur's Seat, does taht include teh hill up Queens Drive?! Talk about mtfu! It's hard enough on a geared bike! Chapeau

Oddjob62

thedaffodilfish wrote:

Ah, so its the hub that makes the difference - I thought you just put a lock ring on ... I'll see how I get on for just now before messing around with the rear wheel.

Yes, on a fixed you have 2 threads, normal thread for the sprocket and a reverse thread for the lockring.

majormantra

thedaffodilfish wrote:

@MajorMantra, it was the one in Newington yes and holy cow, when you say you can get up the hill aroudn Arthur's Seat, does taht include teh hill up Queens Drive?! Talk about mtfu! It's hard enough on a geared bike! Chapeau

That's the one. You need to stand up and honk for most of the climb so it's a good one to get your legs burning. On my road bike I can spin up and just keep going but on the fixed I usually have to stop for a minute at the top to let the pain subside.

Matthew