New Project

White Line

Having a little rummage about my friend's garage, we found an old bike. Don't really know all that much about it, except from it's a really old steel frame Falcon. We tried to pump up the tyres and take it for a spin, but the front inner tube was just not having it. The back one was okay though.

It needs new tubes and tyres anyway. Probably a new saddle, and other bits and bobs.

Here she is: view one, view two.

So, any thoughts on what to do with it? Convert it to a nice fix geared? Keep it geared?

It'd more than likely just get sold once it was nice, and all cleaned up. No room for it y'see.

Monty Dog

From the look of it, late 70s model - straight gauge chrome-moly tubes and basic pressed lugs - so no great intrinsic value.

Nadder

got to go fixie - do it properly and you'll be able to sell it for a couple of £100!

lae

^ WHS. Could quite easily make money on this one. As Monty Dog said, even if you restored it to it's original condition, you probably won't make much money on it. Thank god for the fixie revolution eh? £30 for paint, another £30 for fixie bits and general tune up, give everything a bloody good clean and polish all the aluminium up to a mirror finish, you could sell it to a poser for £200.

Are fixies common in Glasgow? All the cool kids are riding them down here in Bournemouth (I even hear people yell 'FIXIE!' at me in the town centre, then I tend to coast past them and yell 'NO, SINGLE SPEED' back).

I am seriously considering doing some quick turnaround fixies out of cheap road bikes just for a bit of extra cash, they are considered as the ultimate cool bike down here.

ChillyGetsTrilly

yeah i found an old bike in my granny's garage when helping her clean... worked it up to a fixie for cheap. road it a few times then flipped it for a £50 profit. 8)

White Line

Hmm, fixed gear it shall be then. I'm just worried about making it all nice and then wanting to keep it! Oh, if only I lived somewhere flatter; it'd be the ideal commuter for me.

Frinkmakesyouthink, they are a bit. Mostly just see them in town and in the West End. Not as common as they are in London and other flat places mind. Will have to pop along to GlasgowFGSS and see some opinions on there. A few guys from my LBS a really into they're fixies too. Weirdos. :P

Will probably need to spend some time in the West End looking for cheap parts then ...

Cheers lads!

P.S. What are those little things on the downtube? One beside the shifter and one above the BB. :?

RedJohn

White Line wrote:

P.S. What are those little things on the downtube? One beside the shifter and one above the BB. :?

Pegs for fitting a pump.

I converted an old Falcon to fixed gear last year, and I now use it for commuting through Edinburgh, it's fun! I bought the original bike new in 1989 :-)

White Line

Ah right. I had to google that to see how it'd work. :?

It's not fair! My friend is lost when it comes to bikes, so I've been left to do all the "work", if you will. So I'd so be making it for me, and my personal preference. I could easily spend £500 doing it up.

Agh! So tempted to just to buy it for like £50 from him and then keep it until I get my own place and slowly work on it. I must resist! :evil:

robbarker

Fixie!

Unscrew rear block.

Screw on fixed sprocket.

Respace rear axle to get chainline correct.

Redish rear wheel.

Shorten chain.

Job done. Total cost about £5.

White Line

Thinking maybe a single speed or flip flop hub now. :? The hub that's on it already just sounds lovely. Although, a flip flop would be nice for the coasting thing, especially with the hills around here.

Ooh, too many options! :twisted: Might just sell on of my current bikes and use that space for this project. Time to clean the MTB and stick it on Gumtree then ... Where are my baby wipes?