Help with a purchase?

doctorkoh
doctorkoh Posts: 20
edited December 2010 in Road beginners
Hi, I'm currently in the process of prepping my old road bike to convert t a fixed gear. The only new part that I need at the moment is the bike wheel. I found this one on Amazon and was wondering if it was the one I needed.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DT ... CV3FY28WSA

I noticed that Amazon suggested I buy a fixed cog and a lock ring with this product and was curious as to why. Does this wheel not have a fixed gear already attached? Please help!

Comments

  • rake
    rake Posts: 3,204
    might be a too wide for what you want. :wink:
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    Answer to your question is pretty apparent from the description.

    If shipping to UK, your purchase is also liable to vat+duty - add about another 25% to your price, including the shipping
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • Pokerface
    Pokerface Posts: 7,960
    Normally when you buy a fixed wheel - it doesn't come with the cog attached. Cogs are in a multitude of sizes, so it wouldn't make sense to attach one random size. Just like when you buy a road wheel, you don't get a cassette with it!

    Strictly speaking, you don't need the lockring and many people prefer not to use them.


    Previous poster is suggesting that as you are looking at a track wheel in that Amazon listing, it will be too wide to fit into a standard road frame. Except a track frame is 120mm wide and a road frame is 130mm wide. So the spacing would be too small.

    Don't know if you can make these wheels fit on a road bike. Anyone?
  • Pokerface
    Pokerface Posts: 7,960
    Can you convert a road bike to fixed? Don't you need vertical dropouts to do it?

    Or do you just have to take a normal road bike wheel and use a spacer kit to fit the one fixed cog?
  • rake
    rake Posts: 3,204
    that as well but i was talking about the rim, isnt 32mm a bit wide for a road bike or do fixed gearers run bigger tyres?
  • Pokerface
    Pokerface Posts: 7,960
    rake wrote:
    that as well but i was talking about the rim, isnt 32mm a bit wide for a road bike or do fixed gearers run bigger tyres?


    Gotcha. Rim width is irrelevant I think. That's down to the preference of the rider. There are some mountain bikers that run fixed!
  • doctorkoh
    doctorkoh Posts: 20
    From my understanding, as long as you have horizontal drop outs, the conversion can be made.
    I heard of stories where attaching the fixed cog yourself resulted in a "suicide hub". Are there places that sell wheels with the fixed cog already in place?
  • Pokerface
    Pokerface Posts: 7,960
    If Chris Hoy isn't worried about screw on fixed cogs with the amount of power he puts through them, then I don't think you need to worry.

    Screw the cog on, then fit the lockring over it. That's what it's there for. I can't possibly see what could go wrong! Even if it came loose, it wouldn't cause you to crash.
  • blackhands
    blackhands Posts: 950
    I wouldn't buy a 27" wheel as tyre choice is limited compared to 700C and I may be that the only tyres available will mean that the wheel + tyre is too big for your frame.

    Your best bet (having made sure your frame is suitable for single speed) is to go to a reputable wheelbuilder and get a decent rear wheel which fits your frame.
  • doctorkoh
    doctorkoh Posts: 20
    between the wheel that I posted and this one:

    http://cgi.ebay.com/27-Fixed-gear-singl ... 500wt_1156

    which would you recommend? according to the ebay listing, this is a fixed gear wheel, but I am unsure as to how to determine if it is the right one for my conversion. If it helps, the bike that I am using is an old 1980s Fuji Gran Tourer.
  • blackhands
    blackhands Posts: 950
    Why are you wasting your time looking at 27" wheels - which are almostnobsolete. Have a look at a pair of new 700c wheels such as Pro-lite which even in the US must be cheap and readily available.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,463
    I assume that, as you are looking solely at a rear wheel then you are intending keeping your existing front wheel. I would have thought that, in that case, you would want them both to be the same diameter. If the wheel is original from a 1980 bike then it may well be that 27" was standard though.
  • doctorkoh
    doctorkoh Posts: 20
    blackhands wrote:
    Why are you wasting your time looking at 27" wheels - which are almostnobsolete. Have a look at a pair of new 700c wheels such as Pro-lite which even in the US must be cheap and readily available.

    The reason I wanted to keep 27" is because I didn't really want to get a new front wheel. Plus, I was told that my current brakes would not be long enough to reach down to a 700C wheel. Despite it being a "fixie", I wanted to keep my rear brakes.

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