Born again Fixie

[Paul_Smith SRCC]

A new job with longer commute has inspired me to rebuild an old frame I had back into a complete bike, all I really needed was the wheels, chainring and an excuse for yet another bike .

Between the ages of 15 and 35 the majority of my mileage was on a fixed, a lot of it on this very bike, a minor heart problem means that I can’t spin on long descents, but for the 10 mile each commute this will be perfect.

The frame is a 20 year old Pearson 531, built back then by Dave Yates. Iinitially had it set up as a fixed, a road bike with horizontal drop outs is ideal as a fixed with guards as wheel removal is easy, plus I also like two brake callipers, so it made sense to simply have a bike set up as a road bike including rear mech hanger incase I later wanted to use it with gears; which I did, even though I had it respaced to 130 it easily pulls in to 120 for that Ambrosio track hub

In later years after converting to gear this was my tour bike and can be seen in the reports about some of them at the bottom of the page. Most of that bike I transfered accross to a Van Nicholas Yukon. For the last two years it has been looking sorry for itself, but pleased to say now back to what I had built it for all the years ago.

The wheels are new, Schmidt hub with BM IQ Fly on Mavic Open pro, built by me with DT Spokes, I will add a secondary LED during the winter

Carradice Super C Rack pack rear with Cateye AU100 and LD 610, I will add a Smart ½ Watt on the rear guard eye (the same as I have here on another bike) during winter as some of the commute is on a unlit road. Strictly speaking the AU100 should be the other way up, although I use it that way on another bike and at a distance it still shows brightly.
Low angle view

View from a higher angle

TA Vega chain set, 170mm with 46t ring that I had to mount inside spider to get a good chain line, with a 20T sprocket this gives me a 62" ish gear, my commute is quite hilly! I had forgotten how much fun a fixed was, I confess I missed changing down a gear on long drags but hopefully that will become easier as my fitness improves.

The only change may be the old Campagnolo brake levers, as modern versions work better.

Paul_Smith

 

[GrahamG]

Superb!

Pray tell, what is the new job? No doubt a great loss to Bike Plus.

I've just arranged for my fixed frame to be delivered after a refinish (along with my new custom frame) - both should be with me on Wednesday courtesy of Paul Hewitt.

 

[Paul_Smith SRCC]

...Pray tell, what is the new job? No doubt a great loss to Bike Plus.

I've just arranged for my fixed frame to be delivered after a refinish (along with my new custom frame) - both should be with me on Wednesday courtesy of Paul Hewitt...

It's good to renovate an older friend and get it back on the road

Yes after seven years at BikePlus I am moving on, I’m sure they will go from strength to strength without me; it is a great shop and the staff that remain are good people who I am proud to call my friends, I wish them well.

I am one of those people who needs to tick the vocational box when it comes to work, over the years I have drifted into the mail order side of things, I set up the mail order at Pearson Cycles and moved on to set up the CTC Shop franchise when it was first out sourced before it moved to Evans; as everything had been set up already with staff employed I continued running what was the CTC shop along the same lines but under the BikePlus name. I still got to serve customers in the actual shop occasionally, the less I did that the more I realised how much I missed it and to be honest I find much prefer it to all that goes with the magnificence that is mail order.

A long time friend of mine who owns a bike shop has in the last year relocated to a larger premises and needs more staff to help in the actual shop and not a virtual one, the shop is already very successful and serves the local community as well as local club level riders, so as far as I am concerned I am going back to my roots, I confess it was a difficult decision, although in the end after much deliberation I could think of less reasons to not take the job than I could to take it; so I took it. The shop I am going to is called Corridori,

I hope to still be allowed to post as I have always enjoyed sharing what knowledge I have, to a huge extent it made me feel like a bike shop person again as apposed to the somewhat impersonal existence that you operate in when running a virtual shop, I did most in my own time although in future it will all be, however when I initially approached forum moderators asking if I could post and explained that I am a retailer the conclusion was that they preferred that I stated in my signature where I worked, as this was upfront, especially when I was responding to posts relating to cycle products. I also posted using strict guidelines, I would never put deep links into the shop site, just images, or state buy this from us as we are cheaper than who has been mentioned, in many cases I would link to the UK distributor as if I have any bias it is towards supporting the local bike shop, I have always believed that the good ones can still compete with the mail order specialists.

Although I have never posted for commercial reasons by the same token I don't want my posts to have a negative effect on my employer, by stating the shop in my signature as I was doing would simply be directing you to something that Corridori both don't really cater for and have no real plans to. As mentioned I am going there in part as their focus and energy is directed first foremost in providing the best possible service they can as a local bike shop.

I have altered the way my profile looks on screen so that it now states that I am a retailer, I am hoping that the forum moderators will allow that instead of linking to the shop site as I had been doing.

Paul_Smith

 

[glen]

Good luck for the future Paul. We have spoken on the phone a few times. My Smart Superflash half watt rear led went missing in the post for a few months if you remember. Anyway does your new employer sell them?

 

[Paul_Smith SRCC]

Good luck for the future Paul. We have spoken on the phone a few times. My Smart Superflash half watt rear led went missing in the post for a few months if you remember. Anyway does your new employer sell them?

Many thanks for the good wishes Glen, to be honest I don't know if they sell that led yet as I don't start until September, although they do buy from the distributor so they may well do

Paul_Smith

 

[Blonde]

I certainly hope you will be allowed to post becasue I have benefitted enormously from your knowledge in the past. Fixed is fun isn't it? I use a Schmidt hub on mine in winter too. I agree that long uphill drags are a bit wearing and the gear is always a 'bit too big' no matter what gear it is! I find I can now get up short sharp hills more quickly though. My lungs felt like thay almost burst the first time, because I had to go faster up hill than I was used to, in order to keep turning the pedals at a reasonably comfortable rate. I guess that being 'forced' to go more quickly up hill, and the continuous nature of the pedalling is how riding fixed helps; It's definitely helped me improve my cardio-vascular fitness anyway. Enjoy!

 

[BentMikey]

That looks verra verra nice!!! Best of luck at the new job!

 

[robbarker]

Lovely bike - a perfect commuter, and very handy for the odd randonée too.

Good luck with the new job too.

 

[Andy Pandy]

Paul - whats the Schmidt hub like? Is it heavy? I need a new front wheel and might consider a Schmidt hub instead of the miche I have on the rear. Can you get them with a high flange?

 

[GrahamG]

The schmidt hub weighs a tonne compared to most front wheels but isn't too bad with a lightweight rim and the quality of lighting more than makes up for it.

Those pics remind me, I must upload a pic of mine which is also bright red and sensible (i.e. with guards, back brake and normal drop bars)

 

[peejay78]

is that the one that arrived this week?

 

[Paul_Smith SRCC]

Paul - whats the Schmidt hub like? Is it heavy? I need a new front wheel and might consider a Schmidt hub instead of the miche I have on the rear. Can you get them with a high flange?

Yes the Schmidt is heavy when compared to normal hub, but not so much that it is a deterrent for many who want a dynamo generator that doesn't slip in the wet and have proved to be very reliable, light on drag is equivalent of 5ft a mile climb with lights on, flange is always large

Schmidt Son 28

Shimano now have a very good version with their Ultegra hub which has less drag lights off, but very slightly more lights on, availabilty can be an issue with them though, the UK distributor had no stock for most of last winter! They are cheaper than Schmidt and are a valid consideration, time will tell of course if they can match Schmidt in terms of reliabilty, being Shimano it should be good though.

Shimano Ultegra hub

Schmidt are about to introduce a new hub which is lighter and designed for smaller wheels.

The new LED lights require less power to give a good light, so will work with a hub designed for smaller wheels, so I think it will become a popular choice for those looking to save grams and reduce that 5ft per mile climb with lights on, I have no data yet as to by how much that climb will be reduced yet though.

Paul_Smith

 

[Andy Pandy]

Cheers Paul, they look quite tidy. Definitely worth considering for the winter months.