Secondhand Fixed gear project

[biggs682]

just starting to put together my 5th single speeder , and its 2nd one using a Columbus Alloy tubed frame so nice and light . from memorey none of them have cost more than £120 all in .

this current one is a paul milnes ex cyclocross frame that is going to be my commuter for a while once its finished .

 

[nuovo_record]

wow great site learned alot, great for cheap parts, and then i saw the pictures although my budget for this bike is around £200, the next one i make is going to be so expensive and pretty
[/quote

holdsworth super mistral frame rescued and painted for £50, chrome forks £5.....had the wheels already (nothing special, campag gran sport hubs and mavic rims really old), stem and bars...whole build no more than £100.
it's amazing what you can pick up

 

[uphillstruggler]

That is one good looking bike

 

[kowalski]

Bear in mind that a lot of road frames don't suit a fixed conversion because the BB is too low.

Since you can't coast around corners the low BB may increase the chance of pedal strike, which is no fun on a fixed wheel bike! Use of shorter cranks will help, but recycling the existing road crank will only make the problem worse.

The semi-horizontal dropouts found on old road frames allow chain tension adjustment, but don't accommodate chaintugs.

The OLN for a track hub is 120mm. Depending on its age, a road frame will be spaced 126mm or 130mm.

Lots of people successfully convert road frames to fixed, but the above points might take some of the fun out of the project!

 

[Bicycle]

Bear in mind that a lot of road frames don't suit a fixed conversion because the BB is too low.

Since you can't coast around corners the low BB may increase the chance of pedal strike, which is no fun on a fixed wheel bike! Use of shorter cranks will help, but recycling the existing road crank will only make the problem worse.


The OLN for a track hub is 120mm. Depending on its age, a road frame will be spaced 126mm or 130mm.

Lots of people successfully convert road frames to fixed, but the above points might take some of the fun out of the project!

I am surprised not to have been caught out by pedal strike since starting to ride fixed just over a year ago. I think I just don't nail the corners the way I ought to and that makes me feel sad and old...

Inerestingly, when I've lent the thing to large-footed friends who eschew clipless pedals, they have been beset by footstrike on the wheel when flipping the 'bars while balancing at rest.

Why they don't just put a foot down I do not know... Tsssk....


On the 120mm thing, I was lucky (ish) to be swiped off my fixie by a SMIDSY, so when I sent the frame to be straightened, they reduced the gap to 120mm for me at no extra cost.

 

[Theseus]

Bear in mind that a lot of road frames don't suit a fixed conversion because the BB is too low.

Since you can't coast around corners the low BB may increase the chance of pedal strike, which is no fun on a fixed wheel bike! Use of shorter cranks will help, but recycling the existing road crank will only make the problem worse.

The semi-horizontal dropouts found on old road frames allow chain tension adjustment, but don't accommodate chaintugs.

The OLN for a track hub is 120mm. Depending on its age, a road frame will be spaced 126mm or 130mm.

Lots of people successfully convert road frames to fixed, but the above points might take some of the fun out of the project!

I have successfully converted an aluminium frame (so no cold setting) with 130mm spacing to fixed when using a standard 120mm rear hub. Not by touching the frame, but by adapting the hub. I replaced the axle with one long enough to bridge the gap with room to spare and then used a couple of 5mm thick chain tugs to increase the OLN to 130mm. The frame has track ends rather than drop outs.