Lostcause
Senior Member
- Location
- Stockton on Tees
You don’t see many of these even online so I thought I’d add mine to the small pool out there in the uk. If you have one feel free to add it on here.
When I first bought the bike it was set up as single speed with drops and the obligatory two brakes. The brakes are the long drop Shimano with a ton of clearance for tyres, 32mm is no problem and the bike itself has a lot of clearance so it will end up with 32’s on. It currently has 30 mm Vittoria’s on as I got a really good deal on them.
I prefer riding this bike fixed gear and after a few months I got pretty confident riding without the rear brake, in the uk we have to have a front brake on a fixed gear and where I live and ride it’s a good rule.
I did a very hilly ride in the North Yorkshire Moors and found with 44t and 16t with 28mm tyres and 165 mm cranks I can just and painfully climb a 20% hill any steeper and it’s hike a bike. On some of the long steep descents I found myself needing to drag the front brake to calm the cadence down a notch. I have witnessed a rim brake rim explode (well sounded like it and it did look like it) under braking so I decided to try a disc front end.
It does mean if I run the bike with a freewheel hub then I have to use a rear brake, I could just leave the rim brake on but I do find myself removing it whenever I ride fixed which does involve removing the bar tape. I will have to find an outer cable double ended ferrule and just leave the lever to the edge of the bar tape outer cable permanently fitted so the occasional freewheeling isn’t such a big job.
It’s fun on flat bars too but definitely slower over a long ride. It’s the only bike I’ve got that has 3 forks 3 sets of wheels and a few different handlebar types. An hours work and its character and capability is transformed.
It’s a bit of a Swiss army bike that changes every few months…
When I first bought the bike it was set up as single speed with drops and the obligatory two brakes. The brakes are the long drop Shimano with a ton of clearance for tyres, 32mm is no problem and the bike itself has a lot of clearance so it will end up with 32’s on. It currently has 30 mm Vittoria’s on as I got a really good deal on them.
I prefer riding this bike fixed gear and after a few months I got pretty confident riding without the rear brake, in the uk we have to have a front brake on a fixed gear and where I live and ride it’s a good rule.
I did a very hilly ride in the North Yorkshire Moors and found with 44t and 16t with 28mm tyres and 165 mm cranks I can just and painfully climb a 20% hill any steeper and it’s hike a bike. On some of the long steep descents I found myself needing to drag the front brake to calm the cadence down a notch. I have witnessed a rim brake rim explode (well sounded like it and it did look like it) under braking so I decided to try a disc front end.
It does mean if I run the bike with a freewheel hub then I have to use a rear brake, I could just leave the rim brake on but I do find myself removing it whenever I ride fixed which does involve removing the bar tape. I will have to find an outer cable double ended ferrule and just leave the lever to the edge of the bar tape outer cable permanently fitted so the occasional freewheeling isn’t such a big job.
It’s fun on flat bars too but definitely slower over a long ride. It’s the only bike I’ve got that has 3 forks 3 sets of wheels and a few different handlebar types. An hours work and its character and capability is transformed.
It’s a bit of a Swiss army bike that changes every few months…
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