Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - My first SS--any comments or advice?

I just finished putting together my first SS, a Salvation Army special that has all of $35 invested in it. $25 for the bike and $10 for bar tape.

Anyway, does anyone see any major flaws in what I have put together? Everything seems to work well, and the bike rides nice.

The gearing is 42/17 and could be switched to 42/14 by moving the chain to the smaller sprocket I kept as a spacer. I just reused the freewheel and sprocket (rear cog) off the old cassette as well as the smaller of the two chainrings.

The wheels and tires seem to be decent. Wheels are straight and the tires are almost new and seem to hold air fine.

I plan on riding it on a short commute over the winter, but then maybe a new paint job in the spring.

Also, since it was a SA special, I have no idea what brand of frame it is...any ideas?

where'd you get those pedals? they look nice?
why no straps though?

Wow! best looking $35 I've ever seen! are you sure you did not added some special parts from your spares bind? :) The rear drop outs look great, and the tight chain stays say that this is definitely an upper end machine. Can you post some close ups of the bridge for the rear brake and some of the lugs? Is the rear brake bridge round or does it have flat surfaces for the caliper? also, does the brakes use recessed allens? very sweet!

agreed....

you hit it out of the park! sweet ride... enjoy!

only thing i'd add is a set of full fenders to finish to keep you dry during the upcoming winter.

matthew here,
VERY nice and EXACTLY what i want to do. i and a friend have been mulling over fixies for a month or so now and have visited Sheldon's site etc looking for info.
I need a frame-still looking. but I have a very nice set of wheels-standard 6 speed fw cog on 90's shimano 600 hubs/sun rims-bomb proof right!? it dawned on me about a couple hours before i read your post that one could just remove the cassette and run 2 cogs and a lock ring and instant 2 gear fixie!!
my main question though is did you need to re-dish the rear wheel to have it track in the stays properly?? or did you just align your cogs with spacers and go?

where'd you get those pedals? they look nice?
why no straps though?

Those pedals were on the bike when I picked it up. There is no marking on them, as well as no straps. It looks like someone had just cut the straps off to just leave the toe portion. I think I will get some different ones.

Wow! best looking $35 I've ever seen! are you sure you did not added some special parts from your spares bind? :) The rear drop outs look great, and the tight chain stays say that this is definitely an upper end machine. Can you post some close ups of the bridge for the rear brake and some of the lugs? Is the rear brake bridge round or does it have flat surfaces for the caliper? also, does the brakes use recessed allens? very sweet!

Thanks! No, all the parts that are on it were on it when I got it. It seems that someone had done some work to it prior to donating it to SA.

Here are some closeups of the rear brake, dropouts, and lugs. The pics of the rear brake bridge arent that great. The bridge is round, but there is a flat spot where the brake actually attaches. The bridge has a diamond shaped lug that attaches to the frame. The allens arent recessed on the brakes.

Thanks for the comments!

Max-a-mill ---Yeah, I think you are right about the fenders. I rode a MTB all last winter without fenders and got slopped quite a few times.



VERY nice and EXACTLY what i want to do. i and a friend have been mulling over fixies for a month or so now and have visited Sheldon's site etc looking for info.
I need a frame-still looking. but I have a very nice set of wheels-standard 6 speed fw cog on 90's shimano 600 hubs/sun rims-bomb proof right!? it dawned on me about a couple hours before i read your post that one could just remove the cassette and run 2 cogs and a lock ring and instant 2 gear fixie!!
my main question though is did you need to re-dish the rear wheel to have it track in the stays properly?? or did you just align your cogs with spacers and go?

I am not sure I am the right guy to ask since this is my first SS attempt, but it worked for me to just remove all but two of the gears from the cassette and then just reinstall them on the outside. On mine I had to leave the freewheel on the wheel though since the thread size is different on the cogs than it is on the hub. This was a suntour cassette though, so it may be different on another style. I did not redish the wheel and it seems to be fine. I am sure that is not the "correct" way to do it, but so far so good.

Nishiki

so basicaly you made a suicide hub then?

ss not fg right? so then no not a suicide.

Yeah, its a SS. The freewheel is still on there, so as far as I know it is not a suicide hub. Correct me if I am wrong, but a suicide hob is where you just thread a cog onto the hub and hold it in place with Loctite or JB Weld, right?

Nishiki
Hey, thanks! I saw that stamped on the dropout, but I know very little about older Japanese road bikes and therefore did not realize that was a brand name. There is also KMF or KMP stamped on the dropout as well. Any ideas what that means?

As a cheapskate, You are my idol. And the bike looks dope. and functional

awesome...wish i could find a deal like that..im a big guy..and want to go ss but i would stay the freewheel method. At that price my size would not bother me about getting one. Great find!

very nice, i think you made out well on that SA find!

Please somebody chime in here...assuming one already has a thread-on type rear road wheel 700 c could he just unthread the cassette and thread on 1 or 2 fixed cogs properly spaced out from the hub flange so the chainline is good and then lockring it on??-is there a reverse threading lockring out there that would facilitate this setup or am i just dreamin??