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10-02-05, 11:30 AM
I'm trying to put this conversion together from an old italian 10 speed that was leaning against my garage. Originally I just intended to use everything but the rear wheel from the old bike, but as most of you are probably aware things like this tend to snowball. with a new crank, bottom bracket, chain, cog, lockring, and other miscelaneous hardware and tools I could wind up easily spending $300 to build this thing up with cheap parts and a decent rear wheel. Then what would I have? a cheap crappy fixed gear bike with a decent rear wheel. to be fair the front wheel is very nice. an old Fiamme with wire wrapped soldered spokes, and some sort of a high flange hub that feels very smooth. BUT if I was gonna spend real money I could probably buy a cheap new track bike off ebay with parts at least as good as the old stuff I'm scrounging up.
SO I find myself looking seriously at NYCBikes barggain track wheel. for $60 I'd wind up with a CRP (does that stand for crap?) flipflop hub, and Alex rim along with a 16 tooth cog, and lock ring. OTOH I could buy a $100 wheel that would be a much better wheel, but I would also need a $25 cog, and $8 lockring, so I can save $80 buying the CRP from NYCBikes. That puts the overall project within the realm of the acceptable. Now I've heard many people don't like NYCBikes, but I can't figure out another way to keep the costs of this project down. I've thought about building my own wheel, but say I pay $45 for a hub, and 25 for a rim, and $20 on spokes, we're talking about $90 just for parts. Lockring and Hub still needed.
Anyway. I really would like to use the Formula hub, and a better cog, but this gets it built, gets me on the road riding fixed. Obviously I'm struggling with the justification here, because I can't afford to build this bike the way I want. So I'm looking for input specifically from people who've used this NYC's Bargain track wheel, or of course from someone who has another idea where I might find another affordable option.
Also does anyone know what size chain the cog that comes with that wheel uses? I don't know if I'm looking for 1/8" or 3/32" chain
SO I find myself looking seriously at NYCBikes barggain track wheel. for $60 I'd wind up with a CRP (does that stand for crap?) flipflop hub, and Alex rim along with a 16 tooth cog, and lock ring. OTOH I could buy a $100 wheel that would be a much better wheel, but I would also need a $25 cog, and $8 lockring, so I can save $80 buying the CRP from NYCBikes. That puts the overall project within the realm of the acceptable. Now I've heard many people don't like NYCBikes, but I can't figure out another way to keep the costs of this project down. I've thought about building my own wheel, but say I pay $45 for a hub, and 25 for a rim, and $20 on spokes, we're talking about $90 just for parts. Lockring and Hub still needed.
Anyway. I really would like to use the Formula hub, and a better cog, but this gets it built, gets me on the road riding fixed. Obviously I'm struggling with the justification here, because I can't afford to build this bike the way I want. So I'm looking for input specifically from people who've used this NYC's Bargain track wheel, or of course from someone who has another idea where I might find another affordable option.
Also does anyone know what size chain the cog that comes with that wheel uses? I don't know if I'm looking for 1/8" or 3/32" chain