Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Is this worth it?

Is this worth picking up and converting?

http://www.craigslist.org/nby/bik/117450401.html

700c
14-speed
Expert Ironman Dave Scott

yes.

The 'Ironman Expert' was a lugged steel frame made from Tange-tubes, and it was equipped with a 6-speed Shimano 105 gruppo. In the U.S. 'Centurion' was a brand DiamondBack used to market road bikes in the '70s and '80s (not to be confused with the European 'Centurion' bikes).

Centurion sold bikes with the Ironman-label from the mid-80s on. They were among the most popular road bikes in the States at that time, and since that was the time when road cycling was somewhat popular, they are among the most popular road bikes of any period.

sheldon says
"Centurion, like Diamondback (formerly "Diamond Back") was a trademark of Western States Imports (W.S.I.). Starting in 1982, they used the Centurion brand for their road bike line, and Diamond Back for their BMX and MTB lines. The Centurion "Comp TA" was a particularly nice sport bike, but they had to abandon this model designation due to a conflict with an automotive tire manufacturer who owned the trademark. They substituted the model name "Dave Scott Ironman", making this possibly the first mass-produced bicycle targeted at the triathlon market. Dave Scott is the winner of 6 Kohna Hawaii Ironman races. In the early '90s, W.S.I. stopped using the Centurion brand name, and applied the Diamondback brand to their road models as well as the BMX/MTB lines."

for $25 you can hardly go wrong, i have pretty early 'dave scott ironman' built in japan with tange #1 tubing, which is very nice stuff indeed.

i'd say grab it, if it sucks you can prolly part out the suntour stuff on it for more than the price of the bike.

ah, you beat me too it, but yes, definitely buy that if it's your size. Great frames. I abused one for years before it pulled a kamikaze move and killed an Iroc. Well, actually some @ss destroyed his car by driving over my bike, but that's a different story.

When I asked him what the size was he said: The bike shop said it was 700c, which equals 26" or 27".

he is 6'2... I'm 6'1 ...

d'oh...that's how it is when buying bikes from most people, I guess. From the size of the head tube it looks like I'll fit a 6'1" er (like me if you don't want it!) fine.

So would the frame be on the bigger side? because I like them a little smaller.

Ok I had him measure from the floor to the top bar, its 33" I'm picking it up tonight.

good. pics and measurements when you get back? :D

Is there a post or site on how to take measurements?

measurements are usually taken from center to center (and the only ones most people care about are toptube and seattube, at least for standard geometry frames)

so measure from the center of the crank bolt, along the seattube to the center of the toptube, and measure from the center of the seattube, along the toptube, to the center of the headtube.

also, a description (or pic) of the tube labels would be nice.

(btw, this all to satisfy my own curiosity, the only thing that really matters is if the bike fits you, and you like it).

Ok I picked up the bike, everything seems stock, the rear had a flat which i fixed. It is very fast shifts super smooth and seems lighter than my bridgestone MB-1. It might be a bit too big for me, if i get off the seat wrong my balls hit the top bar.

The frame is Cro-Mo Tange All the the brakes, crank, derailer are Suntour GPX. Sampson pedals, Araya wheels.

from the crank to the seat post is 24" and the seat post to the headtube is 23"

here are some pics.

Ok I picked up the bike, everything seems stock, the rear had a flat which i fixed. It is very fast shifts super smooth and seems lighter than my bridgestone MB-1. It might be a bit too big for me, if i get off the seat wrong my balls hit the top bar.

The frame is Cro-Mo Tange All the the brakes, crank, derailer are Suntour GPX. Sampson pedals, Araya wheels.

from the crank to the seat post is 24" and the seat post to the headtube is 23"

here are some pics.

you sure you can't just lower the seat some?

The seat isnt the problem, its the damn top bar.

ah, right. gotcha. heh....um...650c wheels instead of 700c?

still a good deal for $25.

short of buying new wheels, putting smaller tires-- like 20c instead of 23c-- might drop that bar by a few mm.

[QUOTE=...if i get off the seat wrong my balls hit the top bar.

[/QUOTE]
So, do not get off the seat wrong and all is good? :)

Ok I picked up the bike, everything seems stock, the rear had a flat which i fixed. It is very fast shifts super smooth and seems lighter than my bridgestone MB-1. It might be a bit too big for me, if i get off the seat wrong my balls hit the top bar.

The frame is Cro-Mo Tange All the the brakes, crank, derailer are Suntour GPX. Sampson pedals, Araya wheels.

from the crank to the seat post is 24" and the seat post to the headtube is 23"

here are some pics.
the cranks are really nice. atleast now you can sell the parts and get a new frame?

ah, right. gotcha. heh....um...650c wheels instead of 700c?

both your ideas are stupid.

still a good deal for $25.

short of buying new wheels, putting smaller tires-- like 20c instead of 23c-- might drop that bar by a few mm.

or you can get 650s X 28-32 130psi. this will lower it enough i think and ive seen a lot of light weight 650 tires wtih high 130psi. if you get any fatter tires it will be about the same as skinny 700s

I was told about an inch from the bar to the crotch for a road bike is fine.. So now on to the fixed gear part. I'm going to keep the crank and use the 42tooth ring... I'm still unsure of what I should do for the rear, buy a new wheel? which one? is there a way to ghetto convert it? I read sheldon's freestyle-fixed tool thing and I got pretty confused.

both your ideas are stupid.

yeah, that happens a lot. i don't always recommend you take my suggestions, and i rarely do myself...i just throw ideas out and see what people think. people who probably know better than i do, and if i'm dead wrong, i'm glad to have that pointed out to me.

Yeah I already knew that putting on smaller wheels, id need shorter crank arms to prevent pedal scrapage. I put on my 26"s and found out the hard way hahaha.