Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - New On-One il Pompino

51cm frame, my old steel fork. Surly/Mavic/15-16DB spokes/alu nipple combo, Tioga Bloodhound tires 38mm fatties. Wheels converted to QR axles and bolt through skewers. (nope, no slippages- the skewers have serrated steel faces. two years using them on the old crosscheck and they never slipped)

American Classis ti post, generic ti rail seat, generic seat clamp. Ti Cycles ti stem, Titec Malone 46cm bar.

Cane Creek levers pulling Shimano cheapy v-brakes. Not sure if I like them; I may swap for something nicer. Canti or V is then the question. Or leave the rear off, but then I want a rear brake when freewheeling some trails.

Race Face Taperlock ti bottom bracket, Cook Bros. generic SPD clone pedals.

38x14/18 fixed/free.

this is my commuter/grocery getter/ugly weather/dirt road exploring roadie. half the year it'll be sporting fenders and racks......and yes, sports the cut off drops that i happen to like. comfy riding and fast so far; i won't get a longer ride in until thursday morning. oh yeah, and brakes. ;)

nice! how does it compare to the crosscheck?

How do the vees work with the road levers without a travel agent or the like?

Hott!

the rear is a little mushy (i think more because i've got full housing going rather than the lever), but the front feels fine. if i go for other brakes, it'll be some mini-v's or some canti's. i justlike the feel of v's, and the full housing runs.

no biggie with the rear, as it's really only used when i've got the freewheel going, which isn't all that often.

i've not had a long enough ride to tell for sure, but it feels more comfortable, in terms of size and geometry.
got a nice long 40+ mile backroad excursion planned for thursday. it'll include some singletrack, so i can see how it handle on that as well.

only beef so far: less tire clearance in the rear, and their really is only a narrow area where i can get decent chain tension, and brake pad to tire contact. works with the ratios i'm running, but if i swap to other ranges things could become problematic.

just curious...are you running 38/14 fixed and 38/18 free?....if so, why are you running such a low gear on the free side

if it's the other way around...I'm sure that would be a fun-azz gear for tricks and fixed dancing

because the only time the free side ever gets used is on some singletrack here on the front range. definately need a lower gear for that...... at least my weak self does. and the fixed side is lower than the 46x17 on my purely road fix, purely for better front range back road exploring. my usual offroad MO is to spin out fixed to some of the local trails mellow enough for the skinny wheels, and flip the wheel to the easier free side. reverse process for the ride home. there are really only a few trails close to me that i can do this with. the rest of the time, i just take my mtb to hit the burlier trails that would kill this bike! at least to trail ride in the manner that i prefer.

i'd like to have a higher fixed ratio, but then i'd have too much of a gap between that and what i need on the free side for the chain difference, ya know?

ideally, i'd like to run both sides fixed and ditch the rear brake entirely, but it's a fixed/free hub. and i won't trust a cadged up free---->fixed setup for offroad.

(part of today's ride---->)

http://img455.imageshack.us/img455/4259/cyclocross163712bf.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Not to steal your thunder scrublover, but here's a picture of my on-one too.
My friend took this while I was participating in chicago's cyclocross cup.

Right now it has a mix of parts from my road & some spare track parts:
Front wheel - Velocity Fusion 3x laced to a Formula track hub
Rear wheel - Marcus' pre built Mavic MA3 rim laced to a Surly flip flop hub
Michelin Mud tires
Truvativ Elite crankset w/ Gigapipe BB
Paul Neo Retro/Touring brakes
3T handlebars
Soma CX levers
Tektro brake levers
ACS 18t freewheel
Thomson seatpost
Fizik saddle
Shimano 959 pedals
Orbitx s-3 headset

I also originally bought itas a commuter (fenders/rack) type bike,
but soon fell in love with cyclocross. I like the bike a lot and rode
it quite a bit in order to train. Much more comfortable position than
my pista and while heavier still very fast. The pompino tracks very
well and while I did fall once on the section pictured that was more
because of the guy in front of me than anything else. My only
complaint is that while I like having a slopping TT for groin clearance
on remounts it increases the chance of get scrapping your elbow on the
chainring

On-one Il pompino riders unite!

BTW: you know what il pompino means right?

jeff

If you aren't happy with your v-brakes AND have LOTS of extra dough
get the Paul cantis. They are amazing and super easy to adjust when you
flip your wheel, but yeah arm and a leg

jeff

Yes! I just bought one! We'll be twins!