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09-05-06, 11:39 AM
Over the long weekend I decided to transform the Aquila framed track bike I raced in the early to mid 80's into a single speed. The major problems seemed to be the Dura Ace 10-Pitch group and the sew-up wheelset (That pretty much left just the frame, fork, headset, Cinelli track sem/bars, and seatpost/saddle to work with). In all my junk I located a Cook Bros 171 mm crankset, a decent Shimano square bottom bracket, a 38 tooth 110 five-bolt chainring, an 18 tooth cassette cog and a bunch of almost matching spacers, a clincher wheelset with old American Classic cassette rear hub and micro front hub, a Dia Compe road brake handle, A Weinmann center-pull front brake, various clincher tires, a Syncros stem mounted brake cable hanger, a pair of Control Tech bolt-on skewers, and a decent Sachs 5/6/7-speed chain. As you can tell, I accumulate a lot of cycling stuff and don't get rid of much ot it.
Six hours* later, voila, a cool looking, 16.5 pound single speed! I took it out for a few miles this morning and although I'll have to re-adapt to the quick "track" handling, it's very fast and a gas to ride. Because of its light weight and responsiveness, I may swap the 18 tooth cog for a 16 or 17 - we'll see. So, instead of it just hanging from the ceiling, I've got another N+1 bike to ride!
*It took a while to change the rear hub spacing from 130 mm to 124 (?), re-dish the rim, and shorten the rear axle & both skewers. I first mounted 700x28 tires but they were very tight relative to the chainstays and flat fork crown, so I settled on 700x25 Conti Ultra 2000's. I had the rear wheel on & off several times fiddling with the rear cog and spacers to get a straight chainline.
PS: Anybody need a Dura Ace 10-Pitch track group and sew-up wheelset (Silk Vittoria's) in good shape?
Six hours* later, voila, a cool looking, 16.5 pound single speed! I took it out for a few miles this morning and although I'll have to re-adapt to the quick "track" handling, it's very fast and a gas to ride. Because of its light weight and responsiveness, I may swap the 18 tooth cog for a 16 or 17 - we'll see. So, instead of it just hanging from the ceiling, I've got another N+1 bike to ride!
*It took a while to change the rear hub spacing from 130 mm to 124 (?), re-dish the rim, and shorten the rear axle & both skewers. I first mounted 700x28 tires but they were very tight relative to the chainstays and flat fork crown, so I settled on 700x25 Conti Ultra 2000's. I had the rear wheel on & off several times fiddling with the rear cog and spacers to get a straight chainline.
PS: Anybody need a Dura Ace 10-Pitch track group and sew-up wheelset (Silk Vittoria's) in good shape?