Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Any advice before I try (die)

So I got my durace (they had no others) cog yesterday and was allowed 5 minutes to ride it outside the shop (my wife came with me.. probably to reel any potential purchases).. So short ride and retighten the lock ring.. And once home, it was all about the yard work due..................................

So, I'm gonna have my inagural ride tonight as a fixed (I'd been riding free wheel for a long time).

Any tips/advice?

Great!.......Naaah.....you will not encounter any problems. The only problem I can see is that you'll love it so much that you're gonna start thinking about building another one.... and another... So what are you running? Give us details about your setup.

I have some pics of the bike in it's old config, and some of the middle ground posted here. I'm waiting on the spouse to download the pictures to the web site so I can post here.

1972 Nishiki Kokusia, removed all but front brake. All cable runs, stays, derailer hangers, rack mounts have been cut and then ground down. I kept the front crank, and cut the teeth off the front large gear so it's essentially a chain guard.

The 27 inch wheels were ditched, and I bought a new mavic wheel with a suzue basic hup.. and I'm using a borrowed from rim from my road bike. I had to get new handle bars because the originals were sooooo narrow it was painful. Other than the wheel, and handle bars, and handle bar wrap, it's all been salvaged.

I ended with a 48-16 on a 165 crank.

I don't want to say I like preformance bike, but the guy in the Northpark (His name is Lee, and if you're in SD, don't feel shy to look him up) has been beyond awesome in figuring out what I need vs. what I want and helping me shave pennies to get the bike done. No discounts, but he really looks around for what's good for the money. All in all (not including paint) it came out to 165 dollars including the bike.

I was having fun with the SS enough that my nieghbor hinted at his, and now I'm hacking an old MTB that my mom had in her garage into a SS. Not fixed, but SS.

So, now I'm 3 bikes, two derailers, 3 cats, 1 wife, 1 kid, no rain and as the band love and rockettes said

"No parachute and no prayers to say..."

William,
Finally fixed, eh? Great! I do have a couple of words. Start out gently and SIT as soon as you start moving. Otherwise, if you stand or kind of mess around while getting the other foot clicked in you could be lobbed off the bike. Do several starts and stops to get in the habit of not trying to coast while stopping. Other than that, have fun!

48-16 is going to be a bit of a challenge on that last couple of miles uphill to your house isn't it? :D
Regards,
Raymond

Raymond,

I think that the 48 16 will do me in trying to do that last two miles up to my house!! Mostly it's for flatter areas, and I'm thinking I'll use it to ride to the trolley and from the trolley to base. A different version of commuting.

It's going to take some getting used to, that's for sure. But I'm in for the fun. Your advice and point of view really got me thinking on this "project" and spured me towards getting it done. I owe you a big thanks.

I also need to mail the package sitting on my desk at home for you....

I'll let you know how it goes tommorrow!

If you haven't learned to do so yet, the first thing you might want to try after you've gotten comfortable on your fixie, is to learn to trackstand.

Since you have a brake you should be ok, but just be careful the first time you really go fast. I remember the first time I had to stop hard from 25-30mph, quite different from the little practice stop/go in the driveway. But since you have the brake to help you it should be fine.

Also, when practicing track stands, try different hand positions, wheel angles, etc. As different people find it the easiest in different ways. (My friend likes standing with two hands, I like sitting with one hand, someone else swears no-handed is the easiest..)

-Jason

In contrast with Senor Yates, the first thing I recommend you do with your fixie is take off the brakes. Ha ha ha.

Then go for a ride and realize, "hell, I don't need those inefficient piece-of-crap brakes. I've got BUILT IN brakes; the world DOES have a master plan after all!"

Originally posted by dumpstervegan
In contrast with Senor Yates, the first thing I recommend you do with your fixie is take off the brakes. Ha ha ha.

Then go for a ride and realize, "hell, I don't need those inefficient piece-of-crap brakes. I've got BUILT IN brakes; the world DOES have a master plan after all!"

There are some really really really steep ol' hills here..

I recommend keeping your eyes open at all times...you'd be suprised how the would looks "fixed"...

when i first got on my fixed gear, i just took off and rode around town without practicing anything. the continuous spin was a bit strange, but i got used to it quickly.

it's not a big deal. it's not dangerous and crazy, especially if you have brakes. just go ride your bike like you would any other bike.

Originally posted by William Karsten
There are some really really really steep ol' hills here..

There are some really steep hills here too.....

Oops, wait, no there aren't! I'd recommend leaving the brake on! Ha ha ha.