Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - How To Start?

I only recently learned about the concept of fixed gear,
and it sounds EXACTLY like the sort of thing I would love
(although it is a little hilly and wet here in seattle)... but
what's the best way to start?

I've never built a bike before... have only a few basic
repair tools. I have scanned Sheldon's site, and it
seems somewhat daunting. On the other hand, I gather
this is not the kind of bike you can just buy, either.

Should I just buy some cheap junk pile at Goodwill and
try to swap out the parts? Any recommendations on a
bike shop in Seattle that would be helpful? I have to say
most of the bike shops I have been to have been rather
snooty. I always feel I'm not their kind of customer unless
I'm shopping for an N-thousand dollar racing bike. But
then again, I *don't* know all the jargon, so maybe I
appear to be a more casual/clueless rider than I am.

If you want to just get started, Specialized, Bianchi, KHS, and some other big brands have cheap fixies. I have the Bianchi Pista (steel, pretty nice setup) The Specialized Langster is new for 04, and is relatively good price for starting up. They also have a Langster Pro, and SWorks if you wanna get gucci.


They range from 450 up.

http://www.fonem.org/ljpics/gucci.jpg

someone say GUCCI!?!

[QUOTE=OneTinSloth
someone say GUCCI!?![/QUOTE]

Yep......that's my wife's Gucci

bluejack,

There are two types of fixed gears, fixed gear road conversions and track bikes.

For a fixed gear road conversion a great shop is Recycled Cycles in the UDistrict down by the UW Medical Center. My brother recently put together a road conversion for under 150 bucks between a frame at value village and some parts at Recycled Cycles. He did get lucky with the rear wheel tho.

For a track bike, Counterbalance Bicycles in Queen Anne is your best bet. They service the local messenger community, a lot of whom ride track bikes on the street for their job. A lot of "street" track bikes, like the Surly Steamroller, Bianchi Pista, and Soma Rush are drilled for a brake or two and have a little more relaxed geometry than a true track bike.



Any recommendations on a
bike shop in Seattle that would be helpful? I have to say
most of the bike shops I have been to have been rather
snooty.


That's very true. Again, Recycled Cycles employs peoplel who are both knowledgable about bikes and aren't complete *******s (something that 90% of american LBS's can't figure out). R+E Cycles in the Udistrict is a nice shop with friendly people, but they'll talk your ears off if you let them and don't know a ton about fixed gear bikes. Velo Bikes on Capitol Hill and Elliot Bay Cycles down by the Market are both hit or miss... sometimes ya get treated well and sometimes ya get treated like trash. Counterbalance is the best local shop hands down when it comes to technical understanding and ability dealing with fixed gears (and they know a hell of a lot about road bikes too), but they're not the friendliest until they get to know ya.

HTH,
alex

originally posted by fixer:

Yep......that's my wife's Gucci


you cannot be serious.

i know what kind of bike it really is.

the quote function is messed up.

Thanks for the tips, esp. the mention of Recycled Cycles,
Alexs. I didn't know about them.

Yeah... I'm definitely not looking for a 'track' bike. I'm
an about-town in-traffic kind of rider, but plan on spending
some quality time learning to pedal a fixie where nobody's
watching.

For the Seattle riders... how's a fixed gear handle
downhill in the rain? I'm prepared for the living hell of
the uphill (it's one reason for getting the bike), but a steep,
wet downhill is not something i'm looking forward to.
I plan to start with both back and front brakes until I
think I'm competent enough with pedal management to
lose the back brake. Does that sound reasonable, or
would you recommend going cold turkey?

The best way to start is just to start. There are a lot of ways to get a "fixed" gear rear, some require you can take the freewheel cassette off a rear and do a lock tight fix on a freewheel. Or you can speed some cash and get a fixed/track rear wheel (I did that). After I rode for a while I liked it and decided I was up to building my own wheel. I bought a Surly flip/flop and built a wheel, that up until two weeks ago was holding up fine. I finally mashed the bearings. But it was a great wheel, the wheel is still good, I'm waiting for bearings, and I'm not the only one, the LBS has 3-4 other people waiting for bearings.

A way to decide on the gearing is to ride your geared bike and stay in a comfortable gear, and let that be your guide. I am comfortable with a 52 chain ring, and 16 on the rear. But that isn't a great set up for a lot of hill climbing, so you may look at like 48/18 or in that ball park. It is personal preference. One nice thing about the most of the "track" hubs they give you the ability to flip the wheel so on one side you may have a 16 and the other an 18 or 20. Suze makes a hub with fixed on one side and freewheel on the other.

Most important get a bike with horizontal dropouts.

What up, Bluejack

My advice is to recycle (perhaps my favorite pun) an old frame with horizontal dropouts into a fixie. This route requires you to be somewhat mechanically inclined and infinitely patient with what will certainly be a ******** bike. It may be easier in the beginning to simply buy a prebuilt fixie like the Fuji or the Pista, but you'll see...all fixies start to fall apart eventually, as victims of chronic stress always do. If you build your own simple machine, you will be that much more attuned to its needs, because it will probably be a little f'ed up from day one. A new bike will only break your heart when it starts to creak and rattle.

By the way, I wouldn't settle for a freewheel hub. Only track hubs are built to withstand the stresses of fixed gear riding. Don't skimp on the rear hub.

And one last piece of advice - track frames (and criterium specific frames) have tight geometries and HIGH BOTTOM BRACKETS that make them very well suited to urban fixed gear riding. A high BB reduces your chances of striking a pedal on pavement while cornering - a potentially disastrous event when riding in traffic.

Best wishes
BK

For the Seattle riders... how's a fixed gear handle
downhill in the rain? I'm prepared for the living hell of
the uphill (it's one reason for getting the bike), but a steep,
wet downhill is not something i'm looking forward to.
I plan to start with both back and front brakes until I
think I'm competent enough with pedal management to
lose the back brake. Does that sound reasonable, or
would you recommend going cold turkey?

Downhill in the rain is a little sketchy... There are certainly techniques to deal with getting yourself downhill over slick terrain at a reasonable speed, but they'll all blow your knees 10x faster than skidding will.

If it's any consolation, most of the local messengers who ride fixed ride with brakes. The only no-brake zealots local in Seattle during the rainy season tend to be east coast or midwest transplants who have never worked a Seattle rain season.

Right now I'm riding brakeless... mostly just because I want to see what this whole Zen thing that Greg Goode and the rest are all so serious about. Only thing I've noticed in three days of city commuting is that my knees hurt a little more. Nothing zen, a little more testosterone/badass feeling.

I'm probably gonna put my brake back on in a week or two unless I feel this Zen float thing that people keep talking about.

Drop me a line if ya wanna get coffee and talk shop.

-alex