Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Building for the first time...UK

afternoon everyone...

First of all, I know similar questions must've been asked in the past, so apologies if I'm repeating, I've read / searched a lot on the subject the last few days, including this forum, and still wanted to start my own post... looking for help here and on LondonSSFS board too.

Ok.. So I'm building my own bike, I'm staying away from pure fixed wheel for now, as I can see myself causing either myself / others some sort of injury!

Am I right in thinking I could use a flipflop hub to have the choice of either fixed wheel / singlespeed (ideally this is what I'm after, but if I had to choose one, it'd be singlespeed for now)

I've read a bit about theseon Sheldon's site, here etc... but must admit I'm still not ENTIRELY sure how they work, anyone fancy explaining it as simplY as possible?!

Also some tips on a good frame to start with would be a help too... prob got about £100 - £150 upfront to spend on the frame.

Cheers in advance to anyone who's read this, and again apologies if I've repeated other threads.

Tom

bump...

I don't know of any track frames for under £150 in the UK, maybe converting an old road frame is something to think about?

Cheers Tom, Yeah that's what I was thinking..I'm up for converting. I guess the first place to start would be to ask if anybody knows of any good brand frames to look out for on ebay?

You think a flipflop hub would be the way to go?

Just depends what you like, but like you said in your first post, if you're not looking to get straight into fixed gear, and just single speed, then a flip-flop hub would be perfect.

Cheers Tom, Yeah that's what I was thinking..I'm up for converting. I guess the first place to start would be to ask if anybody knows of any good brand frames to look out for on ebay?

You think a flipflop hub would be the way to go?


Just completed my first conversion of an old steelframe road bike to single speed. Used the Fuji DelRey circa late 70s early 80s as it DIDN'T have a built-in derailier hanger, so the 'lines' are much cleaner. Most of the money I spent was in the paint job. I had it sandblasted and powder-coated for 125.00US(just the frame and fork). Used the stock stem, handlebars, seatpost adjustment bolt, seat post, headset(w/new bearings). Everything else is new. I'll breakdown the list of parts and the websites from which they came below. All prices are US dollars.

Tektro Dual pivot calipers, levers, cables, housings, ferreles- 40.00
Wellgo dual sided clipless- 25.00
KMZ 'silver' 1/8x1/2" heavy duty chain-15.00
http://www.bikeisland.com

Bulletproof 170mm Bmx 110mm bolt circle crankset-silver-40.00
46t Rocket Ring chainring-16.00
Acera 16t BMX freewheel-20.00
2 Sun CR18 rims-32h-frt, 36h-rr-45.00
set of 5 bmx chainring bolts-12.00
http://www.bikepartsusa.com

Sugino 103mm Track bottom bracket-40.00
http://www.universalcycles.com

The saddle is an old Specialized 'ergo split' popular a few years ago. I'm getting a Brooks B-17 w/chrome rivets in the near future. I had an old 'solid axle' 36h freewheel hub I rebuilt(no flip/flop, just single speed) and a 32h front hub. I used some old spokes from a bike w/27" wheels and did a 4x on the rear and a 3x on the front. I run Nu-Teck 28mm airless @ 130 psi rating...yeah the ride's a little rough. :p All in all I spent about 450.00US. Oh yeah, I had a friend of mine do a black/white 'harlequin' wrap on the handlebars which looks pretty sweet, but may be a little 'over the top' for some people's taste. I love the bike. It rides like a dream...oh yeah the front hub is a QR, but still overall the bike is very clean looking. Black metalflake w/all 'silver' components, except the brake hoods, which are black. Had to do some mods in the form of 'drilling out' the caliper mounting backets as the Tektros were a little larger than the stock ones.

Good luck w/your build. Hope the info is helpful and can serve to give you some ideas. :thumb:

i just moved out to the UK from the US, and everything is super expensive. i was going to ship my bike but decided against it due to cost, and lack of time to ride. but i kind of wish i did ship it, cause 1 its expensive here and 2 very good way to get around the city

i was going to buy something else temporarily while i am here but the price is steering me away

cheers v.much nashcommguy, if anything you've made me realise how much more work it is than I thought...think I plan on getting the frame, and then a back wheel built up somewhere, (anyone know who does this in the UK / if this is a good idea?)

I've never built a bike before you see, but must admit I'm looking forward to the project.

What else would people say are the trickiest bits of a build?

Cheers

T

One awesome thing (depending on where you live) is the second hand market in the UK. Some of the bikeswaps have amazing stuff and I definitely seen some very nice track/fixed gear frames at places like the Ripley meet for less than 150 bones.

I'd say the trickiest part of any conversion/build is getting the chainline right (as well as staying within budget).

Wheel building depends a lot on where you are.

fixedpip, cheers for that. I'm up north you see, Newcastle, which I guess isn't REALLY thriving for this sort of thing... wheelbuilding , surely I could have something made up and shipped?

ta!

go to londonfgss.com for more UK based information, also glasgow fgss is a possibility

cheers v.much nashcommguy, if anything you've made me realise how much more work it is than I thought...

Thank you. All the best to you as well. One can get away w/doing alot less...I went a little overboard w/t paintjob and all. There's nothing wrong w/using stock parts or parts from other bikes. I'd rebuilt several old bikes over the years and just wanted to go all out on my first single speed. Probably could've done it w/used parts and no paintjob for about 100.00US.

For me, besides the chainline it was getting the correct dish on the rear wheel. The hub was designed for multi-gears and I had to compensate w/spacers on the non-drive side. But, that being said I agree w/t post below...the chainline is really hard to get right. That's why I got the Sugino 103mm track cartridge bb as it's cheap(as opposed to a Phil Wood 102mm for about 200.00...AND one needs a special bb tool for PW bbs and hubs)and had standard 'English' threading. Most 'Pac-Rim' bikes of that era had the same threading...Panasonic, Nishiki, Fuji, etc. A short spindle gives the best opportunity to get a straight chainline. One could get a BMX hub and build a wheel from there, but most BMX hubs are 48h and older rims are usually 36h.

The easiest way would be to get an old steelframe road bike w/a freewheel and remove the multi gear and replace it w/a single speed freewheel. Remove all of the shifting components, take a few links out of the chain after you decide whether to run on the big or little chainring and presto, you've got a singlespeed. Just make sure your bike of choice has a solid axle hub as the qr hubs wont take the torque. Invest in a single speed chain too, as the multi-gear ones aren't designed for 'high torque' usage either.


...I'd say the trickiest part of any conversion/build is getting the chainline right (as well as staying within budget).

+1 on the budget...I spent double what I'd originally intended. Have fun! :) When in doubt refer to Sheldon Brown's(RIP) website.

Thoughts on this frame anybody?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110272447179&ssPageName=ADME:B:DBS:GB:1123#ebayphotohosting

Cheers!

Or this as recommended on London FGSS... Merckx 531c frame

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36046

Probably a better option for me in terms of speed of build / sourcing parts?

What do people think of £82 for a silver velocity deep V, w/System Ex flipflop hub, including spokes and labour to build? Any good?

Ta!

Ok... looked around a bit since the above post, and have seen these. They ship to the UK.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Track-Wheels-Silver-DP18-Deep-V-Profile-Rim-Flip-Flop_W0QQitemZ350083960122QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item350083960122&_trkparms=39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A15&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14.l1318

Any thoughts? I know a lot's been said about Weinmanns, but my bike won't be getting loads of use to be honest, a few miles a day tops.

What do you think?

Or you could buy a Charge Plug or similar. Not to dissuade you from doing your own work, but it can get tough if you don't have friends to help out.

I've thought about buying complete... but figure when I get the wheels sorted it should be more fun / not too hard to make a build, that's really the only bit putting me off.

Cheers for the advice though acorn ;)