Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - First day "FIXED"

Well I finally got around to putting my el-cheapo suicide hub Fixie together and figured I'd stop just hanging out and post. It's a pawn shop murray (didn't want to spend lots of cash that I don't have on a bike style I've never ridden before, so flame away, but I only have 60 bucks in this thing) that I removed the large front chainring from and am running with a 39 chain ring and a 15 tooth dura ace cog and both brakes. It's rolling on 26"x1 3/8" tires for a gear inch of around 70 inches. I built a rear rack using an old saddle for the mount, some aluminum strap and an old acrylic skateboard deck. It was quite an experience but it will take some time before I remember that I can't freewheel. I rode it about 2 miles today and that was the most vigorous work out I've had on a bike in a long time, but I was doing lots of sprinting and there are some decent grades in the neighborhood I was riding. As soon as I get some lights it's gonna be my commuter. I rotafixed the cog and repacked the bearings in the BB, hubs, and head tube, replaced a tube and respaced/redished the rear wheel, trued both wheels (rear still needs some work but I really wanted to take it for a spin.) Overall though it was fun, just gonna start riding it a couple miles a day and slowly work my way up to longer rides. I really respect those of you that do centuries on these things though. I'll post some pics up here when i get some snapped of it.

Awesome. Fixed is a whole different kind of animal.

NAES

Fantastic! Just ride bro, parts and styles of bikes do not matter. I think that is awesome what you did. Go for a long ride this weekend and just enjoy it. Fixed is some much fun. Learn the track stand as soon as possible, it is just like riding a unicycle.

suhweeet. nice work man

Awesome. Fixed is a whole different kind of animal.

NAES

Yeah, my dog was much less territorial once I had him fixed. He never did learn to ride a bike after that though.

Make sure your breaks are dialed in if you're running a suicide hub.

Have fun

Wow, this board is much less elitist than the commuting and road forums, mention a cheap bike over there and it's the end of the world. Brakes are good, just trying to decide what to do with the bars, I almost never ride the drops, spend lots of time upright and am thinking about chop and flipping the bars, or just going with some MTB bars or something similar, but the chop and flip fits the character of this bike more I think. Might try it and if I don't like it I'll move over to MTB's.

So I finally resized a couple of photos so I figured I'd upload them, as you can tell right now this is a budget built commuter bike. I am going to give it a some new paint in the near future. I just finished building the headlight mount tonight and am going to get a taillight that sun and ski has on sale for like 10 bucks, it's a blackburn mars 3.0- anyone run one? Just wondering if it is decent. Anyway here's my beater bike.

wow, angle those bars down.

yeah. we wouldn't want him to ride a bike that felt comfortable to him!

Those bars were angled like that when I got it and I hadn't gotten around to adjusting the angle until tonight when I put the headlight on, its my first bike with drops (MTB's only until now, don't think I'll ever go back to fat tires) so it has taken some getting used to and is gonna take a while to find what angle I like.

do what feels comfortable, buddy.
i dig that homemade rack, too.

Wow, this board is much less elitist than the commuting and road forums...

oh boy...

Wow, this board is much less elitist than the commuting and road forums, mention a cheap bike over there and it's the end of the world. Brakes are good, just trying to decide what to do with the bars, I almost never ride the drops, spend lots of time upright and am thinking about chop and flipping the bars, or just going with some MTB bars or something similar, but the chop and flip fits the character of this bike more I think. Might try it and if I don't like it I'll move over to MTB's.

No, we're just reverse-elitist. If you had come in here and told us you spent $1,300 on a pair of HED3s to put on your Track Machine, which never sees the velodrome, the whole forum would have likely jumped down your throat.

There is a very specific type of bike thatgets the goat of those over here. it is really the, "i have enough money to buy whatever the hell i want and use it for whatever the hell i want" bikes that get flamed. (i am a fellow budget builder, and yours looks like it is a lot of fun)


+1 on the dialing in the brakes. All that is left is to start riding.

can't quite see but it looks as though you have no pedal retention. the whole fixed experience will be much more intuitive if you invest a few buck in clips and straps. no need to be totally locked in, but being able to pull up in the rotation as well as push down will help your cadence and general flow

+1 on ingenuity

good idea...maybe just carve it down to the shape of a saddle...could you heat up the deck and actually mold it too? like steam it or something, hmmm

The bike looks great. I wish I had had the know how or time to get my old Falcon up like you did. I cheated and took it to a shop for new wheels and a crank.

Your rack is genius, let us know how it holds up.

WTF, badass build . I like DIY dumpster bikes. they are best.

Thanks for the compliments guys, I really am enjoying this bike, just wish I had more time to ride it, commuting is out of the picture as I just got a new job that is much further from home. I do have a quick question, I would like to upgrade the brakes on this thing as the stock calipers are very flimsy and suck. Found some long reach calipers on ebay but am unsure what would work, I think the diacomps might work, but I also really would like a set of the dual pivot shimano brakes.

second vote for adding clips & straps.

blackburn mars 3.0- anyone run one? .

yeah dude i got it, its the best imo, for my need tho i put it on my bag and whats nice about that one it realy clip so it doesnt alway fell down.

Nice build dude glad you like fg, enjoy!

Don't worry clips and straps are on the agenda, as soon as I find some 1/2 threaded pedals to support them, or pony up and buy the 9/16 threaded one piece cranks from harris. But this is a budget bike and I think I'll ride it for a while until I find the right bike to do a real conversion on.

I went and got some $7 toe clips/straps today from sun and ski and put them on the bike. What a difference, I feel like I have so much more control now. I also got a clip on flashing LED and a taillight that was on sale at Target, and replaced my rear brake caliper and both brake levers with some Bell BMX brake levers on my chopped and flopped bullhorns, added a little camo bar tape for the redneck in me, I'll post some pics when the weather clears up, Ike has been keeping us pretty wet today (but not wet enough to keep me from putting in a few miles on the bike.) I also took the rack off, but it'll be going on again later, just don't need it right now. I am very happy with the bike in it's current state, was thinking about buying some riser bars for a more upright feel, but I really like the bullhorns.