Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - my tentative setup, help?

i'm fairly new to all this, and i'm planning out my first fixie. just wondering if i could get comments/suggestions from you guys, every little bit helps. :p i'm starting with a 1984 trek 520 frame my friend gave me but basically stripping almost all the old parts except for frame, fork, headset, stem, and front brake; and this is what i've got planned out for it so far:

-mavic open pros (maaaybe MA3s if i'm strapped for cash) laced to a NEW surly rear hub and i'm not sure what hub for the front
-shimano UN73 BB
-SUGINO 75 crank arms (170mm) with 46T dura-ace chainring (144mm BCD)
-shimano dura-ace track sprocket (haven't decided how many teeth yet)
-shimano dura-ace seat post with terry fly saddle
-bullhorn bars with one dia-comp BL-188 brake lever for the front wheel
-either shimano 540 SPD or crank bros. candy pedals

this bike will be used mainly within the city limits of austin for speedy recreational rides. none of the parts are set in stone, just starting points really. i'll probably use armadillo tires since the streets of austin are pretty bad. i'm not sure which bullhorn bars to get or even the width i should get since i haven't found any at the 3 LBS i frequent. i was thinking either the tsunami bars at chucksbikes.com or the profile airwing TT at performancebike. anyone have any experience with these? thanks in advance.

what LBS have you gone to?
you can try to chop off the drop bars for a quasi bullhorn--thats what im gonna do
46t chainring is pretty tall..unless youre going to run a big sprocket in the back...or youre a much stronger rider than i am :D
wouldnt 170mm limit your lean angle somewhat? i know that sometimes i grind with 172.5 trying to pedal through a corner

ozone, freewheeler's (or is it freewheeling...? i never pay attention), and bicycle sport shop. i prefer BSS cuz even if i don't find what i'm looking for, i can drool over the litespeed classic for 15 minutes. :p

i don't really have anything to chop the old bars with, and i already put them on my other bike anyway. don't know if i wanna waste the new bar tape by taking it off again. ya, you might be right about the crank length. the only bike i ride has 175mm cranks, but it's freewheel so i quickly learned not to lower the cranks on turns. hmmm, how short does one need to go on crank length? anyone?

175 is not at all a problem for me, As long as you have spd or eggbeaters you won't have a problem.

165mm is trackb-bike length... i might be wrong, but there is no intermediate size between that and 170??? some people run 170mm on their fixie, and the specialized Langster at freewheeling comes with 170 so i suppose its doable--just gotta be cognizant when turning, tho

i'll probably use armadillo tires since the streets of austin are pretty bad. i'm not sure which bullhorn bars to get or even the width i should get since i haven't found any at the 3 LBS i frequent. i was thinking either the tsunami bars at chucksbikes.com or the profile airwing TT at performancebike. anyone have any experience with these? thanks in advance.

Come to bicycles Outback in Waco and theres two pairs of Syntace bullhorns in stock!

1) -SUGINO 75 crank arms (170mm)

2) -either shimano 540 SPD or crank bros. candy pedals

3) the profile airwing TT at performancebike. anyone have any experience with these? thanks in advance.

1) how about 165mm so you won't pedal strike so easily?

2) had the shimanos and would have preferred the crank bros thought he Shimano's will do if money is an issue

3) Have a pair and love them. They feel great. What do you want to know about them?

1) how about 165mm so you won't pedal strike so easily?

2) had the shimanos and would have preferred the crank bros thought he Shimano's will do if money is an issue

3) Have a pair and love them. They feel great. What do you want to know about them?

1) eh, i don't think i'd like cranks that short, i have pretty long legs

3) that's good to know, i was actually more curious if the tsunami bar was decent since it's so much cheaper

and on another note, i notice most people's setups use 42T chainrings. would it make that big of a difference if i used the 46T and just used a bigger rear cog too?

170's are not that bad cornering. I have 175's on my roadie and had a set of 170's that I scavenged off of a bike a few years ago. They've worked well. You do have to pay attention to your turns, but you'll get used to the feel of it. Especially if you happen to scrape a pedal on the ground. And my legs are relatively long as well, so 165's seemed too short.

As for gearing, I would think that, as long as you achieve the desired gearing, a different permutation of chainring size and sprocket size will work. I don't think you'd notice much difference between that and running a 42xwhatever.

there are 170's pista cranks, lots of em actually. felt tk2's have em on the bigger sizes, i have campy 170's...and sugino 75's are pista cranks anywho.
and i never struck. and i corner pretty hard sometimes. just be careful. to chop, hacksaws are cheap, but your lbs should have pipe cutters and be able to do it for a small fee.

for a cog, get and 18 or bigger, especially to learn

i think i might get a 16 and 17 cog, actually. i used the gear calculator on sheldon's site, and found that the most comfortable gear setting on my geared bike corresponds almost exactly to 46/16 for the fixie setup. i figure 17 i can use if i'm gonna tackle the west hills or something :p

170's are fine, I run them on both my fixies, i use eggbeaters on the one with the low bottom bracket, and cages and straps on the one with the higher bottom bracket. Never had a problem with pedal striking with either of them.

Tsunami bars are stamped syntace somewhere obscure on them, they're good value, I find mine a bit flexy. Most people seem to prefer either a bigger drop though or no drop.

170's are fine, I run them on both my fixies, i use eggbeaters on the one with the low bottom bracket, and cages and straps on the one with the higher bottom bracket. Never had a problem with pedal striking with either of them.

Tsunami bars are stamped syntace somewhere obscure on them, they're good value, I find mine a bit flexy. Most people seem to prefer either a bigger drop though or no drop.

thanks for the info :D blah, wish i could find some place where i could test a bar out to find out if i like a drop and how wide i should get it.

i'd advise against using DA cogs on Surly hubs. the cogs are fairly wide and don't leave a lot of threads for the lock ring to grab onto. pick up a couple of Surly cogs and you'll be set.

(likewise, a Surly cog is too narrow to use on a DA hub. even if you tighten the lock ring down all the way there's still room for the cog to spin back.)

i'd advise against using DA cogs on Surly hubs. the cogs are fairly wide and don't leave a lot of threads for the lock ring to grab onto. pick up a couple of Surly cogs and you'll be set.

(likewise, a Surly cog is too narrow to use on a DA hub. even if you tighten the lock ring down all the way there's still room for the cog to spin back.)

wow, thanks a lot for that info! probably saved me a headache. any more compatibility issues like that that might exist would be much obliged. another quick question just to make sure. i measured the spacing for the back wheel on the frame, and it's 126mm. i can just add spacers to make the surly hub fit, right?

I think you may need a new axle as well. But then again, what the hell do I know?

actually i think sheldon brown's fixed gear parts website has that info

well, the site says "100/120 spacing, they use standard 9 x 1 front and 10 x 1 rear axles, easily converted to quick release or to other spacing" but it doesn't say how exactly.

eh. shouldn't be a problem. if it doesn't work, you should have absolutely no problems finding an axle that will fit. surly is smart that way.