Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - fixie-building tips for heavier riders?

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mexicutioner
08-04-04, 07:26 PM
hey all,
still in the process of building my Bandwagon Industries frame into a fixie. is there anything i should keep in mind while selecting components given the fact that i'm a pretty big (about 220 lbs) guy? will the cheap suzue hubs work for me, or do i need to go for something more robust? also, do i need to worry about the strength of my crank? i don't want to end up snapping or breaking anything because of how much force it would take to slow my ass down.

thanks in advance!

goatmeal
08-04-04, 07:33 PM
Stay away from suzue basic, get a sealed cartridge with at least 36 holes and you should be fine. I doubt you would be able to snap your cranks, most are pretty solid. Choose a gear ratio in the middle 70's and you should be golden.

Phil
mexicutioner
08-04-04, 07:46 PM
thanks for the reply phil. do you know of any particular (hopefully not terribly expensive) sealed hubs i should look at? are the $69.95/pr IRO hubs sealed? thanks!

Serbaside
08-04-04, 08:23 PM
I've been wonder for a long time about the equations to find:
(1) Gear ratio (do you just add the two gears together?)
(2) Gear "Inches" and its meaning, I always hear people say something like "its a 100inch gear setup"
s2sxiii
08-04-04, 08:34 PM
hey all,
still in the process of building my Bandwagon Industries frame into a fixie. is there anything i should keep in mind while selecting components given the fact that i'm a pretty big (about 220 lbs) guy? will the cheap suzue hubs work for me, or do i need to go for something more robust? also, do i need to worry about the strength of my crank? i don't want to end up snapping or breaking anything because of how much force it would take to slow my ass down.

thanks in advance!

I'm anywhere between 210-225 (since i've been riding fixed) and i haven't had a problem with my stock langster -- which has some pretty ****ty parts, lemme tell ya. Those are cheapo 32 spoke hubs laced to alex rims -- though i did switch the back hub to a surly, which i like. I think you'll be fine with basically whatever.
goatmeal
08-04-04, 08:48 PM
Don't know by personal experience about the IRO hubs, but they do seem to have sealed cartridge bearings, so that is good. As for gear inches, take the front sprocket divided by the rear cog and multiply that by your wheel diameter. So if you are running a 48/16 ratio (front/rear) with a 700 wheel it would be 48 / 16 = 3 * 27 = 81 gear inches (about). This isn't completely accurate, there are other aspects which come into play such as tire diameter etc, this will give you a general idea though.

Phil