Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Just built my 1st Fixed Gear

This is my 1st post to this forum and I come here from Classic & Vintage. How do all!

I've just finished building up a Chesini Pista frame that I bought (my first ever new frame, as my C&V participation would suggest) when I visited Verona, home of Chesini, back in September last year. I looked in their window and saw a black, Columbus steel framed Pista. And it was good. I went back the next day and ordered one. It arrived here in Tokyo in November and I finished building it up at 2.30 yesterday morning. Yesterday and today I've been riding it. It's simply wonderful. Apart from being mysteriously beautiful to look at, it is light, taut, comfortable and responsive. What mostly goes through my mind is "WOW!"

It isn't my only fixed gear machine. I have a 1950 Thanet Silverlight with a fixed gear but it's very different from this modern machine. It's rather plush and ponderous and not a bit heavier. Otherwise, I usually ride a 1950 Hetchins, a 1982 Trek 730 or a 1979 Dawes Atlantis, my 'rainy day' machine with a Torpedo Duomatic hub and mudguards.

So, to the Chesini Pista - the visually stunning aspect is due to the Velato finish. The frame and forks are chromium-plated and then painted with clear green (or your choice of colour) paint. The result is like coloured chrome. In sunlight the the frame looks variously green, blue and pale grey. If you have the sun behind you the glare is spooky.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2785/4255532013_c1e6a8947a_b.jpg

All the parts were to hand except for the rear hub and the tyres so it is an unusual mixture of 1950s English and French and 1970s Italian parts, the result of 2 years buying stuff for my other machines and then deciding to use something else. All my machines, apart from the Dawes and the Thanet, were bought as frames and then built up in my living room with wheel building and frame tweaking done by my LBS. Oh, and the brake lever is a 2008 Tektro as the 1950s GB lever I wanted to use was too small to fit on the Cinelli 'Priest' bars.

The stem is temporary and will be replaced by a stem of whatever length I find best. For me the most notable thing in the group set is the crank, a steel cotterless Stronglight Competition, which I can't find any reference to anywhere. And which I was going to use on the Thanet but looks great on the Chesini.

More photos at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22983673@N02/sets/72157622858499138/

Very nice!!!

nice bike
you should join a few of us for a ride sometime!

VEry nice! Post pics in the Porn thread.

Looks good.

nice bike
you should join a few of us for a ride sometime!

Are you down in Yokota? Or Tokyo, as your Location has it? Where do you ride?

I'm keen to learn the tricks of fixed gear. I saw a woman doing little hops yesterday and later, talking to the owner of a shop in Yamate Dori (next to Yoyogi Hachiman shrine, called Second House, learnt it was a technique for setting up the pedal position for what you are about to do. Does that make sense? I speak Japanese but am not familiar with the language used about riding fixed-gear.

Nice job, very classy. Looks like a very fun ride!

im at yokota
Im hoping to meet up with some other members on teh board, but it seems to never work out due to my schedule

Also sometimes the little hops are skid hops. Alot of girls do it, cause its easier to lift the back of your bike, and lock and skid upon it hitting the ground, than overcoming the force while rolling.

im at yokota
Also sometimes the little hops are skid hops. Alot of girls do it, cause its easier to lift the back of your bike, and lock and skid upon it hitting the ground, than overcoming the force while rolling.

So, what's the purpose?

That's a beauty! What rims and tires are those? I like your wheels a lot.

Very classy! Please provide more photos and details.

More photos and info are on the flikr link he provided.

That's a beauty! What rims and tires are those? I like your wheels a lot.

Thank you!

The rims are Super Champion Arc-en-Ciel 36 hole. They come in 32 hole - http://www.levelodansleretro.com/superchampion-rimset-competition-arc-en-ciel-32-holes-tubulars-nos-en.htm and a gorgeous blue - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360222756584&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_1714wt_1167 ).

The tyres are Japanese Soyo Pro-fessional Spurt Racing tubulars - about $50 a pair on Yahoo Auction Japan - http://page11.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/n78612477

Spokes are Hoshi DB, rear hub is a Shimano 7600 and the front a Campag Nuovo Tipo.

Are the crank pedal threads French? Are the pedals Lyotard? Again, let me congratulate you on one of the nicest classic builds I have ever seen.

Nice job, very classy. Looks like a very fun ride!

Thank you!

I'm just learning to ride it but it was an instant pleasure. It actually reminds me of my Trek 730 - very balanced and light. The Trek weighs 9.7 kgs (21.38 US lbs) and the Chesini 8.9 (16.62 US lbs). It would be lighter with alloy instead of steel cranks.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2602/3715856484_f9775efe1b_b.jpg

Are the crank pedal threads French? Are the pedals Lyotard? Again, let me congratulate you on one of the nicest classic builds I have ever seen.

Thank you very much! I must admit, after looking at it for 2 months in my living room, seeing it out in the sunshine has me all wide-eyed and at a loss for words.

The threads are British - oddly as I bought them from Le Velo Dans Le Retro, a dealer in France. He's the guy linked to both pairs of Arc-en-Ciel rims above. I've bought a few things from him and find him great to deal with. Has all sorts of obscure stuff, mostly NOS.

Yes, Lyotard 460D, my favourite. I like them so much I have them on all of my bikes :D I also have a pair of Marcel Berthet that I might try on the Chesini but I didn't get on with them on my Thanet. I've fitted clips to the one on the bike now and will try them out tomorrow.

man that bike looks awesome!

This photo best shows how the Velato finish shines:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2799/4127239306_b288488a2a.jpg

Yes! This is what I'm talking about, everyone in SS/FG take notes!

Stronglight crank is a beaut! Love the whole vintage build. Well done!

Sugoi na! Penki mo hontouni kirei de iro mo suki da.

No foot retention.

Super sexy bike you got there. Age didn't really affect it at all lol :lol:


No foot retention.

His obviously not going to skid on it or ride it too hard..... although it would be a good idea for the traffic @ Tokyo.... :rolleyes:

Read the OP's last post. He said "I've fitted clips to the one on the bike now and will try them out tomorrow."

Super sexy bike you got there. Age didn't really affect it at all lol :lol:

His obviously not going to skid on it or ride it too hard..... although it would be a good idea for the traffic @ Tokyo.... :rolleyes:

1st part - my feelings entirely, and thank you.

2nd, I'd like to be able to do all that trick stuff for the sake of enlarging my safety zone.

I raced a 1000cc BMW for a season a couple of years back. A very noticeable result of riding for 10 laps at a time at the very limit of my abilities and the bike's grip was how, back on public roads at street speed, the experience slowed everything down. I thought about this when I watched that video of Gregory Bauge recovering after coming into contact with Kevin Sireau on the 'Poseurs' thread. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-z0Kh0pvNM&feature=player_embedded

Bauge's recovery, as well as being a beautiful thing to watch, was his instinct kicking in and the result of his ability to control a skid. You can bet that he was relaxed the whole way through.

I also want to be learn to ride backwards :D

skid stop.

For me the most notable thing in the group set is the crank, a steel cotterless Stronglight Competition, which I can't find any reference to anywhere. And which I was going to use on the Thanet but looks great on the Chesini.

More photos at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22983673@N02/sets/72157622858499138/
Beautiful bike! The crank is a Stronglight model 49A (for "acier" to distinguish it from the model 49D "dural") and was just about the first cotterless crank on the market.

Beautiful bike! Thanks for sharing :)

Beautiful bike! The crank is a Stronglight model 49A (for "acier" to distinguish it from the model 49D "dural") and was just about the first cotterless crank on the market.

Well, I thought about that but why would people refer to them as 49A when Competition is on the arm?

I'm presently trying to find out what they are (year-wise) over on C&V - http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?614024-Steel-Cotterless-Stronglight-Competition-crank-mystery&p=10248651&posted=1#post10248651

skid stop.

In answer to my question as to why people skipped, I presume.

I went out to Yoyogi Park yesterday to practice skidding and skipping and discovered how easy it is to do. I see what you meant by skipping being easier than skidding.

On the skipping, I reckon it's really only useful in order to position the pedals, to avoid, for example, finding them at 12 and 6 o'clock when slowing right down.

Skipping and skidding both seem pretty useless as a means of stopping quickly when the brake is so much more effective.

woooo!
that's beautiful.

i just jizzed in my pants

I know this thread is quite old, but damn, I never get tired of looking at that Chesini.

I realized exactly what thread this was after the first few sentences before seeing the bike. Not quite a zombie thread, but maybe a just woke up out of a coma thread. Either way, the bike is fantastic.

I'm going to go look at it some more.

sick ass bike!

what a beauty! What color is that exactly?

His Flickr is full of porn-worthy bikes.

what a beauty! What color is that exactly?

It's green velato, meaning clear green paint on a chrome base. There's more about it at the beginning of the thread.

Everyone, it's a surprise to have this thread revitalised. Glad the latest posters like the bike. Thanks!

Been riding the Chesini for several months now and it's turned out to be my favourite machine. Strangely, both pedal spindles snapped about an inch from the crank within a month of each other. I replaced them with another pair of Lyotard 49D pedals and no problems since.

The bike is a dream to ride. I use it every day to get around the Shibuya/Ebisu/Shinjuku area of Tokyo and I've ridden across Tokyo on it a couple of times (8 miles each way) but the longest ride so far was 25 miles each way out to Hachioji, where my wheel builder has his shop. Man, was I shagged out afterwards. Took this 55 year-old a couple of days to recover. The road out there is pretty flat but there's a huge hill, about a mile and a half long just before you get there...

This photo best shows how the Velato finish shines:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2799/4127239306_b288488a2a.jpg

Absolutely stunning. Bravo.

Man that paint is amazing. I'd love to see this in person.

Your bike is beautiful... I love my own Chesini very much.