Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - building a fixie -- old road or old track frame?

i ride mt bikes and haven't been on a road bike in years. i'm sick of mud and am acquiring parts for a city ride. it's gotta be cheap which means it's gonna be old. what does everybody like, track or road?

Love a track frame, many will agree. It's stiff, twitchy, super responsive, VERY positive feel for the street (which is to say, no bump goes unnoticed). But then others will say no way dude, they prefer a more relaxed geometry, even a touring geo.

For the most part it has very little to do with fixed gear other than a) a higher bottom bracket (like a track bike very much unlike a touring bike) is quite nice for cornering, b) many fixed riders are fixed because they like a bike that is super responsive--a track geom aids that.

I've never ridden a road frame fixed but I love cornering with confidence on my track frame. my .02

ok. now what tires do you guys ride/recommend? ... something that will stand up to the city. ...

Aye, a question as old as the ages. Specialized Armadillo.

Just don't ask about chain lube.

Finding a track bike might not fit your "cheap" requirement. For a cheaper alt find an old complete road bike (80's bike boom are the best IMO) with horiz dropouts. This way the most you will have to do is get a new rear wheel or locktight a cog on the existing wheel (some do this but I would not.....but this is a long standing debate). A road bike will have a more slack geometery as a track frame will be more aggressive. This is usually a matter of preference. Good luck and report back.

I ride an '85 recycled Bianchi road frame. I think it's great. Solid as a rock and fairly inexpensive. I can go on longer rides comfortably and can also do daily commutes/errands (in traffic) comfortably. Unless you plan to take your bike to the track or you already have a lead on cost efficient track bike, it's hard to beat a recycled road bike.

road is typically more versatile, IMO.

You can do it on anything, though. I'm on a track frame with flat bars, which is as unforgiving as Ashcroft but great fun. If you like to carve and play in the traffic, get a sharper geometry; if you like to cruise and glide, get something more relaxed.

ok. now what tires do you guys ride/recommend? ... something that will stand up to the city. ...

really? i stick with whatever's on sale or cheap. let's face it, at least here in our fine nation's kapital, any tires will get torn up. why get all spendy on something that will never last? right now i'm riding on hutchison flash tires that i got for $5 ea on clearance at nashbar.com. and when they get holey, it'll be on to whatever else is on sale.

i'm with you on this one, chimblysweep. especially if you skid a lot, i can't see spending much money on tires. but that's just me. i'm cheap.

Something in-between like the Steamroller....

Dunno, we have a lot of broken glass though most of it's tempered (welcome to Boston, hotbox capital of the US), wicked mean potholes, and shards of tank armor and the like. I want a durable tire that can take abuse and not leave me sitting on the side of the road at 2am, or in the rain, or at 13 degrees plus windchill. If you price it out over the lifetime of the tire, I think it's one of the best investments you can make in your bike.

Something in-between like the Steamroller....

i love my steamroller-- relatively comfy geometry yet such a fine machine.

Four of my five fixies are on recycled frames. I like the ride of a steel frame.
Most of them run tubulars, or Tufo tubular clinchers. The Van Dessel is the
only one with track ends and has cyclocross tires on it.

Dunno, we have a lot of broken glass though most of it's tempered (welcome to Boston, hotbox capital of the US), wicked mean potholes, and shards of tank armor and the like. I want a durable tire that can take abuse and not leave me sitting on the side of the road at 2am, or in the rain, or at 13 degrees plus windchill. If you price it out over the lifetime of the tire, I think it's one of the best investments you can make in your bike.


Agreed. I love Vredestein Fortezza's (they're not cheap though) but I've gone through two sets in a three month period. All kinds of large staples and random metal slivers would find their way in there.

I've done the cheap route and that's no good either - lots of tire cracking and other things under relatively low usage.

I'm now on a pair of 700x23 GatorSkins, running a nice high pressure and so far so good, no flats, deflects glass pretty well and feels tough. There's defnitely a small but noticeable rolling resistance but it's a trade-off between that or having to replace tires regularly riding around the city.

I've run those conti gatorskins for a while as well, and had really good luck with them so far. They don't handle as well as some tires, but much better than armadillos in my book.