shanky

Hello all

So after being a reader of the forum for the past few months i have been learning as much as i can about fixed gear, road bikes, and single speeds. SO came time when i joined b/c can only do so much reading.

I have a target bike that me and my brother (who got lucky and got a Mercier Kilo TT while i got stuck with a Target bike), took apart the Target Triax bike and changed it into a fixie, taking it apart and making sure that things weren't put together wrong.

Now i am using the same crank bottom bracket. The only thing that i changed was a tire b/c i can take that to the next bike i use.

SO THE QUESTION

As i slowly search for a decently priced Road Frame (college student can't afford the expensive stuff) should i look into buying parts (now crankset, BB) and put them on the frame that i would buy... the problem i see is that bikes have different Bottom brackets and i think that it would limit my choices on the frames... is that right..

What would you do...

THank you in advance.

bigbadwimp

I don't know, but I want to see a pic of your Target fixed gear...

frankstoneline

A lot of road frames, or most of em that I have seen are english threading for the bottom bracket. If you have an idea of what frames you might buy/you are going to snag a thrift store roadie and cannabalize it for the frameset, I would go with an english BB and crank. If you are actually planning on buying a frame that you know of now, I would ride your current bike till you find a frame, and get the frame first. plus, that way as you build up your newly aquired frame you will have a bike for use, I am currently rebuilding a road bike, but am left without a bike to ride. Given where I live we have about 6 inches of snow at least at all times and I probably wouldnt ride much anyways, I'm not too worried. I would find your frame first, and then start fitting parts to the frame you ultimately want to be riding on rather than risking ending up with the wrong BB.

Edit: +1 to seeing the target fixie...did you just make a suicide hub for the back wheel?

shants

i think you have something of a misunderstanding about the relationship between frames and bottom brackets. the vast majority of currently available framesets will have a standard 68mm wide english threaded bottom bracket shell. As a result, almost all available bottom brackets are made to fit such specifications, including your current bike. If you are looking to find an older frame to use, be careful of 70s and early 80s French frames from makers like Peugeot, Motobecane, and Gitane, the bottom brackets of which are differently threaded.

That said, the place where you find variance with bottom brackets is in relation to the crankset. In order to achieve proper chainline, a given crankset needs a certain size and type of bottom bracket. The frame is not a variable as far as chainline goes. Once you've picked out your crank/bb combo, you will be able to move it from frame to frame without issue (again, assuming that you're sticking to English standard frames and bottom brackets).

I hope that this helps answer your question.

frankstoneline

+1, if you really want to buy the crank and BB first, just be careful what frame you get if you get an old one.

Serendipper 

pics?

shants

Yeah, I threw a caveat into my post about that.

frankstoneline

I know, thanks for clarifying my poor original attempt at an explanation, just wanted to make sure he didnt end up with a french frame.

shanky

Well me and my brother both decided to get a wheel built considering we were new to the bike thing, and didn't want to glue together a wheel (i didn't want to get hurt riding the hills of sf, didn't realize i kinda enjoyed it when falling trying to skid). SO i wheel i can transfer to the frame i get, or might get one built that i want. i am trying to learn how to lace spokes online in my free time, and will practice on the traget bike wheel that i replaced. Looking forward to doing that myself

Will get a pic up for you guys. All i have is my crapy camcoder and it takes horrible pics. But i will put one or two up there in a couple hours.

shanky

Thank you for the quick reply and YES you did answer the question. Thanks again for the clerification about the BB. I have been searching SAC Craigslist and SF craigslist (very surprised that there aren't very many road bikes for sale in davis) for a while now and i hit some old frames. recently saw a couple frames. will post pictures hoping you guys can give me your opinion on them. But i have been avoiding French frames especially peugeot apparently a lot of them avaliable. Just don't want to have to get the special part (b/c they use different measurement of parts ... read somewhere).

But i was planning to buy a bb and the crankset together so i don't make the mistake of getting the wrong pair.

Thanks again

shanky

And thank you for everyone who is responding quickly.
Will have pics up soon

frankstoneline

I'm not exactly sure what you are looking for as far as costs go, but I know bd has some fixies on the cheap. By the time you buy a crank/BB and frame you may well be close to the cost of just buying oene of those and working from there. Just an idea, though building up your own bikes is definately a very rewarding and educational experience.

blickblocks

I'm confused. You're looking to build a completely new bike?

Or are you trying to replace the Triax frame? If it's the latter I wouldn't bother, it's probably lighter than any affordable 80's chromo.

shanky

Its funny i was on bd about 15 mins ago. and its kinda wierd i ride my brother kilo often but i can't do it for more then 10 mins. i just don't like the feel.

I play tennis and we always talk about the feel of a racquet, and i spent 200 dollars (well got it for a b-day) and played with it ended up selling it after 2 months and bought a 50 dollar frame, customized it with weight and all and loved it. Think it had to do something with me actually personalizing it. It might be the same thing with a bike. It will be a completely different thing riding something that you put together your self. Those bikes look nice. But i also want to learn how to build a wheel, and all. so i think i will be more fun and just a better over-all experience building it myself. But it will be happening over a year or so not in a rush

frankstoneline

Indeed, building up a bike is an amazing experience. Some "track" frames have a shorter top tube length which makes them somewhat uncomfortable for some long torsoed people. I dont know where you live or what shipping would cost but I'm always on the prowel for old road frames and if I find anything I'll let you know. No doubt the BD bikes are nice, but building a bike is certainly rewarding and makes one feel much more comfortable working on a bike.

edit: also, look into the alien bikes crankset/bottom bracket. I've heard some good things about em, they are track cranks and pretty reasonably priced. I've never used em, but I've heard good things about them, though someone should tell me if they have had problems, cause i want to buy em...

shanky

Pics -the bar is just a flip and chop (they are too skinny :-( ) but going to put some tennis over grips on them then we will see. but i like the look of clean bars.





And my favorite (not the best pic of my bike but its his crew so can't deny)

shants

at the sake of stating the unnecessary, when looking for an older road frame to convert, be on the lookout for horizontal dropouts (left) like you have on the target bike as opposed to the vertical dropouts (right) used on more current frames. you need to be able to adjust chain tension without the use of a derailleur. from sheldon brown's fixed gear conversion tutorial (https://sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html):

shanky

haha. i have checked out the alien crankset and the bb. like the black ones. i want to paint my frame white, with black rims (hahaha) make it look all nice and shinny and never ride it lol. no. But thank you do let me know if you see anything. I saw a couple of frames on craigslist will post pics up in a bit. If you know anything plz let me know. I will also post them in the classics to see if anyone knows anything about them there.

shanky

Amen brother. i have spent so much time on sheldon brown's page i can almost quote him on some things. lol.

but i do know about the horizontal drops. thats the first thing i check for seeing i don't have the means to convert the vertical drops with welding and not to mention the skills.

shanky

These are the two bikes i found have found many others. Let me know if these look familiar to anyone.

THank you

Serendipper 

Two Raleighs...the latter (red) one appearing to be one of the cheaper ones made of pipe tubes.

I would go with the former, if it fits and the rust is minimal.


Can't go wrong with a classic raleigh. I wouldn't paint it/white wheel it though, just nice period parts, and a Brooks saddle and you're set.

shanky

Cool. Thanks for the reply will go look at them in the next week so will think about which one i want.
Do the parts need to be special ordered, or hard to find?

blickblocks

Shakes, you mind answering my question?

Serendipper 

No. Just study the bikes of that vintage, and use your imagination.


"Using your imagination" does not mean scraping off the Raleigh badges, rattlecan paint, and White Deep-V rims with an Airone saddle. (I shake my head at some conversions-just buy a new bike already).

Serendipper 

I say convert the helicopter!


Who's bird is that????