The Definitive Single-Speed/Fixed Gear FAQ
 

Single-speed/Fixed Gear FAQ

1) What's the difference between a single-speed (SS) bike and a fixed gear (FG) bike?

A SS bike is much like what you're probably used to but it only has one gear. A fixed gear bike is a single-speed bike, with the added of trait of the wheels and cranks being connected. When you pedal forwards, the wheel spins in the forward direction; when you pedal backwards, the opposite applies. Unless the bike is at a complete stop, the cranks will not stop moving. There is no coasting.

2) Hai guize, I wants a fixedgeer lol. Wat should i buy??

The following are all good beginner's fixed gear bikes:

Mercier Kilo TT: http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/mercier/kilott.htm
Mercier Kilo TT Frameset: http://bikeisland.com/cgi-bin/BKTK_S...ls&ProdID=1084
Motobecane Messenger: http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/.../messenger.htm
EighthInch Scrambler: http://www.eighthinch.com/mm5/mercha...ry_Code=frames

3) LOL COOL sum of these bieks have braks!!! I can ride brakless?

No. Get some front brakes. Here are some cheap, working ones: http://bikeisland.com/cgi-bin/BKTK_S...ils&ProdID=482

4) But wait my friend said it was cooler to convert old biek frames. Wat do i do??

There really is so much information out there about converting bikes to FG/SS, so I'm not going to try and elaborate. The following sources are very good compendiums of knowledge:

(Obligatory) Sheldon Brown: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/fixed.html
Bob's Garage: http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/colu...age/indexb.htm
eHow: http://www.ehow.com/video_4975651_co...ixed-gear.html

You should know, though, that unless you have a bunch of parts just lying around or a co-op, it is usually cheaper and more worthwhile to just buy a complete bike.

5) Wats the difference between a nromal hub and a tarck hub?! What abowt a flippity floppity hubz?!

A single-speed hub only has threading in only one direction, because you can only apply considerable force in one direction (the direction that tightens the free wheel cog). A track hub has threading in two, opposite directions. Like a SS hub, the cog is tightened by forward pedaling, but resisting the forward motion (or skidding to stop it altogether) loosens the cog. Thus, there is threading in the opposite direction allowing for a lockring to be placed on top of the cog to prevent it from unscrewing. A flip-flop hub is simply one that has track threading on one side and a single-speed hub on the other.

6) How do gearing works? I wants lots of skid patchez for SKIDSLOL!

Take the number of teeth on your chainring and divide it by the number of teeth on the rear cog. Take this number and multiply it by 27. This number is called your "gear inches". 70-80 gear inches is generally accepted as ideal for city riding. 80+ would work if you live in a flat area. For example, 46 teeth up front and 17 teeth in back would give you 73.06 gear inches. (46/17)*27 = 73.06

To increase the gearing on your bike, you can either increase the number of teeth on your chainring or decrease the number of teeth on your cog. Doing the opposite has the opposite effect.

Skid patches are found by taking the chainring to cog ratio and reducing it to it's simplest form. The denominator is the number of skid patches. For example, a ratio of 46/18 reduces to 23/9. The denominator is 9, meaning you have 9 skid patches.

7) NUUUU MY BIKE CAME WITH 48/16 GEERING. I ONLY HAS ONE SKID PATCH?

It's okay. Just rotate your rear wheel after every ride and it'll move the skid patch around.

8) I bought/completed by biek! Wat should i buy now?

Get some good foot retention and just ride your bike. In general, people have better experiences with double gated clips as opposed to single gated clips. Plastic or metal both have their advantages and disadvantages. In the end, it come down to preference.

http://www.hiawathacyclery.com/cart/...mkstoeclip.jpg vs. http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/i...matoeclips.jpg

In regards to the other parts of your bike, if you don't know what to upgrade, chances are you don't need to.

Reserved for future posts.

I got tired of seeing the same exact questions asked on a daily basis, so I decided to write something that people will hopefully read before making reeeetarded threads and getting flamed. Excuse the lolcatspeek. I'm pretty high on post-surgery oxy and I'm having a good time.

This is all I can come up with right now. Give me more suggestions for questions and I'll add them to the FAQ. And let me know if you find any errors because, contrary to popular belief, I am human.

Reinventing the wheel for the win!!1

Thank you for this thread :)

I found an old 10 speed that belonged to my dad in the garage, it needs a new wheel, so i figured why not convert to a fixed gear? So far this thread has helped with that question a lot.

no problem :)

i'll go through and remove the lolspeak when i get a chance

lolspeak stays or ceiling cat shall smite thee

Seriously. If you haven't even glanced at the stickies, maybe it's not yet time to write a definitive FAQ.

World's first gym rat, yo.

i appreciate the thread and +1 for the lolspeak, makes it even more enjoyable.

cheers.

A typo? I don't get this

yes, you can either move your tire around on the wheel, or you can pull the wheel out of the stays, off the chain, move it a bit, then your skid patch will have changed positions.

IMO 48 x 16 is too tall for a noob. Not sure why a Kilo comes with that gearing. 81 GI is silly. 48 x 17 would be better.

I get tired of people not reading the sticky at the top of the forum: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=510358

I accidentally my whole rear wheel...is that bad? :(

maybe there should be a "ask your stupid questions here" thread, where no flaming is allowed. and the people who are jaded *******s, myself included (at times) just wont go in there. but mostly, as long as its not too long and out of hand, people can read that thread and maybe get most of their questions answered without people making them feel silly.

yes, if you had clicked and read all the links, sure it would be a great thread, but i think this one is a "quick and dirty" version.

also, im pretty sure it was at least partly started as a joke. so, yea, maybe check the "i have no sense of humor" thread too.

sorry, best i could do. not a very funny response, but hey, i think u get my point.

you forgot to warn anyone thinking about getting a fixed gear of any sort that there is little margin for error and parts failure

which means at
the bottom of the learning curve there is serious injury or death
Wear a Helmet

IMO, paste the original post into that sticky. Best of both worlds, is all I'm saying. ;)

i see you have sisyphus. your doctor can prescribe you some pills for that.

Looks like you accidentally the whole sentence.

Fixed the accidently.

I know there's a sticky with multiple links but thought it'd be nice for all the simpler stuff to be condensed into one post. And as evidenced by Jaytron's post, someone's finding it useful.

AYHSMB.

Then why not make a FAQ for the FAQ? Or a TOC for the FAQ to the FAQ?

Do you mean pedal strike or your hub getting stripped and you're brakeless?