Onyxaxe

Hey all. I'm wondering how to make a fixie that would be better for the crappy roads in my town. I've been bitten by the bike bug and am full of ideas on different bikes for different uses. For an everyday commuter though I was thinking of one of the three below.

Really cool cruiser with a fixed hub. I also don't get the seatpost and handlebar setup, what are my options?.

https://www.63xc.com/erikb/urbanfix.htm

These two are mtb type setups. Trackish frame with mtb wheels. Something similar would be more practical for the huge curbs and massive potholes in my area.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/amarobi...-30821384@N08/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/amarobi...-30821384@N08/

One more question. Are there practical mods I could do to an actual track frame to make something like the ones above?. Any info or ideas you have is much appreciated. Thanks for reading the long post too

nightfly

You can probably use any sort of old mountain bike or cruiser frame and just buy some big tires. If the roads are really bad, you probably don't really want a trackish frame anyway. The geometry is going to beat you up.

I've got a 1991 Specialized Rockhopper Comp that I converted to a single speed and put on Ritchey Moby Bite 2.1 tires and it's great for bad roads and a blast to ride. It's also pretty light.

If you get a wheel built with a White Industries Eno Eccentric hub you can basically use any frame you want. Just pick the tires and look for something with clearance.

ianjk

1. Find a 26" cruiser/mtb/whatever.
2. Add fixed rear wheel and foot retention.
3. Ride.

If you don't like the bars/seat/whatever change them.

RaleighSport

ahahaha I sorta went the exact opposite direction you did, put a coaster wheelset on a converted frame. From what you've said and like everyone else said, less trackish is better with the conditions you described, and there's tons of 26" fixed wheelsets out there so good luck to you!

sillygolem

Outside of old 10 speeds and 3 speeds, 26" wheels can be fitted with just about any decimal measurement 26" tire from 1.0 to 2.4. Cruiser frames have wide spacing, so they can fit any of these sizes with ease, but if you want fenders, you'll be limited to a 2.125 width.

Most cruisers use a one piece crank, which uses 1/2" pedal threads. These limit your pedal choices, but you should be able to get some you can fit straps to. You'll also want something with a predrilled fork so you can add a front brake.

Cruisers use a coaster brake hub: The cog is attached to a screw mechanism which engages the hub when turned clockwise, and the brakes when turned counterclockwise. There's no way to directly convert one of these hubs to fixed gear, so you'll need to have a new hub laced in, or just get a pre-built wheel. Again, since 26" wheels are pretty much standard across the board, you can get one that fits without having it be cruiser-specific. There is some range in rim sizes, and wider will make mounting a big tire easier, but it isn't absolutely necessary.

Onyxaxe

Thanks everyone. You've given me a lot of cool options. Back to the drawing board

Onyxaxe

Another question. Will a 135mm fixed hub work on a 29" wheel?

I found a good deal on the Surly fixed mtb hub and was thinking of using this bike for the project.

https://genbikes.com/hybrid-comfort/G...er_Cruiser.php

It's either this or the Huffy Cranbrook.

Motopecane

You could always do something like what I just finished. It's a 20" folding bike that is fixed gear. It has 100psi tires that are ballooney enough to hit potholes but don't affect rolling resistance too bad since the wheel diameter is tiny. It's a sweet ride.
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ts.-60-s-Amica

RaleighSport

I'm about to get myself an internet lecture.. but! At walmart.. (shut up) I saw a mongoose single speed 29er today.. even rode it around the store.. was shocked seemed like whoever put it together might actually ride bikes themselves. was $200 a bit heavy but felt solid and nice.. just throwing it out there

FastJake

Single speed mountain bike = my favorite beater for around town. Fast enough to ride on the streets, durable enough to take anything I can put it through, and actually fun to ride offroad too. Oh, and if you do it right it'll be really cheap. Mine cost me about $50.

Onyxaxe

@ Motopecane, that came out awesome. I wanted a minivelo aside from my main commuter so I'll use your build as inspiration. Thanks for the link .

@ Raleighsport, the 29er I posted is from walmart XD. I hope I don't get lectured. I figured if it's good enough for 5 or 6 people to motorize and post about it it's good enough for a fixie kicker.

@ Fastjake, I really like the lines on your mtb.

They all just look so awesome. I guess it's a good thing I asked before I went and bought a high end trendy fixie. Thanks everyone! Just planning it's turning out to be more fun than I thought thanks to everyone's input.

sillygolem

Getting it set up -correctly- will basically require taking apart and reassembling the whole bike. Grease is a rarity, axle cones tend to be too tight, wheels are always out of true, and bearing balls are often missing. If you go this route, assume you'll have to do the same amount of work you would getting a used bike on the road. If you want to learn more, there's a lengthy thread on the caveats of BSO ownership on the commuter forum.

RaleighSport

heh I've had to do that with every bike I've boughten so far! But yeah your right the OP probably shouldn't go that route.

FastJake

+1

The difference being that if you start with a good quality used bike, you'll end up with something nice when you're done. If you start with a wally world bike, you'll still end up with a 30lb+ tank with junky parts.

Onyxaxe

The community bike shop is just around the corner so I don't see cheap or rusty bikes as a dead end. Since I'm pretty much broke I'm not considering weight immediately. Just looking to get my feet wet without making a huge investment or ending up on a stretcher.

Onyxaxe

To anyone following this thread I found another cool build.

https://www.dionridesbikes.com/2010/1...n-fremont.html

https://www.dionridesbikes.com/2010/0...ird-build.html

markaitch

i miss 63xc.com very much & i know dion from mtbr & have always liked that bike a lot.
it is built right & is off-road capable. unlike you he has money, knows what he is doing & btw...it is ss not fixed. he would never let on exactly what that frame is, i think there was a nashbar frame like it several years ago, but?
anyway, you can find cheap double-top tube cruisers in every bigbox store.
so the question is: if you want to make something like one of those into a fg...
since you are broke, how will you afford to buy & have put together the rear hub/spoke/rim build to do what you want & is it really worth the time & effort to do it on the crappy bikes you were looking at?

Onyxaxe

Broke was an exaggeration of budget conscious. I'm willing to save to a reasonable amount but I won't spend as much as a cheap car. I'm just trying to do something more practical than buy a Mercier Kilo or build up a leader.

mashtofu

This bike was posted in the Alt forum recently. Just sharing for inspiration. Best of luck to you with your bicycle search.

Onyxaxe

I realized I can't have this bike for cheap so I picked another one for commuting right now. I still like the 29" cruiser frame with 29er rims though. I just like the idea of 700c wheels on a cruiser. I'm going to do some digging to see if it can be had reasonably. I read on another thread someone shaved a bit off of their BB shell to fit an eccentric BB but I don't want to mess with aluminum in that respect. Maybe I'll try one of the 29" wheel on 26" frame conversions a lot of mtbers are talking about. I could always just buy a 700c coaster wheelset, they should be the same diameter. There's no way I'm trusting a Wal-Mart coaster hub lol.

If anyone has any more ideas I would appreciate it, and probably anyone else who's thinking the same thing. Thanks to everyone who's contributed thus far.

I almost forgot, Thanks for the pic Mashtofu. That's a beautiful bike .

Onyxaxe

Last post for this thread:

https://www.ratrodbikes.com/forum/vie...st=0&sk=t&sd=a

A lot of folks on this forum have the same idea so I'll be hanging out there for info.

Anthropy

If you have lots of gravel roads, I prefer knobbie tires, otherwise balloon. But that is my own experience.


Tom

crackrocksteady

fixed gear cruiser sounds uncomfortable. Single speed MTB beater sounds like way more fun!

DonovanBikes

I know this is an older post, but to anyone still looking for such a bike check out LocoCycles. They make a line of bikes called the FG Cruiser,part cruiser and part fixie. They're the first company i have ever seen to do so. My wife and I own a couple and they are super efficient and responsive because of their light weight design(27lbs). Heres their link … https://lococycles.com/collections/fg-cruisers

nightfly

No offense but I don't know in what world 27lbs is considered light for a single speed bike.

Should be able to get under 25 with a converted mountain bike without much effort. Those LocoCycles look like they use some pretty cheap parts and the frames just look heavy. If you wanted light you could dump the deep V style wheels and the extra wide top tubes. Seem like they are going for looks rather than any sort of performance or weight savings but if you're enjoying them, that's all that matters.

Revising the Rockhopper I mentioned back at the top of this thread with a Eno eccentric hub laced to a Velocity Aeroheat and making a sort of townie/speedster like the ridiculously priced but kinda cool Speedvagon Urban Racer

SV Urban Racer ? The Vanilla Workshop