Originally Posted by operator
Shiznaz you going to buy that GPX groupset? It looks pretty sweet. Besides the freewheel.
Its all yours big boy. I think my DA/ultegra/chris king 'group' may actually have it trumped.
Originally Posted by I_bRAD
Thanks for the tips folks.
Another question... is there any reason I can't cut the chainring nuts shorter to make up for the missing small ring?
I dremelled down a set of chainring nuts one time. Not worth it. Just buy the short stack chainring bolts (I got mine at urbane) and be happy. I had all sorts of trouble with the ones I ground down coming loose all the time. Plus the new chainring bolts you buy will probably be better quality (they were in my case). Its worth 7 dollars of your time.
In regards to gear rations, and the 43x17 on my commuter: I also run 49x16 and 49x15 on my other two fixed gear bikes, and strangely don't feel too much difference as far as the overall riding experience goes. I go faster on the higher geared bikes, but those bikes are super fancy compared to my commuter so maybe its the components. Something I have been glad of is that all my bikes (except for road bike) take 144mm chainings, so I can switch chainrings between any of my fixed gears.