Originally Posted by
j0e_bik3
things to look for in old road frames to convert to fixed gear use ( not in any kind of order or hierarchy)
a) steel frames, with cro-moly, or other steel alloys being strong AND light, aluminum will certainly work, but it is SO stiff, you usually need a cro-mo, or carbon fork so you don't get the crap beat out of you on the rough roads we all have to ride on.
b) standard ISO BB threading
c) forged horizontal rear dropouts, the longer the better (campagnolos are REALLY long) but again if you have cash (eccentric hub, or BB) or creative ingenuity AND cash, you can make vertical dropouts work just fine, keeping in mind that if you use a chain tensioner, your NOT going to ride it fixed, but single speed freewheels will work
d) brazed lugs (totally esthetic, you can get GREAT quality steel welded frames, but the lugs USUALLY indicate higher quality tubing than say, plumbers pipe (like that murray for instance!
)
e) stem mounted shifters (so there aren't any shifter bosses on the down tube)
again esthetics, but it looks cleaner without the holes on the downtubes.
really you can make a fixed gear bike out of almost anything, but if you stick with the above list, at least you shouldn't run into any roadblocks along your conversion/restoration journey, and I also would recommend waiting for a better frame to come along.
I see older schwinn's, miyata's, nishiki's and centurions on CL and on fleabay ALL the time, and usually for about $50 or less.
Crap. After reading this my first thought was "where's dutret when you need him?"
If you're just getting into riding, you probably won't notice too much difference between quality steel and quality aluminum (you might, but I doubt it. It is a feel that comes with experience riding many different bikes). The cheap stuff is heavy and rides poorly either way.
I can almost say that without exception, anything with stem shifters is going to be heavy and crap. Almost. But the few descent old bikes with stem shifters are so few and far between that it's generally a better rule to stay away from them. If you're really concerned about not having shifter bosses, look for bikes with the downtube shifters mounted with a clamp. But these will either be 1960's or older or on the low end of more modern bikes. Shifter braze-ons generally indicate a higher quality bike.
Quality lugs (generally difficult for inexperienced people to discern) and forged dropouts (easy to see) are a pretty good indicator of a quality bike.
Still one of the best ways is to pick it up.
Over 40lb = run away
30 - 40lb = maybe good, probably not so good
under 30 lb = Probably good, maybe not so good.
Under 20 lb = either an unbelievably amazing find or something is very very wrong.
And learn the names of the good manufacturers, or at least the names of the ones to stay away from. Murray is certainly one of the latter.
All of this is my opinion based on experience. None of it is definitive. It's rare that the first bike you buy and convert will be great (even though you may think it is). Most of us in here learned by screwing up. Embrace it as a learning experience.