hi everyone,

this is my first post here, but i've been reading and soaking up the knowledge on this board for a few weeks now.

i'm currently a student living in student housing, but i have a class this summer that's a bit too far to walk to. so, i've been looking into getting a bike. i've had regular 10-speed bikes before, so this time, i would like to try riding a fixed gear bike.

it seems the simplest yet cheapest way to go is to take a suitable road bike and convert it into a fixed gear by replacing the wheels. so, i scored myself a free bike, and am now looking for a decent wheelset to go along with it. i don't care so much about the paint and the rust, i just need it to get me around, and to serve as something for me to learn/fiddle around on. i just want to take off the unnecessary things (shifters, etc), replace the wheels, and have something i can ride on. i do plan to keep at least one of the brakes.

but, before i proceed, i wanted to offer the candidate bike to the collective wisdom of this group and get some thoughts and advice.

here are some things i noticed - please let me know if they'll present any problems, etc.

1. the bottom bracket seems way bigger in diameter than other frames i've seen in our student bike rack downstairs.

2. the crankset appears to be a one-piece deal. problem?

3. the stem coming out of the fork seems to be angled in a funky way. should i look to replace the stem/handlebars?

4. the chainrings at the pedals has two chainrings - a 42 tooth one and one a bit bigger. they seem to be riveted together. i would like to keep the smaller one, and discard the bigger one. will that be hard to do? (i do have a dremel, so i could cut it off if that was the only way).

5. any other problems you foresee?

thanks!

and, here are the pics: