Hello List:

Can someone explain the term "Fixie" vs: "Fully Restored".
I have been bitten by the vintage Roadbike restoration bug,
and am in the process of restoring three different bikes;
Schwinn "World Sport"~"Peugeot PX-10"~"Fuji Monterey".

All are at least 20 + years old, so I assume they can be called
"Vintage"? Would a true restoration mean, "as close to a all
original Mfg. installed parts as possible or something less than
that is acceptable.

My acqusition cost for all three bikes is less than $60 dollars,
so I'm restoring them with as many original parts as I can find.

Thanks in advance; Tony Holly

A "fixie" is, generally a fixed gear bicycle. There is no freewheel. When the pedals move, the rear wheel moves. Pedal backwards, the rear wheel moves backwards. Stop pedalling, the rear wheel stops.

Full restoration means different things to different people, I suppose. I personally think that a vintage bicycle should be restored with original spec parts. Otherwise, I'd call the bike "rebuilt."

You must be careful on a fix wheel bike. Try to stop too suddenly when going fast and you can be ejected. To slow down apply back pressure to the pedals

I'm not particularly anal about keeping any of my bikes to original specs/equipment. I tend to think a bike is "acceptable" if you can ride it. The only one that's really close to original is the PX-10, which I'm currently in the slow process of refitting. The only non-original thing on that bike when I'm done should be the rims (bye, bye tubulars, though I have a spare normandy/mavic tubular set) and the shifters, which will be Simplex retrofrictions. I'll keep the original shifters, though not on the bike. Personally, I think a restoration would have period parts and not necessarily the original components. More modern parts, or out of date parts would be a rebuild.

A fixie is a fixed gear bike. One speed, when the wheels go round your legs go round and vice versa. No coasting, great for developing cadance. You might consider rebuilding one of your bikes as a fixed gear, the ride is subtly different and quite a bit of fun as well. Older bikes, because of their horizontal dropouts and lack of braze-ons, make particularly good fixed gear conversions.

I see a lot of mis-identified "px10"s-- generally, the px's had chromed rear stays and were made of Reynolds 531, although this is not true of some later PX models. If you need parts help or some idea what was on that bike, I can point you towards a couple of websites that contain generous info. You'll also run into some odd/old threading issues on the Peugeots.

The term "vintage" and "classic" have been batted around here a lot, and frankly, if you ask five different posters, you'll get five different answers. There's no sanctioning body, so if you like your bike, and it's older, go ahead and call it "classic" or "vintage." Your defintion is probabaly as good as anyone else's.

I agree almost totally with Poguemahone with the exception of Tubulars (I love em!).
Seriously, your bike should be FUN, don't get all hung
up on original equiptment. I do however like to keep
things "period correct" on mine. I always wanted a full
Modolo bike, so when I got my trek 670 I swapped out
the SR bars and stem for Modolo (matches the equipe brakes that came with the bike). I took off the Matrix
clinchers and put on Mavic Gel330 tubular rims.
Since I'm not showing my bike (I ride it) I really don't think it matters.
Marty

On the subject of tubulars: I just glued up a set of Clement sewups for my Motobecane Grand Jubile. I love the light weight & slick ride but try to suppress the memory of the sticky mess my technique produces(I manage to keep the glue on the right parts & off the tire & rim sidewalls by allowing generous amounts of glue to end up on my hands & fingers) Don