It depends on how tough your pants are. I had some heavy ripstop pants roll down into the chain, and they went all the way around!!! It destroyed them, but didn't tear them enough to release me from the chainring. Soon after, after almost 10 years of riding exclusively fixed, I bought a geared touring bike (also vintage), and infrequently ride the fixed gear now. Whether I ride much FG in the future depends on where I move this summer.

I thought an IGH required you to stop pedalling for the gear to change. I know the ones I have won't switch with any siginificant load on them, at all. How does one do the with a fixed gear?

I've seen some clever ways of adding fenders on bikes with no clearance. Basically, you split the rear fender at the brake bridge and couple it with hardware. Do the same around the fork crown on the front fender. I saw this here on bikeforums.

I don't know, though you can pedal while shifting, as long as you don't present an appreciable load, as you note. I'm relearning how to ride a 3-speed now, and I'm often making the mistake of shifting down from 3rd to 2nd. On an old AW, this is a mistake, because I stumble upon the so-called neutral gear. It's unpleasant.

I guess you can shift the fixed hub while pedaling. I can't say how they worked that out. Maybe you can present a load. Or maybe not.

FYI - The Mercier Kilo WT5 (wide tire 5-speed) has a totally different frame with laid back geometry, ample room for fat tires and fenders, and braze-ons gallore. It makes for a great road/tour/commute bike, and the only thing I really don't like about the SA5 hub is the extremely wide gear ratios, and absurdly tall top gear of about 130 gi, which is equivalent to 53 x 11. It has normal hooded drop bar brake levers, a better crank (Sugino RD2) and overall better components to justify its higher price. I have the single/fixed version Kilo WT and enjoy it a lot. The only really terrible components are the pedals, and the rest are passable, although I replaced the saddle, seatpost and tires (Brooks Team Pro, Velo Orange Grand Cru and Panaracer Pasela Tourguard folding 700 x 35c). https://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...kilott_wt5.htm

I imagine you just have to let up on the pedaling for this fixed gear 3 speed to shift. On the AW's, if you are pedaling hard, it won't upshift until you let off. I've noticed I physically can't pull the trigger down, to downshift, if I'm pedaling hard (bad thing to do, so it's a nice feature, I guess).

I like the bar end shifter.

Tom i know exactly what you mean about 'relearning' to ride a 3 speed. The first week of commuting on mine was ego crushing...I just got on and figured, "well this is pretty self-explanatory"

On my modern Shimano 3 speed there are none of these quirks. When you shift, it shifts.

I might have to try that with my current single speed which is an 84 trek 760. The issue is that bike was made as a race bike for light riders so I'm scared that I'd break the frame if I added a rack to it for groceries. I wouldn't mind taking the time to fashion a set of fenders to fit the bike. I think that would be incredible.

Like this: https://blog.harriscyclery.com/low-cl...e-rear-fender/

No, if that happens your trousers are going down!

Zaphod Beeblebrox, did you have a three speed as a kid? I've never seen a 3-speed BMX bike. When I was a kid, all kids had Stingray-style bikes. Mine was called a GT Torino or something like that. It looked just like a Stringray, but it cost less. And it had a Sturmey Archer AW hub and a giant stickshift on the top tube. I rode that bike until I was 14 years old, when I got my first 10 speed.

Hmm, memory is flowing back. My mother paid $45 for that three speed. It hurt her, as that was a lot of money. It was about 1970. It had a knobby rear tire and a regular-treaded front tire.

Just for the record, I believe the Kilo geometry is closer to standard road than track. BD bikes tend to be more "faux" track bikes (track ends, but more relaxed geo, mounts for bottles and brakes, etc).

And I dunno if anyone has seen this:


No IGH, but the design is about as retro as you can get. Before I got my Pro Tour I was considering throwing the IGH fixed hub on one of these.

My S3X shifts just fine, even under a minor load. Wouldn't try it straining up a hill though.

Of course the top gear ratio has very little to do with the hub. I don't know what Bikesdirect was thinking, or even if they were thinking, when they spec'd the chainwheel and cog on this model, but it's easy to move the gi's down.

tcs

>TruVativ Touro 165mm aluminum arms, PowerSpline, 130 BCD, 48T 3/32"


Isn't that kind of short?

The commercial fitting to do this is called a "reacharound" and who wouldn't buy that just for the appealing product name ?

Have done this on a lot of bikes (and fabricated my own reacharound) when the tyre clearance would not clear the fender between the forks... this often happens on winter bikes when studded tyres are installed.

On a trackish bike toe overlap would be an issue if you wanted to run full length front fenders and if they are not full length there is little point in running them.

On 3 speed BMX bikes... Raleigh / SA offered a 3 speed IGH and BMX model with a stronger drive axle but it did not sell well as it added weight and complexity to a bike that needs to be simple and light.

Anyways... if I had the coin I'd buy several of these just to get the wheelsets and especially the SB3 hubs, fit new fixed wheels to the remaining frame and get a good chunk of my money back.

That is a smoking good deal.

Short is good for fixed. Remember, you'll be pedaling through EVERY corner.

165mm is 5mm shorter than the standard of 170mm, right? 5mm is about a fifth of an inch. How much extra clearance does that give you around the corner?

I think fixies get 165mm cranks because of tradition more than any other reason.

Shorter is better for spinning, but how much better? I really don't know.

The SS/FG Kilo TT I looked at locally had lots of toe overlap. In fact the owner mentioned it as a major disadvantage of it. I like the look of the twin top tube bike. I had not seen it before.

Pedal strike in a turn can lift the rear wheel and put you down hard. That's why fixies run shorter cranks and track pedals.

The Kilo TT models have tight track geo and lots of toe overlap. The Kilo WT (WT = wide tire) models (WT, WT5 and OS) are completely different frames with more relaxed geo, room for fat tires and little or no toe overlap. The Kilo OS you have shown is just a Kilo WT with a second top tube added in purely for "retro" effect.

"Let's see, how can I sell more bikes? I've got an idea. Let's dress one up like an old fashioned bike and see if it sells."

The second top tube is purely for style. This whole bike seems to be about style. There is nothing retro about this bike, other than a few, inexpensively implemented styling cues.

This whole fixed gear and single speed thing seems to be a fad. The riders I see (mostly in their late teens) seem more intent upon showing off and getting noticed than anything else.

It's not a bad bike and this is not meant to be a "put down". I'm just calling 'em likes I sees 'em.

...and it hurts. Many road frames that get converted to fixed have lower bottom bracket heights and 170 arms. Low speed turns in traffic can be very dangerous on a poor conversion. BTDT

I have one or two bikes with overlap, and it doesn't bother me at all. It's particularly tolerable on bikes with very steep head angles, because on bikes like that, you do your turning not by turning but by leaning. I know it makes some people nervous and they can't stand it, and I respect that, but I've never fallen. The danger increases as speed decreases, so if I ever fall, it will be at low speed. So what's the problem? On the rare occasion that I bump, I just turn the wheel.

Nope, they were on hiatus from the mass market when i was a kid in the 80's. BMX's were pretty much the sole choice until you got tall enough for a bike with "Speeds", but when most of us had tried those 26" 5 speeds in the 80's we all realized they sucked bad and our Huffy BMX's that we'd had forever were much more fun.

i suppose i should more correctly say I had to 'Learn' rather than 're-learn' on a 3 speed. All i knew up until recently was the Shimano IGH's with the twisty grip shifters. I hate those style shifters but the hubs function wonderfully. Better than a sturmey AW IMO...although I can't say (and I doubt) that they are as durable.