Making a Path/Racer?
 

Hi guys I'm thinking about turning my '73 Dawes Galaxy into a path/racer (I know maybe not the right term, but lets not open that can of worms again).
Is there a good how to site for converting it to a SS/fixed gear? There will be no kittens hurt during this conversion. Also not sure if I want to go fixed or SS. I thought I would get you guys opinion on which to go with.

Thanks
Mutt

The ur-site regarding SSFG conversions is Sheldon Brown's page(s) on the subject. Check here, poke around on some of the peripheral pages, then come back if you have any questions.

Re: FG vs SS, it really just comes down to personal preference. Some people just don't like the feel of a fixed drivetrain, some people hate it at first and grow to enjoy it, some people prefer it to the detriment of all others. Unless you have a technical reason why one may be better than the other—you don't see too many FG mountain bikes (though they do exist) because pedal strike on uneven ground becomes an issue—then you're best off getting a flip/flop hub in the rear and running a fixed cog on one side and freewheel on the other (typically with a slightly higher tooth count).

Re: killing kittens. I think you'll be fine. For the most part FG conversions seem to be ok around here, it's mostly the doofus hipsters that ride them (and drew them) that draw the ire. Really, a fixed gear is about as C&V as drivetrains get.

FWIW, I think a Dawes Galaxy is just about the perfect bike for a project like this.

I did this last winter to a Raliegh Sport- Inspired by a Pathracer. I intended on adding cream tires but used them on another build instead
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=182475
this winter I'm adding some vintage drop bars snitched off a Lenton, Bluemels Clubspecials and maybe some more gears. Who knows in a year or so It might find it's way back to being a Sport again? Have fun with your build!

So, is a path racer pretty much a SS or FG with different handlebars? (apologies if I oversimplified, there). On a semi-related topic Muttley, what size is your Galaxy? I have two (I think 1970 and 1972, give or take a year) and both are huge - like 62 or 63cm. When I stumble across one on CL or eBay, they're the same size...makes me wonder if the Galaxy was made in a smaller frame.

My Galaxy is a 58cm. Here is a thread on path/road/racer clubman's. Steppinthefunk's black Raleigh is what I'm going after.
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...cer-Pic-Thread

Mutt

I've heard about four different explanations of what a path racer is. Best I can tell, it's something that was raced around a grass track, and from some older Brits, I think I've gathered that the same bike was usually ridden to and from the race site, conveying needed parts, equipment, luggage as well.

To me, when someone says they're building a path racer, it basically means three things to me.

1. Fixed gear, single speed or maybe internally geared drivetrain
2. Bigger tires
3. Retro look—usually involving some combination of the following: level top tube, retro drop handle bars (flipped North Roads or maybe Major Taylor bars or those Lauterwassers everyone's been talking about today), cream tires, leather saddle, etc.

These may not fit everyone's definition of a path racer—especially since when the term originated, the retro look wouldn't have been retro—but that seems to be what comes out any time anyone plans a "path racer" build.

oh god here we go with the Path Racer definition thing again. Just go dig up the last one and add on to that.

@Muttleyone now that those Soma Lauterwasser bars are available you shoud be able to do something pretty similar to steppinthefunk's machine. Nice bike that is by the way.

I'd suggest taking a page from Velognome's Raleigh and do a 3 speed (or whatever other amount of speed) IGH rather than SS/FG. IGH's on road bikes are a wonderful thing IMHO...and as an added bonus you get a nice clean looking drivetrain, just like on a SS/FG.

Well I saved this bike from a local co-op and it is in great shape except for the Brooks that had dried into dust. I don't really need her the way she sits so I thought I would turn her into a Path/Road bike.
Yeah Soma bar's is exactly what I was thinking about and putting another Brooks on it also. It's funny that you mention the 3sp option. I would really like to put that S/A 2sp kickback hub with the coaster brake. I think that might turn out pretty cool. I just haven't figured out if I want to spend the extra money on the hub and building the wheel.
Anyway I was just looking for some thoughts on the idea.

Mutt

It's really simple. A "path frame" is the same thing as a "track frame." A "path racer" is simply a track bike. A "road/path" frame or bike, OTOH, would usually (though not always) have rear-facing dropouts, a lower bottom bracket, minimal braze-ons, and a bit more relaxed geometry overall. It was legal for track racing, but could also be used for training on the road, time-trialing, club runs. Some tracks were grass, some were paved, but this apparently has no bearing on the use of the term "path" vs. "track." Usually, when folks use the term "path racer," they're actually referring to a "road/path" bike.

Incidentally, the actual term "path racer" appears very seldom in the older literature, and apparently was not in common usage. Therefore, if we want to in a sense "invent" the term "path racer" as a contemporary substitute for "road/path," I'm all for it. But when "path frame" appears in the literature, it's referring to a track frame. No one actually raced on "paths" - that would be a job for a mountain bike.

my interpretation

Muttleyone- Google Path racer and hit up the Flicker accounts. There are several good groups of Path racers and some really cool advertisments from the 1890's - 1910 for Path Racers. In common, they are stripped down roadsters of the time, no fenders, guards or brakes, a few mfgs. actual made a specific frame, all have down turned bars. The path racer look is what your heading for, right, not an actual racer. Brakes are so cool!

Use a track hub with a "flip/flop." You can put on a SS freehub so it's SS one way or turn it around and it's a FG the other way. YOu can also use different size cogs for different situations like climbing steep hills.

The period you cite - 1890's to 1910 - appears to be the period when the term "path racer" was extent. Keep in mind that what looks like a "stripped down roadster" of that time might well be in fact a bike designed for track racing (track bikes of the time commonly had down turned bars, for example). Here's an ad I googled for one such bike, termed a "path racer," where the accompanying text indicates the bike is intended for track use only (i.e. not dual purpose):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SIL-029-017-10b.jpg

When you get back that far in bike design history, you have to be careful about carrying along assumptions acquired from later periods. I'd be interested in links to other examples of period advertising.

You're thinking of Pashley Guvnor... a true 1930s style path racer would have fat tires, slack frame angles, a Brooks B-17 or Colt saddle and reversed North Road or drop bars.

Do you have some examples from the period literature? That sounds like a road/path bike rather than a "path racer."

There are a lot on Flicker:

Grubb1937 has the BSA Catalog http://www.flickr.com/photos/7539513...th/3975219402/

The Star Catalog http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac....ycles/Star.htm

Yep, some like BSA's are purpose built, others actualy state they are a road frame with special saddle and bars. Just like today there is alot of veraiation among mfgs.

Here is one more of the period that I think Picchio is refering to:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/nkilgar.../Cyclone34.jpg

This one, the "Cyclone," is clearly a dedicated track bike, and is designated a "path" model (not a "path racer"), which reinforces the notion that a "path" bike/frame is simply another name for a track bike/frame.

Grubb1937's catalog has a "path racer," which Grubb1937 says in the comments is a "track bike in modern parlance," again reinforcing my contention that "path racer" is merely another name for a track bike.

Likewise, the Star catalog includes a "path racer" that seems to be simply another name for a track bike. The catalog doesn't state it's intended use, or that it is some sort of road/track "hybrid." It makes sense that the "road racer" is stronger, as it would have to stand up to the punishment of the roads of the 1890's.

So as of yet, I see no evidence that a "path racer" is anything other than a track bike, though I'm certainly open to any evidence that's at all convincing. Again, I think people tend to look at the "path racers" of the 1890's and early 1900's and assume they're some sort of hybrid, without realizing that that's what a true track bike of the era looks like. Check out photos of track machines of the late 1800's and early 1900's, and you'll see bikes that look very much like our early "path racers."

road/path =
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...vonbay/017.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/k...sonflowers.jpg

will be fitted with painted honjo's in a few weeks :)

Here's the 1911 Raleigh catalog's use of "path racer." Note that model 6 was intended for "speed work" and that an option built as a "path racer" was available. I would think that means a dedicated track bike:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_GmYBBzTzcVQ/TQ..._PathRacer.jpg

Neal

Cement, grass, and cinders were all common track surface materials at one time. I have no idea why wood tracks are not mentioned. In any case, the bike pictured is a track bike. It's certainly about "putting your wheel first over the line" and not versatility. (And again, the specific term "path racer" appears nowhere in the advert.)

In any case, Hilary Stone has written in these very forums that "path racers are track bikes, nothing else," and Norris Lockley has written on the CR list, including in direct responses to questions of mine, that "path" and "track" are merely two names for the same type of bike/frame (perhaps in use in different parts of the UK, though the geographical distinction is inconsistent). If anyone knows of better authorities on bikes from the UK, then I'm all ears.

I do think there's the question of the very early examples of "path racers," dating from the pre-war, and likely even earlier. After the war, the term "path racer" clearly fell into disuse. But so far, I have yet to see a "path racer," even from the earlier period, that is a clear hybrid road/track bike and not more likely a dedicated track model. It's easy to be fooled by the fact that track bikes from the late 1800's and those from 30 or 40 years later look so different.

There is very little difference between the track and road models of this era and as you see with the 1911 Raleigh catalogue they offered the #6 fitted for "speed work" although it says it can also be ordered as a path racer... like the specification 29.

When I see bikes from this era fitted with drop bars and Major Taylor stems (like the Cyclone) I see some pure blooded track racing bikes that were probably purchased soley for racing by wealthier individuals.

The path / road bike seems to be more of an all rounder in that many people, racers included, used their bicycles for both recreation and transportation... if one did could not afford a specially made bicycle you took your roadster and stripped the chain guard and fenders and flipped the north road bars to make a more aerodynamic bicycle.

Wheel sizes could have been 26, 27, or 28 depending on the maker and model, the Pashley Guv'nor rolls on English oversize wheels which hearkens back that practice of converting one's roadster and the bike is made to roll over all kinds of unsorted terrain.

My path / road bike was built on a 1951 CCM roadster which came to me as a frame...

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikep...mpath2010a.JPG