that's exactly what she said the last time I saw her.... how'd you know?

Is that you? OMG!!

C'mon guys, if you don't have anything elitist, snobbish or condescending to say please communicate like the youth of today:

"Like, whoah, ya-know, like fer-sure dude, like whatever."

-Bandera

V_gnome,

No pic of one of your ancient, corroded wobbling Fixed-Brits?

-Bandera

The beater is a converted Peugeot AO8... 52:20 gearing for 70 gear inches on 630:25 tyres.

"uncompromised by multiple gears or the slacker’s ability to coast."

All my bikes have triple cranksets. If coasting makes me a slacker, slacker I am.

At the bike coop, single speeds and fixies pretty much just sit there until we either price them at a crazy low level or convert them back to multiple geared bikes. And this in a college town. We won't let the volunteers build SS/fixies any more, it's a waste of mechanic time.

Gallic-Fixed, nice but your previous pic (Lenton?) is a real classic.

-Bandera

Riding fixed gear on the road isn't for everyone.
It's been traditionally a training tool for club riders and an activity for the nostalgic and will revert to those no doubt.
I've kept at it for years because I like it but I'm also fitting a triple to my rando-ish build this winter.
Horses for courses as they say.

-Bandera

Your beater is nicer than a lot of riders' pride of the fleet

The Italian Job:


Untitled by ctjr, on Flickr
(saddle angle has been fixed, was the result of a sucky Campagnolo Super Record seat post).

Same wheels on a mystery frame, shot at an abandoned outdoor track, now part of a (fer gods' sake) trailer park


P1040941 by ctjr, on Flickr

I love how your example of the slang of the "youth of today" is about 25 years out-dated lol

Thank you, that was about the last time I spent any time around "them youngsters".
I was relying on "Breaking Bad's" dialogue of Jesse Pinkman & his buds for verisimilitude, could have done some "Yo,Yo,Yo"
per Jesse and the errant "B__ch" as well if that helps.

I understand that young folk today don't actually speak any more, just text & tweet.
That's a relief.

-Bandera

#2 is interesting, nice job.

-Bandera

Define "Old & out of touch."

I could get started on the definition but I'd wander off to watch "Gunsmoke" re-runs before "Chapter 1:5 speed cogs" was done.

A while ago I laughed out loud at a cocktail party (yes, old people still do cocktail parties) when the local dentist, Captain Fast, was going on and on and on about the electric ( or hydraulic ) shifting on his Speca-rello/Pinna-lized uber road bike. I thought it was a joke, maybe it is?

-Bandera

Oh good, another reason to post it



Then there's this 57 Carlton Flyer sitting in the build que

Okay, I'll partially agree with Velognome, conversions are lame and dangerous! I don't fault young people for not having money for a proper frame but I've seen some ridiculously vicious crashes, even pile ups, because some idiot's rear wheel got pulled forward and out of the drop out on his road bike conversion. I also hate to see so many wonderful lugged frames butchered making a fix'aaa!

I loved my Smorgasbord (out of Hershey, PA) road frame so much I had a local builder weld some Surly track end drop outs on my Grand Buffet (Reynolds 853) frame. I went with the Surly drop outs because they most resembled the original Breeze drop out that came on the frame. I looked for some time and couldn't find a track frame I like that didn't cost a fortune; so, I took a retired frame and created just what I wanted. Yes, I did opt for the drive side drop out with the derailleur hanger... never know down the line that I might want gears back on my Smor but I have that option. I recycled a frame and didn't settle for some cheap junk from Asia... I dig it!

I keep a matching freewheel on the opposite side my hub, I have to as my ACL is snapped and some days my knee doesn't go for track style skid stops. Previously I had a single PAUL E-lever and a front Dura Ace caliper but those were replaced with Syntace levers and Campy Mirage calipers. The up side of the parts swap was the Cinelli Tempo bar has the dual cut outs near the stem for internal cable routing, this is the first time I've been able to take advantage of the hidden housing.

Oddly enough... bicycles like my 1955 Lenton were originally sold as fixed gear models with road dropouts and not track ends.

It has nothing to do with the dropout but everything to do with the way the wheel is attached and torqued.

I have puts tens of thousands of miles on conversions and have yet to pull a wheel out of the drop out and I used to like racing people up steep grades and doing sprints where the power needed was well in excess of 1000 watts.

This thread is so 2008.

The beater "fixie" (UO8 conversion)



The actual Track bike (1989 Serotta Track)



+1 to what sixty fiver says above re: conversions. My mileage on them is completely unknown but high, dating back to the early/mid eighties. Never pulled a wheel out of a drop out. It's far more common to see someone throw an improperly tensioned chain... you can do that with track ends or dropouts, no difference.

Perhaps not so wobbly after all.
That Carlton has it all, pics please when complete.

-Bandera

Lovely machine uniquely modified.

With all due respect "conversions are lame and dangerous!" is twaddle. A properly installed & torqued rear wheel is not going anywhere, as it were.
Some converters are lame & dangerous since they lack proper mechanical skills, hacks are hacks. When the "fixie" thing disappears club riders & fixed gear enthusiasts can get on with wrenching & riding as they have for the last bunch of decades, quietly.

-Bandera

Proper machines!

PS
Your Irish mother would blush, tsk, tsk.

65 may bear an uncanny resemblance to Michael Palin but he's got that right.

-Bandera

That's what brakes are for, that speed modulation thing.
Never used the FW side of my hub, bears thinking about.

-Bandera