PhattTyre

Hello everyone. I'm a grad student at the University of Oregon. I've been riding pretty seriously since jr high. I started with mtn bikes and now I ride a singlespeed, road, and most recently fixed gear. I got a Specialized Langster as a "congrats on grad school" gift and loved it. I just built another fixie that isn't so pretty to ride around town. If you live in Eugene, I'm the guy on the red Schwinn World Sport with bull horn bars. Say hi, I'm always willing to talk bike. I found this place in a search for Suzue track hubs and liked the info I found. This place is great.

Gus Riley

Welcome to the forums PhattTyre! We hope to ride through your neck of the woods when we get started on our TransAm ride...only problem is, we haven't nailed down a year when we will get started on it.

fixinskitchin

what kind of hubs are you running on that schwinn? Where did you get the horns in eugene? intersted in that bike, you should post a pic. I spend a fair amount of time in eugene, where do you ride?

PhattTyre

piss drunk... The Schwinn was built cheap to be beat up. The wheels are real cheap ($80 for the set). The rear was a 135mm spaced quick release with a freewheel threading on it. I changed the axle to a solid bolt on and the spacing to 120 to fit the frame, then just used the red loctite (the real strong kind) to hold the cog on. So far so good, I can even skid the wheel... but I really don't recommend running this set up. I'm a pretty small rider and I more or less know what I'm getting into with this type of set up. I want to learn to build a wheel, so I think I'll start with cheap Suzue hubs and make a real fixed wheel for it. The bullhorns are home made from a set of cut drop bars turned upside down. A lot of the parts (especially the small parts) I got from the Center For Appropriate Transportation in Eugene. If you haven't checked them out you should... it's like a dream garage of bike parts.

PhattTyre

fixinskitchin.... my bad with the "piss drunk"... still getting used to this whole thing. I don't ride often enough because of school. When I get the chance I like to ride around Spencer's Butte, along the river, up Skinner Butte, or just anywhere. The ride around Spencer's Butte is great. I usually go clockwise (out on Fox Hollow, back on Willamette). In about 15-18 miles you get about 1200 feet of climbing, nice turns, and a wicked fast decent on Willamette St. The river isn't too exciting, but it's quick if I"m short on time. Skinner's Butte is a short climb and isn't bad on a fixed gear. I run a 48x18 and could climb it fine. Coming down is a bit of work, but can be done without brakes. Anywhere in Eugene is good. This is a very bike friendly town. I'll get a pic of it up soon, but not tonight, it's Friday and I have beers to drink.

fixinskitchin

sounds like you got a lot goin'. I was truly enquisitive about that bike, mostly because it wounded an aweful lot like the one i got stolen. But i should know that a bike thief would never use a forum like this. Emotions run high with that sort of thing, you understand that right? I used to sleep on skinners butte from time to time, ride to eugene, sleep on the butte, drink with lots of pretty eugene girls, goddamn bike thieves. I wont be able to make that ride again for a while, unless i wanna ride my tandem, which i am pretty sure i dont.

fixinskitchin

wounded=sounded

PhattTyre

No worries fixinskitchin, totally understand. It's a hell of a coincidence. I'll continue to keep an eye out for it here in Eugene.

Twitchology

w00t go Eugene. I hung out a CAT for a month or two as a kid but then got bored or scared by the hipness or something. I actually just transferred out of U of O for undergrad...watcha studying?

PhattTyre

I just moved here from Phoenix in June to study architecture. They have a masters program here for people who didn't study architecture for their undergrad, so it's perfect for me (I was a history major). I made the opposite move you did. I grew up in suburban pavement hell and moved to Eugene. I'm loving it here. I feel like I moved to paradise. The traffic isn't bad and overall it's pretty bike friendly here. So far I've found very few errands that I can't do easily on a fixie. Most of the time it's easier than driving.