Progression to Fixed
 

Hi all. I'm usually in the wings of the C&V forum, but thought I'd ask about this in here. I've been a SS mountain biker since the late 90s but never fixed. Until now. I've found a rather lovely 70s/80s fixed gear beast and was looking for some pointers. I think the first thing I'll have to do is put a spare fork on temporarily, as there's no drilling for a brake. Any tips for a novice fixed gear rider (who lives at the top of a hill)...

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Whew that is a nice bike. Not sure what the gearing is, but given that you live on a hill you might want to run something fairly spinny, perhaps between 65-75 GI, maybe lighter depending on how you think you can handle it. You'll certainly need the brake to start out, whether or not you end up keeping it is up to you, but I think the main thing you'll want to worry about fr now besides a new fork is gearing

That's a truly beautiful track bike. :thumb: Other than a front brake, you need to figure out your optimal gearing. I would recommend getting good foot retention with clipless pedals, which is very important when riding fixed.

My advice...

Coasting is habitual and so it can't be stressed enough that you cannot coast. Your singular focus when when starting to pedal therefor, is to get your weight off the pedals and onto the seat. Start with your dominant foot, begin to pedal and sit immediately, before the pedal gets to the bottom of the stroke. If your weight is still on the pedal when it comes up it is going to lift your whole body and has the potential to launch you. Don't worry about your non-dominant foot but worry about sitting first, then worry about the other foot.

Buy spare brake pads. Feathering the brakes on the downhill wears out pads faster than on a road bike where you don't use the brakes as much.

@TejanoTracki is 100% correct about clipless pedals.

I just gotta say, your bike is the business.

moar pics

get out your road bike and find the lowest gear you can get up the hill to your house in.

Then you can figure out the corresponding front chain ring and cog combo that will give you the equivalent gear inches.

There are a few more photos here. andr0id, that's a pretty good plan. Then of course (at least on a singlespeed) add a little to compensate for the lighter weight machine? :thumb:

Living in France I have a bit of a thing going for French bikes. For this one, I'm selling a 1978 Nikon F3hp with 7 lenses and the hotshoe flash unit.. Can't have everything... ;)

I have to join the chorus here and say that is a fantastic bike you have there - enjoy it...

Hey Milo,

Very nice machine. Glad you came over here to show it. Can't keep it all on C&V ya know.

Where I ride is pancake flat so no hill advice from me. I could only echo what others have said but won't.

You done good.

So here she is in all her glory. I tried to take more photos but the frame is such a statement of elegant simplicity, I would have been repeating myself!

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Really nice. Do you have a lockring on the hub? It appears to be missing in the last picture, unless that's an illusion.

Beautiful bike!

No lockring! What threading would be on a Campag Record hub? Better get ordering...

All Campy track hubs use an Italian-threaded lockring.

Campy, Phil Wood, Miche and EAI are your options.

Probably Italian, which is 33.5mm x 24TPI.

Also referred to as 1.32" x 24 tpi ;)

Any lockring meant to work on a Campag hub will state so even if they don't give the measurements...

Miche it is then! Thank you all.

EAI lockrings are much better quality than Miche.

Well this is annoying. Nobody on line in France or the UK has any decent 19t Italian threaded cogs. All the EAI stockists I've found are out of stock. Might be a waiting game. :(

Cog threading on Campy pista hub is standard - lockring threading is Italian

All the ones I've seen are 1.37 x 24. Thats not what I need from what I can gather?

Italian hub threading is 1.378" x 24 TPi, which is close enough to English threading to be interchangeable. An English threaded cog will be a tighter fit, and may even remove a bit of hub thread, but is still safe.

Went through this shopping cogs myself back when I had to have a set of Campy track hubs - is close enough to not matter but if one wants to split hairs...

British standard is 1.370" x 24, ISO is 1.375" x 24, and Italian/Campag is 35mm which is 1.378"

So in other words MiloFrance - all are pretty much interchangeable

Good luck and have fun...

My box of parts came so I got the beast out to see what I could do. Nothing was the answer as my whip didn't fit (1/8th"?). So I thought about it and having a LH thread with no lock ring must mean 1. he didn't use these wheels on it, or 2. he had a nice Phil on it that he wanted to keep. Either way, It's not going to be on the road for a few days more.:(

That bike has most likely seen some velodrome use and a lot of track racers don't use a lockring because it's not 100% necessary (nobody is busting whip skids on the track).

Italian-threaded lockrings aren't exactly hard to find.

Wow. Gorgeous bike.

I like 70-ish gear inches for the street (42x16, which is easy enough to do). I'll repeat that you can never stop pedaling, but nothing I or anyone else says will impart that lesson as effectively as the jolt you'll get when you inevitably forget.

Thanks caloso. I'm leaving the 50 on the front but in the box are a 17t and 19t to go with the 15t it came with. Really want to get it out on the street. The S.O. still doesn't know about it, it was delivered while she was out. Result!

If you send something nifty in return I'll send you my Phil lockring I'm not using.