My First Fixie...
 

Before I start talking about my new bike, let me first state my goal: I wanted a cheap, ready-to-go fixie to serve as A) a bike I could leave at my office 24/7 for lunchtime and after work rides (I work about a mile from the Santa Ana River Trail, for you So Cal folks) and not have to worry about a billion dollar bicycle, and B) a fixie. I wanted something I could immediately start riding and learn fixie technology from; I did not want to convert an existing bike.

So, that's what I got. I ordered it last Sunday and it arrived last night. I was riding it last night, but I put some finishing touches on it and photographed it this morning. Here it is:

http://www.timhuntley.info/images/dawes01.jpg

It's a Lighting SST from "Dawes USA". This bike takes a lot of heat around here, but I'll be the first to say it met my stated goals perfectly. Sure, it's a wee heavy. Sure, the wheels need to be trued. Sure, it's not the highest quality frame. But for what I was looking for? It fit the bill perfectly. It comes freewheel sided stock, so I flipped the wheel, pulled off the rear brake, and changed the bar tape (that's half yellow and half black taped together in the middle), and rode.

It took a couple of minutes getting used to riding fixed. But after a short while, I feel comfortable on the bike. Granted, sometimes I miss getting my foot into the pedal and look like a total dweeb, but the power transfer seems so much more efficient than my roadie. The only thing that worries me is that on some turns my toe-clip rubs my front wheels -- it's supposedly a 62cm frame, and it has 170mm cranks. I don't feel squished at all on the bike, so it must just be more compact than my other bike.

I enjoy riding fixed so far. So what's next? Well, I'm pretty tapped out when it comes to bike expenditures. Any more and my wife might just ensure she's married to a eunich, heh (and no, that's not just from this bike; I've been putting a LOT of money into me and my son's roadies lately). I know that I want to replace the 48t chainring with a Biopace ring, and I'm thinking of swapping the Truvativ cranks out for a really nice set of Shimano 600 cranks. I might also go Shimano 600 on the brakes, too. Although the Truvativ cranks and Promax brakes work well and match the bike much better than my Shimano 600 stuff. I *think* I want to hit up Nashbar for a set of their carbon-fiber road forks and seatpost. Which of course will require a new stem, too, heh. We'll see.

LOL You already want to swap out the chainring, cranks and fork? I thought you wanted an inexpensive fixie. Congrats and have fun w/ it. Climb some hills w/ it and you'll be rocking on your group rides.

Hahahahahahaah!

Everything starts out inexpensively. Those are just "down the road" plans. Who knows? I may catch the fixie bug so badly that I sell all my bikes to finance a Bianchi Pista Concept -- the only bike known to make me salivate on sight. :-)


Thanks. I'm fully digging the few short rides I've already taken on it.


I did a few small hills on it this morning and it seems like they were actually easier for me. I can't wait to hammer out some of the larger hills around here.

it won't be worth your money to swap the cranks and stuff on it, if you wanted to do that you should have saved a little more and gotten a lighter frame to begin with...ie: motobecane, fuji track, pista...something like that...but since you have the dawes, i say just stick with that until you are ready to upgrade and then get a whole new bike(w/a lighter frame)...my friend has one of those and he loves it for what it is, but i just can't ever get over heavy that thing is.

^^^ +1

do you have a question, or are you boggled by my ability to type actual words?

According to internet translation, that's "Precision bicycle. It looks like likes the cheese. Will ride it to
enable you to strengthen."
whatever.

I disagree, you can upgrade parts and always move the better parts over to a nicer frame down the line. -128 (at sikannas house)

thats true...i'm just saying i would have gone with a lighter frame. after riding for a while, he'll tire of the weight of that frame...it's like 27lbs or something like that...but then again he'll freak when he gets a new lighter frame.

When I compare it side-by-side to my roadie, it's heavy as f*ck. When I'm riding it, it doesn't feel heavier than my roadie. That said, weight is not a big concern for me -- I started cycling last year after a 10 year hiatus at 267 pounds. I've since lost a bunch of weight and continuing to do so will have a much better weight savings than swapping out the frame. On the other hand, I am a die-hard bike tinkerer, and enjoy swapping out parts just for the sake of swapping out parts. The joy I get from tinkering with bikes should not be overlooked. :-)

Normally that would be true. But I already have the Shimano 600 stuff I referenced -- cranks, chainrings, pedals, brakes, etc. After it loses its "newness" I'm sure I'll be swapping parts on it regularly. :-)

Woah, its heavier than your road bike? Wow. My bike weighs around 18lbs. Good job on loosing the weight tho! *high fives*. And yea, tinkering with bikes and personalizing them is incredibly fun. -128

Well, it was before I took the rear brake off. I'm sure it's much lighter now. Heh.

It is a heavy frame. Like I said, not the best bike, but for my needs and the price I wanted to pay, it's perfect.

Right on. I must admit I'm a bit perplexed with your inclination to tinker with bikes you didn't want to make yourself a sweet conversion. I'm not dissing on your bike at all, I'm happy you're ridding fixed and if you get into it, you'll want to upgrade for sure. But thats half the fun! Eventually you'll build a bike that is you. -128

Fixed activity in my 'hood is minimal and none of the LBSs seem to stock fixie stuff; I didn't want to get knee deep into a conversion where the best model I had was some pictures on the 'net. For instance, I couldn't wrap my head around how the cog remained fixed, even though I understood and had seen pictures of lockrings -- I just couldn't "see it". But now I have one I can use as a model to work from, either upgrading it, coverting another bike, or buying a higher quality fixie.

Congrats on the fixie!!! I, too, am a roadie who started riding fixie, fell in love with it, and now ride fixed more than road. It is fun, and very addicting. My fixie and my track bike were bought complete but my next one will be a conversion.

i understand that perfectly. as far as upgrading parts...i agree with 128. upgrade parts, then when you upgrade the frame later, you can just swap them out. and, like you said above, you'll have a better idea of how everything should look and feel.

that said, i have no experience with those...i'm surprised it was heavier than your roadie. still, i do like the geometry.

when i did my first conversion, i had no idea what to do, a bunch of people told me stuff that i did not understand at all...but then one day i looked at my cassette on my 10 speed and thought..."if i weld that little space where the cassette freewheels, then it would be fixed wouldn't it?" and it worked, but i also rode it with no breaks and eventually over time(5 days actually) i stripped the hub completely, broke my axle and completely dethreaded the cassette from the hub...but it's a learning process and its fun

so THAT'S what happened with that experiment....

errm.. that translator you used sucks