....and I have no idea where to start. I've been lurking in ya'll's forum for a while. I've read a couple of sites about gearing choices, horizontal dropouts, brakes, no brakes and it's all got me kind of lost. I'm a roadie *gasp* at heart but I'd love to have an FG to commute on. Economical's good so don't let me screw up and build an overly expensive bike. I'm up for used, old, anything....just want it finished. Here's the bike -- a ~2000 Zurich 853 Reynolds.









I appreciate all of your suggestions.

Michael

https://sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html

cuz someone else will post it if I dont

It'll work. What's the rear dropout spacing?

These wheels popped up on the forum today. Seem to be a good choice. You might need to buy spacers for the rear axle, I'm sure your LBS could help you out w/ that. Sugino RD single speed cranks w/ a 110mm spindle BB and a EAI cog (avaliable at Harris Cyclery or Business Cycles) w/ a matching lockring should get you a good chainline. Or use an existing crankset, if you have one laying around. Gearing: My suggestion would be to start out around 65 to 70 gear inches (calculate gear choice here) and adjust from there. Fill out the rest of your equipment from your spare parts bin and you have a nice, inexpensive fixed gear.

Easy as pi.

That is a pretty frame. Get the formula wheels, and you have the hard part done. Get a Surly, EAI, or Dura-Ace cog and lockring. Cranks, chainring, tires, seatpost, blah blah blah from the parts bin or the used pile at the LBS. Put a front brake on if you aren't sure if you want a brake or not. No rear brake to worry about. Put the chain on, pull it tight, wrench the wheels down... ta-da!!! Done.

Seems you're not the only one considering a fixed gear commuter...
https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/187085-fixed-gear-commuter-conversion.html
https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/187113-gonna-make-me-fixed-gear.html

That will make a nice bike. Double check the spacing on the rear wheel. That's a potentially expensive mistake. Follow the link to Sheldon - it's very good. Good luck!

It's not a Y2K Zurich because that is red, white and blue (unless it's been repainted). That's a good bike and I know it will accommodate 28 tires without a problem if you get brakes with enough clearance. It takes wheels right off the shelf, e.g., Mavic rims with Ultegra hubs from Precision.

The 2000 Zurich that I had came with Rolf Vector Comps whereas the BAs came with just the Vectors.

The rear spacing on that frame is 130.

If you buy the wheels you need to have the rear one respaced to 130

The rear hub on that wheelset is 120mm.

Step 1: remove those little axle positioner bolt thingies you can see in the rear dropouts. They won't help you any and they're hogging your useful dropout space.

the $125 Mavic/Formula wheelset mentioned above is fantastic for the price. If you buy a set, make sure to have the spokes tensioned and trued properly by someone that knows what they are doing. Mine were acceptably true right out of the box, but undertensioned and some nipples on the rear started backing off within 100 miles.

The wheelset should come with the extra-long axles if it's identical to the same wheelset Nashbar sells (where I got mine and paid $25 more. grr.) so adding spacers to the axle to match your frame should be no problem. Sounds like you need 5mm on each side and you'll be good to go. LBS should have spacers.

I'll echo what others say and recommend sticking to EAI, Dura Ace, or Surly for your cog, probably in that order of preference. Get a Dura Ace lockring.

For a commuter, something right around 70 gear inches should be pretty comfortable up to 25mph or so, and faster than that if you don't mind spinning faster than most geared-bike riders are used to. Here's a starting point for you. Set the tire size to what you plan to use. Red means a taller gearing than the target value, blue means a shorter gear. White is a perfect match, and anything fading from white to red or blue indicates the value is within the spread percentage above or below your value. You can control the target and spread and reload the chart to see what combinations gets you where you want to be. Pick something that gives you more skid patches if you can so your tires wear a bit more evenly.

https://www.basementfreaks.com/member...i=on&target=70

when it comes to cranks, bottom brackets, and chainline, sheldon brown's site (actually, harris cyclery, same deal) lists what chainlines you'll get with what cranks on what spindles. don't forget about that part.

Thanks guys for a great load of advice. The spacing is 130mm as someone already mentioned. I was guessing on the year, but I really don't care what year it is. I just want to build it and ride it. I'll post a review when I compile the info and finish the project.

Thanks again,
Michael

I ride one of those as a fixed-gear. Mine is a 2001, I think. I bought mine used for about $200 to build up with Ultegra 600 stuff, but ended up putting my track wheelset on it, due to the shifters breaking.

It's awesome; a fantastic frame to ride, both as a fixed or geared. I've now outfitted mine with time-trial handlebars and a disc wheel in order to do time trials, with a gear ratio of 50x15