I'm getting really comfotrable on my fixed gear bike now, and I'd like to experiment with fixed/ss winter riding.
Living in Finland I face 20-30cm of snow in the mornings, and slush and water is in rich supply. So I'm thinking of setting up an old hog of an All Terrain Bike(remember those horrible early 90's jobs? this is one of the slightly better ones) with a 17t fixed cog and a same or near same sized freewheel.

Cranks I have no idea about, and I'm not very knowledgeable about BBs either. I have a old set of Shimano 105 double cranks I think should fit it. Maybe I'll have to get new cranks. Thinking about a 34t surly stainless chainring.


I'll leave the front wheel alone except for the tyre-change, and rebuild the old wheel(cheap rim) or build a new one with a Surly fixed/free hub.

I'll probably go with Nokian Extreme 294, 26x2.1 studded tires.

Brakes are cantilever and I'm keeping both on I think.

What difficulties will I face bulding this up, what BB will i need, should I just let the nice man in the bike-shop do it for me ;-)

i'm trying to get some work done on a schwinn i have so i can ride in the winter (no way i'm taking my good bike out in the winter). i'm gonna keep slicks on there, winter isn't too harsh here, and the streets are usually kept pretty plowed. definitly lower gearing, maybe 41/16ish? probably put a long reach cantilever on there in the fall as i intend to ride the schit out of this bike now so i'm comfortable on it when it starts to get bad, and i usually ride brake-free.

If this is the only project you'll face in several years, just let the bike store guy do it. You'll spend some money buying tools. The payback comes on the second bike. I do my own work, but that's just because I want to. Not because it makes sense financially. I have an old MTB converted to SS which I rode all last winter. I run 35x16 gears and 26 x 1.5 inch tires. The magic off road gear ratio is 2:1. I think that is a good starting point for winter riding.

What I did for the BB is put my cranks on the old BB. Measure the chainline error. Measure the width of the old BB. Then figure the difference required to correct the error.

I like the 110 BCD cranks for this application. Lots of BMX SS chainwheels to choose from. My 36t is a stainless steel Surly.

You've got horizontal dropouts on your frame, right?

If the current BB still spins, then i'd just fill it with grease and keep it in there. Winter riding is tough on BBs- no sense replacing until you wear out the current one. If it currently has a mtb crank, then i'd keep that as well instead of using the 105- you can fit smaller chainrings on the mtb cranks.

If you can't get the chainline to work with the inside or outside position on the crank, you can get spacers to move it in or out the additional few mm you need. try sheldonbrown.com.

i hope you're referring to lancaster and not philly, where, somehow, they manage to run out of road salt EVERY YEAR

Am I the only person who gears up for the winter? I feel much more comfortable spinning less when going downhill in ice and snow.

I'll try to stay with this BB, I'll have to check if I need spacers when I get my rear wheel built. Will take a while, my vacation(bike tour of coruse :-)) cost me a bit more that originally planned :-P

Anyway, does anyone know if I can swap the centerpull caliper brakes for linear pull "V" brakes? I know I'll need new levers and I'd like to renew them anyway.

The project is slowly moving. Got a On One hub that my LBS is lacing a Mavic rim to, Nokian extreme 294 tires, Truvativ Hussafelt riser bar and v-brakes on it. Getting some stickers with black text on white bg. Now I still need need a stem, and a 1" to A-Headset adapter since the bar has 31.8mm clamp diameter.

With the old wheel and no bar or brakes:

Does your town plow at all? If it does and you end up riding in the ruts, heavily studded tires will make you skitter right off the road. I ride here in Albany in the foothills of the Adirondacks, and I didn't even bother with studs last year because I was mostly riding on well-driven roads. This year I'm thinking I'll buy a pair of Hakkapeliitta 106's and keep them around in case it's a heavy snow year.

BTW, excellent choice on the Nokians, I used to performance rally in a Scooby on Hakkas. I would trust none other.

Nope. In the climate and road conditions I ride gears are a big plus when the snow gets deep and the roads get rutted.