I've stumbled across a trade that I might not be able to resist

This is his discription of the bike

"i've got a 54cm Raleigh Record ace. circa 1978-9. Needs a new rear wheel. Hub and cassette are both still good. Also has a cyclometer, Tomak computer (speedometer, odometer, etc)"





Now the reason I posted this on the fixed gear forum, is I'm wondering how difficult and the expense of making this into a fixed gear. I was pretty excited when he offered it in a trade, becuase I have a roady that I won't leave outside for fear of damage or loss, and being at college it would be nice to have a bike that I could leave outside most of the time.

Thanks for the help

Andrew

Easy and probably a couple hundred bucks.

those cranks look cottered, and the wheels are 27's. neither of those things is good, but if you get it for cheap, it fits you, and you like the frame, it might be worth it.

The cranks don't look cottered to me. I can also see in the photo that your brake pads should easily be able to be lowered to fit a 700c wheel. Go for it.

Are you planning on keeping the tires? Are they in good condition? I live in the boston area and there is this shop that sells flip flop rear wheels for like $30 both 700c and 27inch. He also sells cogs for like $7. If the bb and headset are moving freely, you should be ok. Get yourself some toeclips and straps and a mtn bike brake lever. All that can probably be done for under $60.

Alright, he says they are 27" rims with horizontal dropouts (Yay). I was wondering if 27" prebuilt rims w/flip flop hubs are readily available?? I am kinda limited on price range because I'm in college and broke, just an fyi. Thanks for helping!

Andrew

the only thing i would be particularly concerned with is those cranks look hella long... and close to the ground... pedal strike sucks
-pete

i could resist.

Thanks for the input Rival, can anyone answer my previous question? (One post up)

Andrew

Its an ok bike, but probably Hi-Ten, 1020 or some other low grade steel. The crankset looks good in that it it doesn't have the integrated (I think) outer chainring like a lot of these bikes had. Rims look steel, plan on replacing those unless you're ok riding brakeless. I would almost say for a college bike, get it and ride it as is. I don't feel that converting it gains you much. Ride as is until something brakes necessitating a conversion... it will probably run as-is forever, though. Friction shifting and a 5spd setup = nearly bulletproof.

Hmmmmm,

Can anyone answer my question on tires?? Where to get a 27" built rim with flip flop hub?

Thanks,

Andrew

look one post up from your question...

That post honestly doesn't tell me where to get a 27" inch rim? Good information all around, but I still can't find (I've been searching online for a while) anywhere that sells the rim built like I need. I already have a road bike and don't particularly want 'just another road bike' I'm rather fond of my treck, but it's not a fixie. I want to give that style a try, just on a budget. Bluenote said that he found them for 30 at his LBS, I was wondering if there was a place online where I could order them from.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/wheels1.html#630
a bit steep (you can get a set in 700c for 135ish or less) but......

I don't know of a cheap place to get a 27" rim with a fixed hub. If you had shorter cranks, I would say just get a 700c for the rear, keep the 27" front. Those cranks are a bit long though, so if you run a 700c rear, you'll probably want a big tire (38mm or so if it will fit).

For what its worth, the bike does have the 3 hallmarks of a cheap frame. Stem shifters, suicide levers and stamped drop-outs. The record was the bottom of the line for the "racing" style bikes.

If you're set on fixing it, you can put 700's on it and get long reach brakes as per sivat. Tektro's work pretty well in my experience although you you may have some joy mounting them or, as Dersu said, your existing brakes may be long enough to reach. For a beater, I wouldn't go out and buy a 27" fixed hub wheel... sort of defeats the purpose of keeping it cheap. You can swap or sell a fixed 700c much more easily if you don't like it or move it to a better bike eventually if you do.

I have one of these I pulled out of the garbage that I'll be fixing for a low speed winter commuter. They work great for that.

Info please??? i'm in cambridge and could use a real cheap 27" fixed rear wheel

I just built up a 1970's-ish Raleigh Record... my first... I know it's low-end steel but it was brand-new... never been built-up. I converted it into a singlespeed for running errands and stuff. It looks awesome though. Gets lots of compliments.

I bought a not-too-used campy record/velocity aero wheelset, new iro cranks and bb, recycled handlebars, levers and calipers... looks sweet.

Paid $275 total. (I'll be posting pic soon) I spent the money and am very pleased with the results.

Making my final decision on my true fixed gear very soon. Got it narrowed down to two.

BTW... it's 2030 HiTen

Who cares if it's 27" or 700. You're not going to run a rear brake anyways. And even if you do there are long reach brakes.

From your picture it looks like you can even keep those on the bike right now if you swtich to 700.

If you're in Boston and looking for 27" fixie wheels, there's a guy in Framingham that does it (referenced earlier in the thread). Check out Craigslist - he posts weekly. His wheels are cheap as balls and have generally gotten good reviews. He'd probably even help you convert, if you wanted.

You should be fine switching to 700 too, if you want, which is what I did with an old Trek 400 frame. If you get some toe overlap, you just learn to deal - I've got a good 2 inches, and I just think about how I corner. Don't even notice it anymore.

As far as the frame goes, there's a lot of frame snobbery around. Who cares what kind of steel your first fixie is! Get out and ride.

bikepartsusa.com has some really cheap 27" wheels, and also a nice 700c track wheelset for $133. +1 on the brakes being adjustable for 700c wheels: I've tried this, it works.

I've got a "coffee" colored '77 Raleigh Grand Prix. According to catalogs on Sheldon Brown's site, the frame is 2030 steel, which seems to be a ho-hum material since I could not find anything interesting about it on google. Metallurgical snobbery aside, the frame rides smoothly enough, and feels pretty light for steel. The current 5-speed + friction setup works really well and it seems stupid to change it. I've been trying to wrestle myself into going through with the fixie conversion, but the freewheel-loving part of me just won't let me do it.

Looking at the cranks, if you can remove the unwanted chainring you can use the same crank and BB for the fixed setup (assuming the chainline isn't too bad). That leaves the chain ($10), wheelset (~$150), cog (~$20), and lockring ($10-20).

$200 to convert a perfectly usable 5-speed with a she-will-do looking frame into a fixed gear? It's a tough decision...

$200...you could go way cheaper than that..that is if the rear wheel is rideable or at least in good enough condition that it could be tensioned and trued.
You could probably convert it for about $40. Get the rear wheel trued (if needed). Then reomove all the derailers cables and shifters, remove one chain ring, remove the freewheel, rotafix a cheap track cog on the rear hub (keep the rear brake), shorten the chain and you are good to go.

Or better yet...remove the derailers and shifters, but leave the freewheel on there and just go singlespeed.

re: rotafix....come on, that cog is going to come off eventually. Why risk it? And the man said he wants a fixed, not a single speed. Leaving the freewheel on is a lame suggestion.

Basically, if you want to do a fixed conversion right, it's going to take at least a new set of wheels. Relacing an old wheel and spokes to a new hub is sketchy, esp with a 27" wheel from the '70s...

I converted an old raliegh super-course to singlespeed and the only thing I would advise on is that switching to 700c tires the bottom bracket sits a little low. I have once or twice struck pedals while rolling over big speed bumps and the like, but not (yet) on a corner. but its low enough the toe clips drag if i'm just walking the bike along. this is with 170mm cranks.

Rotafix is fine if you leave the brakes on. And if you rotafix it tight enough, it won't come off under normal riding, contrary to popular misconception.
And suggesting to leave the freewheel is not "lame"?. I was merely suggesting the cheapest and fastest option to get started....you can upgrade to anything later. Get the rear wheel in rideable condition and ride the bike a little before spending bigger bucks on it, to get a feel for what you want to do with it, or even if you want to spend any money on it.