OneArmedScissor

After my panasonic bit me this past weekend, I have decided it's time to start working on it.


The FD is in need of serious adjustment. I can't shift into the big ring without it making noise. The RD is maladjusted but at least it's not broken.

Here is how the bike sits now: Panasonic PR 500



only reason I am posting here is because I am nowhere near a bike mechanic. I am new to this stuff. I don't know what will fit on this frame, and what I need to get to make it work.

all I know is that right now, the derailleurs need adjustment, so why not just yank em off completely and go fixed? I need to have a bike to train myself on for the bigger, longer rides on my geared bike.


aside from the justification...can you all help me select what I need to get this thing going?

I'm not a beast of a man, and I live near a lot of hills.

pretendlee

how the **** did that happen?

trons

give this a good read.
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html

i would say at the very least you need a rear wheel/cog/lockring and probably a bottom bracket to get the chainline right. that's it except for the othjer things like single stack chainring bolts that arent quite essential.

blickblocks

Never heard of the PR500. What year is it? Panasonic left the US market a long time ago, but if looks like you're in Japan. You've got some nice looking components. EDIT-Didn't see the year posted in the thread title.

These bikes are great, I absolutely love mine. I have a 1985 Sport 1000. I'm in the process of getting a set of Mavic and Formula track wheels to convert from singlespeed (removed the derailers) to fixed.

You ought to get a cheap set of toeclips if you're going fixed though.

blickblocks

I doubt he'll need a new bb for the chainline. Throw the sprocket on the inside of the spider or add some washers too, it shouldn't take much.

doofo

get a fixed wheel and shorten your chain

Gyeswho

nice lookin bike. will look even better when it's converted

Aeroplane

And may I be the first to suggest pointing the nose of the saddle down a bit? And also recommending a set of cages and straps for the pedals.

OneArmedScissor

actually yeah I feel you on that one, too. The saddle was level and a bit higher, but then my girlfriend's buddy needed a ride out in Mito to see the plum blossoms so inevitably my panny was conscripted for the job.

The painful position you see it in is thus a result. I have been cursing it since I rode it to my girlfriend's place about 10-15 km away and parked it there, where I have no multitool at my disposal. I really need to take mine and adjust it before I ride it back for the sake of my future generations.


Im not actually a huge fan of the current pedals. Is there anywhere I could get some better pedals to put cages and straps on? What do you all reccomend?

I don't even know where to start looking for flats, but since this is my urban commute bike, I don't want to ride it in bike shoes.

oldsprinter

Wow, so much needs to be done to this bike.

First, pedals, get yourself into a local branch of Montbell and pick up some Tioga pedals. The black ones with the chromoly spindles are great, allow you to pedal through corners and don't cost the earth.

Second, get that seat sorted out. It should be exactly horizontal to the ground.

Lose the dust caps on the valves, the bike bag, the bidon cage and the stand!!! Why the F#@# have you got a stand.

Put the headsteam down.

You've got tubular tyres - not the best choice for a round-town fixie. Awful for skids. But make sure they're glued on well.

At this point you'll be ready to do the fixie conversion.

You'll need:

1 x rear track hub (120mm)
1 x 1/8 chain
1 x 1/8 cog
1 x lockring (probably comes with hub)
6 x 1mm spacers that can fit on your track axles.
1 x a willingness to slightly bend the rear stays of your bike (from 135mm to about 126mm)
1 x 109mm bottom bracket

bonechilling

...

dutret

let me be the first to point out that crankset looks incredibly long and is probably ill suited to fg use.

what an overly complex way to deal with rear spacing.

Aeroplane

Wow, so much needs to be done to this bike.
Not really.

First, pedals, get yourself into a local branch of Montbell and pick up some Tioga pedals. The black ones with the chromoly spindles are great, allow you to pedal through corners and don't cost the earth.
... or just get some MKS-GR9's. It's not really necessary anyways, since the current pedals will take cages and straps just fine once you take the reflectors off.

Lose the dust caps on the valves, the bike bag, the bidon cage and the stand!!! Why the F#@# have you got a stand.
WTF are you talking about? A kickstand is good for keeping your bike up. Saddlebags are good for holding a spare tube and some tools. Bottle cages are good for holding water.

Put the headsteam down.
This is gibberish

1 x a willingness to slightly bend the rear stays of your bike (from 135mm to about 126mm)
I would bet that the rear spacing is already at 126mm, at the most 130mm. Either way, you can get fixed wheels in those spacings. It might be cheaper to get a whole wheelset, if you plan on replacing the front as well.

Dutret's point about the cranks is a good one, some 165mm cranks will help avoid pedal strike.

OrgFarmCY

I really like your bike.

ollyisk

all you NEED is a new rear wheel (your best bet would be 700c wheels, since they're the new standard) laced to a track hub (formula is probably your best option, runs smooth and is cheap), a new chain (izumi makes very durable chains for about $15), a fixed cog (euro asia makes some of the best for about $30, but you can find good ones for about $20), and a lock ring (costs between $5-$10).

since those are probably 27" tires, i'd recommend getting a 700c clincher wheel, the difference between a 27" wheel and a 700c wheel is small (about a 1/4" height-wise, and 27"s are also a bit wider). also, for consistencies sake, i'd go ahead and get a matching wheelset, that way don't have to carry two separate spare tires, and possibly two different pumps (if you plan on carrying spares).

aside from that, just about everything else being mentioned is sort of optional, but they're all good ideas just the same. i'm not a bike expert by any means, and i can't really tell what components you have on that bike, but your chainline may be alright, you'll just have to wait and see on that. if not, spacers are definitely an easier (cheaper) solution than replacing the bottom bracket.

as long as you're not planning on making any crazy sharp turns or riding in a gutter, your current crank arms should be fine.

if you're riding in heavy traffic, you should definitely consider a front brake just because you can never be sure what other people are going to do (especially since you're running platforms and don't currently have toe clips--even though you expressed interest in them), to do that you'd need a long reach front brake to hit your new (smaller) rim.

that's a really nice looking bike.

oldsprinter

Aeroplane, you're in on the joke and I'm not - that's what this is all about isn't it. This is like Monty Python's parrot sketch but with bikes.

Sorry if this is all a joke and I didn't get it. I bet OneArmedScissor has a mint Nagasawa with the seat pointing in the right direction and his blue Nittto <b>headstem<b/> at the right height in his Tadao Ando pad in Mito.

The rear spacing on a road bike is never 126mm. Road hubs are 130mm or 135mm. And what does "not really" mean? Like changing the cranks to 165mm, changing the bb, the chain, the rear hub - involving changing the hub and re-lacing it with new spokes - is "not really." Someone's smoking crack!

You can buy a 135mm track hub, but with an old frame like that it's better to get a proper track hub so if you upgrade to a real track frame with 120mm spacing you have the right back wheel for it.

A kickstand will also take your bollocks off when you crash at high speed. In Tokyo almost every street is lined with a tubular steel railed fence. Kickstands are unneccesary here, and they look stupid, and I can't believe I'm having an argument with someone about kickstands on a singlespeed bike forum!!! tell me this is a joke pleaseeeeeeee!

Have I entered some sort of topsy-turvy world? Aaaaaarrgh. I'm getting out of here before I get told I'm writing gibberish for saying it's nice to go cycling on a sunny spring day.

deathhare

If i were you id sell that and put together a fixed gear bike. It seems youll spend so much making that one fixed ready. I mean do you really wanna buy cranks and wheels and all those other parts for that bike?
Its a really cool bike but youd end up spending nearly the same if you just had a track frame.
Framesets can be had for very cheap here in Tokyo. Probably the only city on earth where you could end up with a used handmade frame for a few hundred bucks.

oldsprinter

Ollyisk, his new wheel won't work without the extra bits because he has a road frame. His chainline would be way out of whack and you can't squeeze road frame stays in by 15mm. God, this is like talking bikes with the staff of WalMart.

dutret

If you want to get down to it all that is *needed* is a cog.

I think the cranks may be more of a problem then a freewheel hub with a brake they look really really long.

You may want to consider ss instead of fixed if you are on a budget for this reason.

Also i doubt those are 27s unless you have some specific information on that bike.

cslone

6 and 7 speed road bikes are 126mm spacing.

dutret

Maybe it is time to make a graceful exit since worse then gibberish you are writing stuff that is completely false.

Also this "upgrading to a real track frame" mentality is moronic especially since judging from the components that is a pretty decent frame.

deathhare

Very good point. Just looking at the pic again i realized that even with the bike only leaning on the kickstand the pedal isnt that far from the ground at all.

dutret

out of curiosity what type of bike did you think used 126 mm spacing or did you just pick that number randomly?

dutret

it feels more like talking about bikes to the junior salesman at a ****ty bike shop that really thinks he knows what he is talking about but is actually clueless. You know the one who refuses to sell you a freewheel tool because he thinks the the tool labeled bbt-4 is actually the tool you need and won't listen to any argument to the contrary. Or perhaps the one who insists that they don't carry tubular cement because it's a waste of money and the elmers rubber cement they have is better for gluing on tubulars anyway. Or the one...

ollyisk

i think oldsprinter is smoking dust.