If you really have 1/2" you should be ok. I've put 700c on two bikes that had 27" previously and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't :)

If you can make the 'fixed cup tool' I recommend it; I couldn't believe how easily it worked. But I hear you about patronizing local businesses. I have several LBS's within a 5 minute ride and I shop at them all depending on what I need and how I'm feeling. Despite being expensive I even went the 9 miles to Harris Cyclery(of Sheldon Brown fame), and picked up some parts. So, for my build, I bought the wheels online, but everything else in person at one LBS or another. There is still one bike shop that I want to throw some work because they were really cool when I went in: (http://www.revolutionbicyclerepair.com/)
[/URL] They do a tuneup pretty cheap and I figure I'll have them tune it up after everything settles a bit.

just some pics..
 

I don't think much of anything has changed since the last post. Riding on the new Mavic CXP22's(sweet) with crappy Specialized Mondo tires(they suck). Still rockin the crummy brake lever and handlebars with no bar tape :)

Oh.. One update I guess.. I'm thinking about keeping this Fuji saddle; at least for a little while. It isn't as heavy as I thought it'd be and the squeaking has let up..

So here are some shots I just took in front of the BEST FREAKIN PLACE TO GET SUBS IN BOSTON!

I re-read Sheldon's page on the DIY tool and I'm gonna give it a try. It looks a lot easier than I had originally thought. Wheels arrive tomorrow, then the crank components and tires hopefully by the Weekend.
Just need to pick up a couple spacers for the rear hub (dropout is 126mm and bicyclewheels.com wouldn't prespace the 120mm hub for me).
Here's the frame as it looks right now - sorry for the hideously large picture - i didn't take the time to resize yet.
http://velospace.org/files/Frame1.JPG

oh ****; that is sweet.. I love the all chrome! Give the DIY BB tool a shot; it was cake. Also, the rear stays will suck up that 6mm easily if you just tighten it; or you could just throw some washers on there. Either way I'm sure it'll be fine..

-chry

After a frightful lockring experience I got myself a new Dura-Ace from Harris Cyclery. I figured while I was down there I could change my gear ratio since the 47x16 with 165mm cranks gave a gain ratio of 6.0 (77.5 gear inches). I dropped that to 47x18x165mm which gives a much easier 5.3 gain ratio(68.9 gear inches).

I picked up some Phil Wood waterproof bearing grease; that stuff is blue and I applied it liberally! Blue!

So anyway, the new gearing is noticeably easier going up hills and also my legs are spinning MUCH faster on the downhills. So far it seems like a sweet ratio!

So.. Yah, I got a Rockwerks 18 tooth cog, and Dura-ace lockring. I rotafixed the cog then tightened the heck out of the lockring. I rode a few miles, and stopped at the top of a hill. I tried to tighten that lockring again but man was it on there tight.. Good signs.. I also did a number of skids with no slippage; good signs!

OK.. so for some pics:

alright so I spent Saturday afternoon on the first few steps of the conversion.
New BB: Sugino 68x103mm
New Crankset/48 Chainwhell: Sugino RD black
Wheels: Mavic CXp-22 black w/ Formula flip/flop Hub
Tires: Vredestein Fortezza 700x23 front, Conti Gatorskins 700/23 back

still need:
Handlebars: SOMA bullhorns - the ONLY manufactured 25.4 bullhorns available. -- Nitto makes plenty of drops at 25.4, but no bullhorns.
New pedals - thinking about the Shimano m324s (the standard one-side and SPD flip-side pedals)...never ridden a bike with clips...gonna take some getting used to.

Here's what it's looking like right now. Sorry for the really bad picture - taken at night inside. better pictures this week. better picture on Velospace

Hey hey.. very slick.. I'm really jealous of that frame; it is sweet!! Did you measure your chainline? I assume it is 42mm... I almost went with the same BB/crankset but I went with the bulletproof because I didn't want the 48tooth chainring that came with the RD.....

I need to look at the Chainline - it is riding fine, but when I took a look last night, it looked like it was a bit off towards the front - I have a feeling that my cranks might not be on quite as tight as they could/should be.

I'll measure everything and if its really out-of-line, then I'll take it over to the LBS and ask them to take the professional tools (and a workstand) to it to get it right.

Take a measurement and see how it is.. You can get a very exact measurement if you use a piece of string; you just make a figure 8 around the downtube and seatpost tube. Where they cross is the exact center of the frame. Just measure from there to the center of the teeth.

Where the spindles greased before you put the cranks on? Oddly enough my drive side came greased but the non-drive didn't. That make some difference in how far the crank went on. Most of what I've read says to grease em up...

Jer

nice conversion! how bout some handlebar grips tho? your palms/wrists/elbows will thank you

The RD's chainline up front will probably be 45mm. Not much you can do about this without a new BB.

yeah- the good 'ole grease the spindles debate. whew...did I spend some time reading through all those threads. in the end I did put a touch of grease on both spindles. I figured that since I was doing this all alone for the first time and with a workstand, I needed all the help I could get leveraging those cranks onto the spindles. Sheldon's site said that the chainline should end up at 42.5 (or whatever is close to that) if I'm using both the 103mm BB and the RDs, I haven't had a chance to check yet, but will take time tomorrow.
Yeah, I know, the handlebars definitely need some work. I'm going to order these Somas (as they're the only 25.4mm bullhorns around) but in the meantime - I'll go buy some tape to wrap my bars. I really need to take the bike in to the LBS and have them overhaul the headset (it feels pretty stiff) - maybe, just maybe, I'll get a new stem (although with the 13/16" measurement on my quill that means a new fork too...and thats maybe more change than I'd like to make to this bike.
Anyways, I rode to and from work today and everything felt good -and I'm slowly getting used to riding fixed - I'm still not convinced that I'll be doing much skidding...fortunately my front brake is on nice and tight.
Also just discovered the DCFixed group which does rides here in the DC area. Nice.

Wait, Sheldon claims 42.5 for the RD's or for your rear hub and cog setup? The Sugino spec for the RD's is now 45, don't ask me why.

Thanks for the tip on bicyclewheels.com I am looking at the aero Wheelman set. Great price! Any negative feedback on the wheels you got?

Sheldon on the Chainline
 

Well, kind of. On the wheelset page at Sheldon's site (this one ) if you scroll down to where the list of wheels begins, he says that all the wheelsets listed will carry a 42mm chainline unless otherwise noted...could be out of date??

And then on the crank page they have the RDs listed as carrying a 42mm chainline as well ( this link , scroll down a bit to the RDs ). I figure that with the 103mm BB, the RDs, and the Formula hubs, I have to be pretty close to 42mm --hopefully not all the way out to 45...then again I'm sure that I'm perfectly capable of doing a poor job assembling everything 3mm out-of-whack.

I'm gonna swing by the LBS tonight on the way home and see about a couple things (I need to learn a little more about bullhorn HB width sizing vs drops, gonna ask them if the Shimano pedals with SPD one side and platforms the other are any good, and a few other things) maybe they can take a look at the chainline while its there.

Several of us with wheelbuilding experience have looked over the bicyclewheels.com wheels and found them to be rock solid, I think they're as good as anything you'd get without it being a custom build.

The newer RD's have a 45mm chainline on their 103 BB, this is any of them stamped RD2R on the right crank. You can verify this on the sugino web site. Getting a good chainline requires a longer BB and putting the ring on the inside, unless you're comfortable putting a spacer under your cog. Also, keep in mind if you do this that with 1/8" chainrings the difference between the inner and outer positions is 6mm, not the standard road double 5mm. A 107 BB therefore gives you a 41mm chainline, (45mm + 2mm farther out - 6mm in), you can either put a spacer under that for 42 or 43mm chainline, or get a 110 bottom bracket, which is like a 107 with 3mm added on the right, and have a 44mm chainline. Being that most cogs are actually closer to 7mm wide now, 44mm really isn't bad. Also keep in mind that these numbers are not precise, how hard you screw down the crank bolt will introduce some slop (hint: use a torque wrench), and frame alignment affects chainline as well.

Isn't this fun?

When I first bought my set, I thought they were great and solid as hell. Maybe I got the one-in-a-million poorly built wheel, but mine had some pretty significant issues with spoke tension on my rear wheel that became apparent within the third month of riding. So far I've had to have it retensioned twice (had them almost a year now, since last september). There aren't any cracks on the rim or anything else wrong with them that would cause the spokes to loosen up, but twice I 've had spokes come loose enough to turn the nipple with your fingers. That isn't acceptable to me. Hopefully the last tension job I had done will solve this problem, but if they don't, I think I'm going to have thebikebiz build me up some decent wheels and keep these as rain/backup wheels.
While I have been a little dissapointed in the build quality, they have done the job pretty well as far as getting me around, I haven't had a problem with the front wheel, and nobody else seems to have the same problems with them that I do, so maybe it's an isolated incident. I think they are a pretty good value for the price. Hopefully you won't have any issues with yours!

OK OK OK.. I know no tape is no good! If you could see the bike right now you'd die; it has blue painters tape on the drops :)

Yes, that is right, drops.. I went to Bikes Not Bombs and was very happy to find their used parts section easy to navigate. I had a great experience and walked away with a used set of alloy Nitto 117 bars and Dia-Compe aero brake levers. Throw in some new black tape and things were looking good!

I went away for a few days but I just threw put the new levers on and fit the brake cable. I wasn't sure I would like the hand position of the hoods so I wrapped that blue painters tape all over the bars(they were gooky from the old tape) and went for a ride. I like it! So.. Now I just need to wrap the bars and basically the bike is done... amazing!

That sucks to hear. Was the tension uneven when you got them? Any sign of spoke windup? Any sign of spoke prep?

You are making me miss my conversion- i left the country for a while and had to leave my Fuji Monteray at home (in pieces). She was my first fixie and i had some fun building her! I even had to file out my front drop outs after i built a wheel with the wrong sized hub! you learn something new...

edit: whoa... holy new pages...

nevermind.

does your berkeley creak when you ride? i'm finding that mine does--mostly in the front, though i could swear that i hear something every once an a while from the crank area. maybe i'm just being silly. i don't know.

i think that it may be the handlebars, and if that's the case, then how do i fix that?

Creaks can be hard to trace because a bike is a big set of resonator tubes, so things aren't always where they sound like they are. The first thing to check is does it still happen if you pedal out of the saddle, if it doesn't tighten your seatpost clamp. This is probably 30% of all creaks. Next check your chainring bolts, this is probably another 30%. After that, tighten all other fasteners except the crank bolts, being careful not to strip anything. If you end up suspecting the crank bolts, it's best to pull the cranks, repack or replace the BB for good measure, and then reinstall the cranks with a torque wrench.

If you're still using the original steel cranks, there's actually a better than average chance it's the crank bolts. Snugging them up isn't as risky as with Al cranks, but again, BB maintenance is always a good idea.

Awesome, I saw the best place to get subs in boston and im immediately thinking SPA and BOOM.

My bike is totally silent other than the seat; if I lube contact points it stops. To track it down I'd just go about it systematically as Landgolier suggested. Your bike should be silent other than the tire noise and a very slight noise in the chain..

You know it... I live about 2 blocks from there :)