Ok, so I've given it a lot of thought, and since a few people here have asked me whether I will get fixed or not, I came across something that's really making me ponder.

Here are some pics of what I found downstairs at the parking basement. It's a Schwinn Le Tour if you can't tell from the pics. It's a red chro-moly frame that weighs more than my MTB.



It needs work ... serious work ...







Handlebars are a mess ... I guess those brake handles and shifters would have to go.

What do you guys and gals think? It's not actually mine. It's sitting on the bike rack downstairs without a lock, and it's just gathering dust. It seems abandoned. I don't want to just take it, so I'm gonna wait till I can talk to management about letting me have it.

I'm just afraid someone will steal it before I get it. But with that broken crank/BB it's very unlikely.

Looks like a great candidate to me, no braze on's for cables on the down tubes.. removeable rear deraileur hanger so no ugly hanger.. should make a good looking fixie

nice! that frame will be sexy once you toss all that heavy ass junk off of it.

So where can I get parts for this conversion? I know PerformanceBike carries singlespeed hubs but those can be expensive. What about cranksets and bottom brackets that'll fit the frame? I'm a n00b to getting fixed and all this stuff is fascinating!

same way i found my bike! chicago made schwinn traveler '85 - it had about the same amount of dust on it, management said it had been there for 10 years - just take it, no one's touched that one for years either by the looks of it.

It should clean up OK... is the headset in good shape? How about the front wheel?

As I see it, the best candidates for conversion only need the rear wheel swapped. So that's the baseline. You're talking BB, cranks, maybe bars & stem, on top of that... you might end up putting over $100 onto this heavy frame with pressed dropouts.

So you might want to look for other bikes in the $100 range with functional BB & cranks.

In the bay area: https://americancyclery.com/

You can pick up a fixed gear rear wheel from Harriscyclery, they are also fairly common on e-bay. And keep the current front wheel if it is in good shape.
BB and crank.. e-bay.. harriscyclery.. repartocorse.. businesscycles..

That is a great candidate. I pulled an old panasonic out of the trash. All you really need to do it strip and clean it. Since you don't want to drop that much money get a rear wheel of Ebay...there is a cheap one that runs about $55.
HarrisCyclery has a cheap crank set for $65 (shimano Sora) or just get a cheap crankset on ebay.

You should be able to salvage the bars and brakes...you only need the front one to work.

You know, I hear so many people here passing on frames because of "ugly hangers".

Here's a trick:

Take home drill. Buy adapter and cut off wheel (4.95 @homedepot).

Cut off parts not wanted.

viola!

I should patent the idea!

He can also pick up a crank set at a thrift shop, attaced to the bike.

Question, with the crank tweaked: what is wrong with the frame then, becuase logic says there was some kind of mishap involved.

That is a freewheel hub, you can remove the freewheel and screw on a cog, then use a BB lockring and a little loctite to keep it on. Some do not like to do this but I have used this setup with no problem and you can use it to decide if you enjoy fixed enough to spend some real $$. You can also get a BB spindle and cheap crank arm for $20. Keep the front brake and ditch the rear. Keep the old bars and throw some cheap tape on there. I bet you can make this a rider for $50-60

I'm not sure what happened to that BB square. From the looks of it, it didnt' damage the frame, but then again, I'd have to ride it to be able to tell. As far as the wheels they have some rust on them but otherwise lookin ok and rideable. Pretty heavy though, like I said before. I read some columns on FGs and it seems like I'd need to get a new "flip-flop" hub for the back so I can run a fixed gear and a freewheel on either side of the hub. I'd prefer to do it that way. The tyres are Specialized Armadillo something, so they don't look too bad ... actually they aren't all cracked up at all; must be the indoor storage.

Can I just take a walk over to the local LBS and ask for junk parts? I'll check on eBay about the rear wheel.

Freewheel?! lets not have any of that sissy talk here. Breathe deep, take the plunge, and feel the commitment of the fixed cog.

Ok

HAHAHA..

You're like a one way check vavle aren't you Chuck?

The hardest job on that may be removing the BB from the shell. Happened to me on my old beater frame so I had to buy a new frame ($120 from ebay). No amount of long spanners, anti-sieze, vice work would get it free.

Eventually I'll get a frame builder to replace the shell. I digress...

Check this out first would be my advice - this bike is in similar condition to my old one (before I started work on it).

Thanks for the warning. I'll be sure to spray some Tri-Flow on it before I try to unthread anything.