Originally Posted by beethaniel

you can always go with a smaller cog on the other side of your rear hub so you can have a normal riding gear, and use the 19 for tricks, that should be a low enough gear.

also, getting a "real" track bike, something with track bike geometry might also be beneficial, but that is just my opinion.

Originally Posted by ridingsu

Also, this is the bike in case the pic helps with any details...

Originally Posted by ksyrius

I dont get why alot of people here try to force their conception of what riding should and shouldnt be, i see nothing wrong with trying to push the envelope or experimenting with different styles of riding. You can always go back if you dont like it. So despite what alot of people have been saying, i think that your asking a good question, and i dont think that wanting to do tricks automatically means get a bmx. For the simple reason that you have to get another bike which btw is alot less versatile.

OK with that being said i can give you some tips on how to setup your bike to facilitate learning/doing some of the common tricks.

A big thing to consider when doing barspins is the amount of clearance you get when your wheel is flipped around 180deg. Most bikes arent gonna bspin a 700 and even if they do the clearance is probably pretty ****y. But almost all bikes will do a 650c, the biggest factor here is the fork rake and the crank arm length. Shorter cranks like 165mm ones work the best, and for fork rake the less the better. Most road forks are 43mm and track forks range from around 40mm to 25mm, njs is 30mm. Alot of older road bikes that are great for conversions have really long fork rake, my bike wouldnt even bspin a 650. So if this is the case youll prolly need to find a fork, i took one of a 80's bianchi and it worked fine, but you can find track forks and road forks all over the place that will work. If your running a conversion on a newer road bike with really tight geometry even all these tips might not give you that much clearance. (head tube angle, and wheelbase length are other factors that affect clearance, as is pedal size and toe clip size)

For your bars and stem get risers, probably with at least 1 inch rise, and cut them short. Shorter bars spin faster, but as long as they clear your tob tube its good enough. For the stem the less reach the better, because when you flip a stem with alot of reach its gonna feel akward.

As for wheelies obviously a lower ratio will help you learn but its not the most important thing. balance and pedal form are more important

as said before 1 tooth probably wont help you that much, but a drastic difference might. All of the artistic cycling bikes use a 1:1 ratio.

If you get a 650c i agree with some of the comments above, a strong wheel with say 32 holes and 3 cross lacing is probably the way to go when you start learning, because its gonna take alot of abuse at first. But once you get the hang of it there are alot of crazy carbon wheels to be found if thats your thing, but remember carbon wheels are more likely to break than a traditional wheel, and if you get a flat on a tubular your f'd.

Besides your setup the most important thing is obviously practice.

- BMX good idea ? yea i think so, ive seen kids get ridic on bmx. It would be a good way to learn technique. Id like to get one once i get some money together, it looks like a lot of fun. BUt like i said before its not nearly as versatile as my fixed.

Originally Posted by sandwiches

It's kind of goofy to change that much on your bike just to do one or two tricks, but if that's what you really feel that you need to do, go for it. It would work, but as mentioned before, your front wheel would look silly.

I plan on eventually building a bike with track geometry (I'm rocking the road geometry right now for commuting) specifically for crazy tricks.

Originally Posted by trons

you need a hed3 for barspins...