Thanks, I was not big on green bikes before i saw this one & love mine.
Yes to keeping the braze-ons. Will probably sell off the shift bits because if it ever goes back to being a geared bike it will have modern, brifter type components on it.

Any thoughts on a Leader or VISP frame from the 40+ crowd?

I am 45... this bike just turned 60.

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikepics/2011path2.JPG

Nice oldie, especially the crank. What does it say, have a better picture of it?

It is a 1951 CCM... the letters in the crank are C C M.

Bike started out it's life as a coaster equipped utility bike and I found the frame and built around that... the fork is a reproduction of the original and is a little more solid.

With 700:35 tyres it is like riding on a cloud with a rocket engine.

I've got both, VISP TRX790 and Leader 721tr with i806tr full carbon fork. The VISP weighs nearly 20 lbs and the Leader weighs under 16 lbs. Both have track geometry and are extremely stiff. The VISP is much tougher on hills and has a harsh ride on rough roads with its straight aluminum fork, but is well made and cruises nicely on the flats.

Thanks, TT. I've bid on a couple of Coghouse Leader frames but I keep bidding low. Maybe I should just do the BIN.

By the way Northbend, your photos & posts were the final push that drove me over the edge to convert my old Pinarello to try the SS/FG thing. I really enjoy reading your posts & seeing your photos, maybe some year i'll venture to try the ramrod but right now am not able to spend enough time riding during the week train for it.

Where do you guys fine those awesome older track frames? Maybe its just my height that makes it so hard (m 6'5' and all leg). Id love to find and build up a nice track frame (I find these new bikes getting funnier and funnnier looking as I get older, and IM only 36) but find the costs on the frames pretty high considering my use for the bike (urban commuting in chicago) and dont want to spend on something that will likly end up stolen at some point or another. Im dreading anything happening to my jamis sputnik but would love a feather or something along those lines that would fit me, is there a nice older fram in the ~500 range I should be keeping my eyes out for?

I have a feather. It's a very nice bike. Cartridge bearings in both wheels. Triple butted fork. Track drop bars.
With a freewheel and two brakes and pedals, it is 19lb.

I think the largest size is a 61. The dimensions of all the Fuji's are in their catalog, they may be on line.

I am 40 about to be 41 in August and just finished throwing together my first fixed gear and got back from first ride, wow, like learning to ride all over again, lol. It is junk compared to most on here, just an old SR chro-mo frame and Aria rims that I redished. Might have to change up my gearing for anything more than gentle hills, right now its 46/16. Very little money in it but so far fun as hell riding.
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...8/PIC-0475.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...8/PIC-0474.jpg

whitey - I started riding fg when I was 40... it just added another nice dimension to my riding and although health issues keep me from using this as my sole means of riding I still like to get out and ride them as much as possible and the different workout is very beneficial.

Biggest issue is long climbs and wind... with only one good piston even a lighter gear can make things very difficult and I have to take care of the good leg as if it fails I won't be able to walk.

This has really changed my riding style from being a hard core, frame bending, parts destroying masher to being a spinner and even though I push a lower gear I make up for it by spinning faster.

Doctor says my cardio performance is still off the scale.

:)

Sixty Fiver I just took it out for a couple more miles, hard not to ride a new to me bike, and it is pretty fun and much faster than my commuter MTB. Deffinately going to go up a couple teeth on rear cog, I too have one bad leg and tend to baby it a little, had to change routes to avoid the few hills I have around. Getting my left foot in the straps is I'd imagine pretty funny to watch, chasing the peddle around.

I'm going to give this SS thing a try again. I tried is a few years back and was in no shape to do this especially for a commuter type scenario. Now at the age of 42, i've lost 30lbs fitter than I was even in high school want to give this another go. I've been eyeballing the SST AL from bikesdirect as that fits my budget perfectly. It's a better option to ride that bike than my Dogma as a commuter bike LOL

I just grabbed a bike from Craigslist for cheap, redished the back wheel, removed all unneccesary stuff, replaced and regreagreased what needed it. I can always add better stuff to it, just wanted to give it a try on the cheap before spending too much money.

definitely CL is the way to go. I just sold some parts and what not from my garage and got some non-appropriated family funds to spend! I bought an integrated carbon stem/bar for my Dogma but thought, shoot for the same money as this bar i can buy a BIKE!

I use clipless pedals and will use toe straps but do have to have my left foot pretty snugly attached as it will drift off a flat pedal and a loose strap is pretty much the same thing... with clip-less I can lock in my left foot and this works very nicely for sg/ss and double sided pedals are the way to go with fg.

welp, i did it and pulled the trigger on the SST AL from BD in polish (all they had left). I really wanted white but that's ok, i can rattle can it later. looking forward to this, will be interesting commuting to and from work as i live at the highest point in my city and everywhere i go i always have a climb going back home

Well got my first commute to work, only about 5 miles, on the FG this morning. I really am enjoying this thing, rode about 20 miles on it total yesterday, after I got home I moved lights and trunk bag over to it for some commuteing duty. I did change the front chainring to a 42t biopace I had from the 46t I started with, made a big difference. Now looking forward to the extended ride home.

With a biopace ring, doesn't your chain tension vary?

No. As the horizontal axis of the chainring lengthens, the vertical axis shortens proportionally and vice-versa.

True, I wasn't sure about it at first but the shape causes very little difference in chain tension. If my chain line was bad it mite cause more of a problem but I got pretty lucky with it.

45 and first time SS owner. Actually I pick up my used Masi tomorrow. Been riding/TT racing for a long time. Also a mountain biker. Rode my friend's SS on the local bike path and decided to give it a go. Ill post pics soon

40 years old here. Been riding road and mountain bikes only for about 3 years now. Got serious about my dietary habits last year and dropped 90lbs. Now I've got the single for fitness rides and commuting. Gonna give it a 25 miler tomorrow and see how it does on some rails to trails around here.