So for those of you monitoring the pics-of-your-ride thread, you know that I just picked up an old Bridgestone. This thing is wicked relaxed. We're talking drunk stoner relaxed here. So I'd like to shorten up the wheelbase and make it a little more responsive on the cheap. To that end, I'm thinking about just flipping the fork around so the rake takes the wheel towards the frame, stayer style. It's tight (as in I'll probably be looking at toe overlap--but that's actually pretty cool) but it works. Anyone know of a reason why I shouldn't do this? (I'll need to replace the v-brakes with a caliper, but otherwise I think it's mechanically cool).

Also, anyone able to personally (as in, "I've done this and here's how it worked out") speak to the pros and cons of ye ol' BB lockring and loctite method of attaching a track cog to a freewheel threaded hub. I have a singlespeed wheel that came with the bike but frankly the freewheel is kinda freaking me out and I'd like to use it for some silly icebiking and winter commuting, so a fix would be better anyhow. The gearing is 40/16 if that makes a different--you know, torque and all. I know opinions are sharply divided but I'm looking for personal testaments.

Witness, y'all, amen!

Can't say much about the backwards fork. Well, maybe

In regards to the cog/BB lockring/loctite deal, I haven't had any trouble with mine. I skid occasionally and haven't felt any loosening of the cog or lockring. As long as you crank down hard whilst tightening both the cog and lockring you should be fine. Applying loctite helps too!

Have you ridden the bike this way yet? It seems that turning the fork around will create a negative trail. I seem to recall that negative trail is unrideable as it is unstable and requires a reverse steering reflex..

I haven't and it will def create a negative trail. Dunno how that will ride, though I'm less concerned about that. That's the, "oh, man, I so couldn't ride it because it was just too weird, issue versus the "dude, my fork collapse and tossed me for a header," one.

The reverse steering reflex is interesting though. It seems like the steering should be the same though it would tend to drag out straight (which wouldn't be so bad--as it is, it tends to reinforce whatever steer you have on the bike). I'll be taking it for a little longer ride tomorrow to get an overall better sense of the ride.

i've been riding without a lock ring or locktight almost exclusively for the last year or more... ive had it spin off 3 times that whole time... and i've been able to fix it without getting off the bike every time (although my testicles were a little angry with me after the first time)

it's doable... and if yer riding ice i'd imagine you'd have nothing to worry about...

I've got a beater bike set up with loctite/bb lockring; no problems. My ancient knees don't skid, however. Flipping the fork about seems like a bad idea, though I haven't done it personally.

Ok, 2nd question: no I won't just be riding ice, so the lockring becomes important. What's the technique people usually use? I'm thinking grease the threads on the cog, thread on, thoroughly wipe out exposed hub threads with paper towel, "grease" threads of lockring with loctite, thread on, set.

(Natch I would whip down the cog and wrench down the ring too)

dude, you can steepen your geometry with a 650 front wheel!

Fraid not. It's a mtb, 26" wheels which are almost the same diameter as 650. And we're talking *way* slack, so a few mm isn't gonna help.

mtb? whydintjasayso? use a 20" bmx wheel!

right...

Next!

that sounds like a good approach. i may end being sorry i did this, but i actually used loctite (the blue kind) on the cog as well as the lockring. ordinarily it is rule number one in my garage to grease everything i plan to remove someday, but i justified this exception for two reasons: 1) i use blue loctite on the right-hand thread drive-side bottom bracket cups of my italian- and french-threaded bikes and have always been able to remove them when necessary, and b) if i end up unable to remove the cog from my non-track hub it's no great loss, it's just a cheap hub anyway, i have a track hub waiting for the right moment.

so i'm not really recommending you glue the cog on too, just kind of throwing it out there, as an experiment someone has done, without really knowing how it's going to turn out. and yes, i skid on occasion, and the setup has not slipped.

oh yeah and the fork thing. i don't believe in this reverse steering thing, but i will say that you ought to at least try riding the bike setup with negative caster (or trail, as the bikers say) someplace really soft, first, and see how you like it. i can't see how it would damage the fork, or lead to a collapse.

Well I just sort of threw out the "collapse" thing as an example. It does have a ridiculous amount of rake and reversing it takes it pretty close to the downtube. I do worry that flex might cause it to stop up against the frame. No well to tell without trying, I suppose. I need to dig up a caliper and give it a shot. Or I suppose I could just disconnect the front brake for the nonce.

Thanks for the locktite suggestions. I thought about loctiting everything, but someday I might actually want to stick a new built up track wheel on there and it would be cool if I could get the cog off..

As a huge advocate of the haphazard use of a hacksaw, I recommend the following, if you decide not to go with the reversed fork: Cut the fork about eight inches down from the crown. Get two lengths of copper plumbing pipe (Home Depot or your local hardware store) of a diameter that will fit over the blades of the fork as closely as possible, and slide one pipe over the stump of each fork tube. Drill three holes through the pipe and the blade (on each side), about two inches apart, and secure the jam with bolts and loctite (making sure that the extra length of the bolts extends outward, not where the wheel will go). Now cut the pipe at the bottom about two inches shy of the length you want. Then cut the bottom part of the original fork so that you can insert as much as possible into the pipes without the rake getting in the way (does that make sense?). Repeat the drilling and bolting process, and ride away on your ghetto-fabulous, straight-bladed fork!

(I actually used a similar technique to extend a BMX frame and make it big enough to accomodate 26" wheels, and I have had good luck with that frame.)

Also, I have some spare straight forks from old mountain bikes. Maybe you want one?

Possibly interested in your old forks. Your technique is ghetto fabulous but I already went crazy with the hacksaw last night and chopped down the bars and may have made them too narrow. Generally when I get out the hacksaw it's a bad scene.

However I may take you up on the straight blade MTB fork. Are any of them 1"? Otherwise I may pop up to Broadway sometime to see what trashy old 1" straight blades they have sitting around. Of course I haven't actually taken this out for a real ride yet, just in front of the house, so maybe I'll like the huge rake. And part of me is perversely in love with the idea of a MTB shaped stayer.

Ok. So I just took the reverse fork out for a ride. It's cool as long as you're going straight. God forbid you actually want to steer though, because that junk gets weird. You have to fight the steering the whole way, not worth it. My damn narrow bars are also fine for downhilling, but jesus they suck for climbing. AH well, I have some wide riser bars from an old Schwinn should I regret my hack sawery.

Got a pic? I would love to see one of this backwards fork.

Here. I also threw on my old Selle Italia Turbo. Love it, def better than the Shogun saddle it had.

My god...tell me you wear a fullface and only ride w/a football style mouthguard, please.

... or at least make SCUL choppers.

whoah - it looks like the negative rake actually lifts up the head tube - you've increased the effective length of your fork - so your head tube angle/general frame attitude is more slack, but with negative trail.....interesting.

that is some wacky-looking *****. you know, another way to get that effect would be to ride straight into something like a tree. you wouldn't have to be going too fast, just kind of a brisk walking sort of pace.

How 'bout a staight fork?

Yup. For sure reversing the fork lifts the front and slackens the angles. I'm gonna look for a used 1" MTB straight blade sometime. But I'll probably ride it around first to make sure that I'm not actually in love with the Bridgestone fork.