Now I need to learn how to ride it
 

Finally built this thing, now I need to learn how to ride it. It's full fixed and hills are friggin scary. Learned how to skid stop today, but not going super fast. Can only track stand for three or four seconds. Cant do the back wheel hop, slow down thing I saw on you tube. Once the pedals start turning fast I don't feel like I have a heck of a lot control stopping from the back wheel. Finished the build this morning and I've been out practicing on and off all day.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=351043http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=351044

Practicing for what? Don't worry about track stands, and skidding and all that stuff, it'll come with time (or not), just ride and enjoy.

Nice build, looks good.

Skids are useless use your brake and just use resistance on the crank to stop. Just ride it and it will come to you.

The whole reason I got a fixed gear was to learn how to ride a bike again, if that makes any sense at all. So every ride is a technique practice ride, at first (keep practicing hopping, skidding, pace pedal resistance, etc but HAVE A BRAKE) at first. Then later on it's "jesus how do I climb this hill, or spin down the back side. Then later still, it's "can I go on a ride with geared riders and hang [depends]" but it's all so much fun. Treat every ride as an opportunity to learn and it will be hella fun.

You have a front brake. Why do you need to worry about skid stops?

I know; practice, practice, practice. I'm actually cranking up hills pretty good, its going down that's the hard part. I've been going down the steep ones slow with a lot of back pressure on the cranks. On one short, medium/steep hill, I went down like I normally would on my road bike and the pedals ended up rotating so fast I took my feet off completely. Was kind of an "Oh Crap!" moment. I just used the brake at the bottom. Yes, I have the front brake but would like to be able to good enough to ride without using it. I have muscles sore today I didn't even know I had.

Same here! I just converted one of my bikes from 42x17 SS to 42x16 FG. My first ride with this bike was two days ago. I went on a ride that was just under 12 miles, which is a short one for me normally. We don't have any real climbs in the immediate area, so I climbed the few very short steep rollers we do have, practiced trackstands, and slowing and stopping using back pressure on the pedals. The muscles on the inside of the thigh by the knee were sore after that. Yesterday I went on a 49.9 mile hard hill climbing group ride on my geared road bike. I felt strong on that ride, but today those same muscles are still sore. I remember hearing years ago that those muscles are used while climbing. When I mentioned this to my riding partner, who is a very strong cyclist and rides a 48x15 fixed Langster, he said that FG riding makes you a stronger climber. I wish I had known that a long time ago! Needless to say, I will be riding my FG quite a bit ;)

That frame is an early-to-mid 1970s Fuji Special Road Racer, as the pump pegs and stem give it away. It will have a somewhat relaxed geometry with a long wheelbase, good for road comfort. Did you paint the frame, or did it come to you that way?