mascher

Finally got my old horsie set up as a singlespeed. Would have been sooner but I had a derailleur with a stripped fixing bolt and broken pedals rusted into the crank.

But how great is it? You know how great it is, but I'm going to tell you anyway.

Sorry no pics, no cam, but you don't really need one because you've seen bike like this before.

White Raleigh mountain bike ca 1989-90, full lx once upon a time. Now two forks (I've broken three rigid forks just in the city, no drops, no crashes) and everything else later, plus a year in the back yard and a year inside in pieces, it's got a tange quill stem, lx triple crank (with all three rings because I destroyed the threads the first time I tried to use a crank puller), and the original lx hubs (very crusty). I knew there was a reason I saved a bike that had horizontal dropouts (that used to drive me nuts in the winter with a wonky qr, always pulling the wheel out). I put a lot of miles on this bike, even courriered on it for a summer (Canbec 157 - had to mention that for some courrier cred , but if you're a mtl courier you know that if I worked for them I have no cred at all), so it had some sentimental value.

I think the triple chainring and no derailleur looks is *very* this bike. It goes with my shifter lever combos that don't have shifter cables, lx thumbshifters long gone. Gouges to the metal, plenty of rust, pearl sparkle white paint in total shambles, stickers (including a parking garage sticker from a job three years ago) a wreck, and it never had any decals when I got it anyway.

So I think I've got the bug. I've only gone around the block to test it. This bike is a beater to have around in Quebec City when I visit my girlfriend on weekends, so the idea was to convert as cheap as posssible, but now I see the light. Wonky old cantis? No way! Need new v-brakes. Whoops, can't use the canti levers with vbrakes, I guess I'm in the market for nice brake levers too? What am I doing with a bent rack and broken fenders anyway? And that Canadian Tire front tire has to go, I think just the front tire weighs more than the rear wheel with a worn out mythos xc. And maybe Tony has some fixed mtb hubs left...

You just get on and go. That's it. And the going is great. The last one speed I rode had to have been about 20 years ago.

It's geared 50x18, and it doesn't feel as tall as I thought it would be - a block or so and I'm up to reasonable cadence, and in two I was spinning it. I shot for the mid 70s, not wanting to have to fight a huge gear at frequent stops in the city, and when I practiced with my geared commuter in 48x16 it seemed gigantic from a dead stop (I'm a big shifter, and spin I think >80 at most times), I think it might have been all that derailleur junk in the way.

I think one thing you all don't mention enough is that building up your own singlespeed or fixie is hugely satisfying because even if you're a total technical idiot (e.g. you tip over you upsidedown bike while you've messing with the chain, and you fall on top of it and gouge a hole in your thumb on the filthy chainring) you can do this yourself. Easily. I'm going to get a fixed mtn hub and build it up myself because I'm now so inspired that I can turn a bunch of junk into a bike that works.

This bike will be to tame the wilds of Quebec City on weekends, messing with the yuppies in the haute ville and drinking Schoune, maybe the finest beer on the planet. Next will be my Kona mtb for here (Montreal), which will have to have a tensioner, but that's ok. Maybe I'll do it right now.

Naw, I think I need to go for a bike ride.

(grin woo hoo wild enthusiasm)

schwinnbikelove

It's awesome to live a new exciting build vicariously through someone else.

Thanks!

Gurgus

Heh. My first ss was just built also. Road bike witha self destructing deraillieur. I'm running the same gears as you. Fun, ain't it?

ETQC

My favorite is blasting trough the rue st-jean, from the fortifications up to the basillica, on the paved road. Not recommended if you have parkingson's or something.

Next time you're in quebec, drop me a line via PM, fixies are few and far between around here. It gets lonely sometimes

phidauex

This realization will get you a long way in life. Stuff that works is just junk put together. Hence, junk = stuff that works, in disguise. Sounds like a fun project.

peace,
sam

mascher

Heh, blasting down St-Jean seems crazy, due to the Quebec City thing of peds randomly crossing the street without looking. Do they make cowcatchers for bikes? Or maybe that's what the cars in the street are for.

This is a singlespeed freehub bike though, not a fix. I was dissing my gf for having to get off her bike and walk it up one of the bits of St-Genevieve that goes from a like 25 to 50 degree slope, and then she was like, um, if you're in a big gear, I'll get stronger in my granny, but you'll be walking it buddy

When my pink fixed nightmare is ready though, I'll bring her up and we'll race up St-Sacrement geared in the 70s

ETQC

Meh, trust me, quebec city seems like the perfect place for a freewheel, but who am I to respect logic? As far as the pedestrians go, I have a far-reachinf voice and can freeze people in their tracks, quite litteraly, so I use that as much as I can, when I have right of way. In any other case, I just thread trough them.

I am fixed, but geared 42/18. I'm a spinner, and can keep things running smoothly at 120 rpm, but I have a 53 gear coming in, I'll try that, but I don't think st-sacrement or the cote d'abraham will be possibilities for me.

I don't diss freewheels BTW, can't do that, since I'd be raving like a lunatic at everyone in the streets.

Hit me back when you're in town!