ridethecliche

Is it legal to race a 'conversion' frame on the track?

I'm thinking about converting my 84 trek 760 to a ss/fg bike, and I'd like to be able to race with it as well. I'm wondering if I can race with it if it has dropouts that face forward instead of brakes.

I'd be using a bolt to secure the rear wheel because a quick release sure as heck wouldn't cut it.

Would this be allowed?

Rules say:
"For track races, only a bicycle with a single cog fixed wheel and without derailleurs, brakes or quick releases may be used; However, in pursuit and time trial events that are not championships or selection events, brakes, freewheels, quick releases, and derailleurs may be installed on the bicycle so long as only one gear is functional."

Nothing about dropouts.

TejanoTrackie 

I believe so, provided both front and rear wheels did not have quick releases. You can use either nuts bolted to axles or skewers with nuts, although I would not recommend the latter for the rear wheel. I do use a nutted skewer on my front wheel, which I also use on my road bike with a quick release. As far as brakes are concerned, they must be completely removed, including the levers. Finally, it must be a fixed gear, not a single speed freewheel.

Which track will you be riding? T-town? Kissena?

NorthWestDork

Though technically possible, I wouldnt recommend it. 'Normal' geometry road bicycles dont have high enough bottom brackets to allow safe maneuvering around a steeply banked Velodrome (your cranks and pedals may strike the banking). For the money you would put into a conversion, you might as well buy a cheap complete from bikes direct like the Kilo TT.

Though should probably contact your local Velodrome for their thoughts and suggestions. Most places have rental bikes that should be pretty cheap to use. I know a few people at Marymoor in WA that raced all through CAT5 on rentals then went out and bought their own proper track bike when they got serious/upraded to CAT4.

ridethecliche

Nothing yet, I want to build a bike so I can get used to it before racing it.

Thinking of doing cross this winter and try some track as well in the near future, we'll see.

It's not enough to take all the cables off the brakes? I have to remove the brakes as well?

Oh well, not really a big deal to do that, but I was hoping that taking out the cables would be enough. I'll need to figure out what I can use to make it easier to take the brake levers off without replacing the bar tape every time.

Thanks for the info.

I suppose you might be right.

I guess I could use my 'conversion' as a winter/commuting bike and rent a bike at the track in event of a race, then buy my own if I was committed.

I wish I could sell my 84 trek for a reasonable price. Then I'd just do it 'right' the first time.

TejanoTrackie 

I agree in principal. Certainly, you could not safely race a road framed bike on my home track (Superdrome in Frisco, Texas), which is a 250m with 44 degree banking in the turns. However, I noticed that he lives in Middletown, CT, and there are no steeply banked tracks nearby. I know for a fact that many tracks with shallow banking allow road bikes to use them during certain open riding sessions, although they are not allowed for races.

ridethecliche

Yeah, I'd either be going to trexlertown, kissena, or to the track in NH.

bonechilling

This has nothing to do with the USAC rules and everything to do with the rules of your local velodrome. There is no way in hell that Trexlertown is going to let you out there with an old converted Trek, but I imagine that Kissena is a little more relaxed about these things, given the shallow banking.

Really though, if you want to race track, get a track bike. A Kilo TT will do you just fine, and costs as much as most conversions.

queerpunk

Yes, you'll be fine at Kissena and I imagine at NEV, too.

ridethecliche

That might be true, but then I need to figure out what I'm going to do with my trek

carpediemracing 

rtc - I forgot something in my pm - NEV rents bikes for $5/day. Some are nice - I can vouch for one since I donated a 55x55 custom painted, custom geo, thin wall track frame (it's blue and says "Ross" on it, after the painter, not the bike company). DA post and headset. It used to run the System 10 stuff (1 cm on center for chain pins, not 1/2") but NEV will need to hang some normal parts on it. Built for a racer who stopped racing.

It's hard to race there too many times, maybe 2x/week? So if you rent all the time, you may only spend $75 the first year.

cdr

ridethecliche

Thanks for the info CDR

See you at this weekend's crit.

queerpunk

dang, 10 pitch drivetrain? those can fetch a mint among people who love and collect short-lived production mistakes.

carpediemracing 

yep. I tried to get the parts with the frame but the guy actually wore out his 10 stuff. Arg.

cdr