Quantcast

Fixed Gears.

quickneonrt

Turbo Monkey
Apr 8, 2003
1,611
0
Staten Island NY
I have an 08 Langster Boston. 42x17 specialized sworks carbon seat post, toupe gel saddle, VeloOrange alum pedals w/MKs half clips, 2" rise os protapers cut down to 21 1/2"s, RaceFace D2 50mm 0 rise diablous stem, lock on intense flanged grips. Most important front Sram Red brake avid brake lever the long pull really grabs and the red brake has more clearance for wider tires the stock brakes only fit a 23 now I can fit up to a 28. I live and ride where cars don't give an s@$* about you have come close to being taken out on my fixie and my road bike necessity overides asthetics. Waiting on my front Aerospoke wheel so I can be real cool. No actually they are very durable and don't have to worry about knocking it out of true and having the brake rub.
 

quickneonrt

Turbo Monkey
Apr 8, 2003
1,611
0
Staten Island NY
the chainring runs a bit eccentric (assuming the crank is a bit out of whack), so it goes from snug to that slack within one rotation. any tighter & the chain would be under too much tension.
i would just be affraid of throwing that chain going that slack to tight esp. on a fixed
 

daway

Chimp
Apr 15, 2004
84
0
Seattle
I'm currently building my first fixie/single speed. I scored the entire bike for $30 and threw the stock 27 in wheels on my geared Le Tour. Here's the build:

Schwinn Letour 4130 frame (late 80s I'm guessing)
Silver Mavic CXP22s on silver Formula hubs (flip flop in 15t fixed/16t free)
Stock brakes (they work with the 700c wheels which surprised me, I thought I'd have to pony up for long reach brakes)
Stock cranks 170mm (will these be too long?) with stock 40 tooth middle chainring.


I'm in Seattle, anyone wanna chime in on my choice of gears? I'm planning on using my flip flop hub a lot, so I'll probably just leave both brakes on (I know, what a fashion faux pas, especially in the U-district) for when I ride single speed.

Here are a few sneak preview shots. Sorry for the crappy cell phone quality, I don't have a legit camera!
 

Attachments

ÆX

Turbo Monkey
Sep 8, 2001
4,920
17
NM
the chainring runs a bit eccentric (assuming the crank is a bit out of whack), so it goes from snug to that slack within one rotation. any tighter & the chain would be under too much tension.
knew you would have a cool ride.

i have a townie shop here in amarillo now.
sell about half fixies.

here is my pake cleopatra
wood tubulars with tufo dimond28's
scored a pair of magic moto cranks

 

Dethklok

Monkey
Jul 4, 2008
149
0
Rochester, NY
I just got done Building my Bianchi S.A.S.S. into a fixie for urban rides and tricking Ill try to get some pics up ASAP but heres the build list on my "Sassy Bitch" as we dubbed her today at work :D

-Bianchi S.A.S.S. (19.5, a size too big for me but its managable and I wanted the longer TT)
-NS Fundemental-3 Fork
-Surly Hubs + MTX33 rims
-2.35 Schwalbe Big Apples (F+R)
-Gusset Slink Half-Link Chain
-Gusset Pedals
-Spank Dj seat
-FSA SL-280 seatpost (had the farthest set back I could find)

Currently running 170 Sugino Cranks with a 3-something chainring (had it laying around) but Im waiting on a set of 165 Sinz and 36t ring. Also a gusset (45mm) stem and 2.5 rise bars but swapping those out for 30mm stem with 3" rise fat bars.

I was riding the bike around a little today and it feels good, feels like a oversized BMX bike and the tires look like they could cave a car roof in lol.

The only thing left to do is remove some slight surface rust forming. I might remove the braze-ons as well but i believe the SASS is chromed so I dunno about how much that will screw it up by cutting them off.
 

Dethklok

Monkey
Jul 4, 2008
149
0
Rochester, NY
ride report: the SASS makes one fun bike, but it sucks for tricking, Im either gonna tear it down and use the parts for other projects or throw knobbies on it and hit the trails for some offroad fixie fun.

Im currently waiting for a BreakBrake17 Charmer frame for FGFS riding Ill def be posting specs and pics of that mofo when I get it in should be ****in sick!!!
 

SuspectDevice

Turbo Monkey
Aug 23, 2002
4,160
365
Roanoke, VA
So.... That Pista.

Know what I love about it (and the euro-mystique in general)?

I have every one of those tubes sitting in the shop right now. They didn't cost me very much money.
We could build one of those this week, slap a crazy paint job on it next week, and your average consumer(mid to high-end) would definitely pay more for that generic Taiwan-made Bianchi frame because of a paintjob.

Now if we powdercoated our frame Celeste with Bianchi stickers, stuck different seatstays on it and called it a super-duper-special edition bike we could sell it for more than than the ~800 that that frameset will retail for in the US, but not much more. We'd lose some money(certainly NO profit) at that price based on the way the global economy functions. The frame as it's painted now would cost about $600 to be painted in the US where getting something painted costs 10x more than Taiwan due mostly to environmental and safety regulation, not labor costs. Lovely!

The coolest thing about all these kids spending lots of money on track frames is that they are starting to understand the way that globalization effects pricing structures and directly impacts their local economies. It's also rad that the whole fixed-gear thing has managed to keep Bianchi USA in business the last 8 years...
 

SuspectDevice

Turbo Monkey
Aug 23, 2002
4,160
365
Roanoke, VA
Since I just ranted about Bianchi I guess I should post up a picture of me fixture



As you can tell this it's a dedicated training/commuting bike.
The fit and handling are a little bit more relaxed than on my main bike but I'm not a fan of longer front-centers so it does have some toe-overlap with fenders. It needs to get torn down soon for a fresh powdercoat.

Standared WI ENO hub in the rear laced up 36 3x to Mavic "open" rim(NOS from the early nineties). Up front it's a King CX front hub 36 3x on the same rim. Tires are whatever is in the free bin. I like Michelin 25's for their large OD and increased development.

Cranks are Raceface I pulled out of the parts-bin. They aren't to bad, but damn are they sharp.

Gearing is 42/16 on 172.5 cranks(I use this thing to work on legspeed).

I took that picture last winter- The bars are 42mm 3t Rotundo pros and I'm running Sram brake levers now(love that hood shape). -10 130mm Thomson stem.

The post is a pretty frigging nice carbon jobbie that is a stock mid-range Giant item with 25mm setback.

Seat is one of my favorite Selle Italia Turbomatics.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,828
24,403
media blackout
i just like bianchi's heritage (which is sorta sullied now that its no longer italian made)

mick you know when i'm in the market for a road bike you'll be getting a phone call.
 

Dethklok

Monkey
Jul 4, 2008
149
0
Rochester, NY
Ill have to get some pics snapped but currently for road use Im on a custom built All-City Big Block and I love it, simply amazing quality and ride, it has become one of my lifer bikes at this point. This is actually my second AC bike I had a Def Wish (trick 700/29er bike) but it was a size too big so I eventually sold it.

Hopefully Im finishing up another fixie today if my parts came in, older Redline Monocog 26", for general bar bombing and trail retardation haha.

Im replacing my Def Wish with a Grime G.O.A.T. a 26" specific trick frame for a fun bike...if I like the fixed monocog on the trails I may try to build up a fixed monstercross bike