fixie gear

[dahouet]

hey everybody,

so my next project is to build a fixie from an old schwinn. where can i find the components: track hub and cog mainly and wheel building stuff.

also anybody at the bikerowave who would be able to help me build a wheel?

thanks

nico

[will47]

Louise and I got our stuff (see recent thread on "filing down dropouts") at Orange 20 on Heliotrope just north of Melrose (across from the Bike Kitchen and Scoops (best ice cream). They're pretty helpful; prices may not be super low inter-web prices, but they will give you good advice, and usually discount the price some. Also, track bikes and fixed gear stuff is their main focus, so even though they have a small selection, they tend to have this stuff in stock. If you bring in your frame, they can give you a good idea of what type of stuff might be required for the conversion.

You can buy a pre-built wheel there, or just the track hub... You may want to replace your crankset w/ a track crankset.. that will be around $75-120 (you can get them cheap online; I paid around $90-100ish). At the store, they strongly recommended replacing the crankset, though maybe you could get away without doing it if you want to save money. Some other folks might have a better idea. Also, you'll need a track chain - Bikerowave has some, I think, or you can get an Izumi chain.

supplies I got:

EAI cog (17t)
Sugino RD 48t crankset
rims w/ IRO track hubs
Izumi chain
bottom bracket (forget what kind)
lockring (don't forget to get one of these!!)

If you want to do a flip-flop type setup, they have freewheel cogs as well.

There's a guy at Wheel World in Culver City who seems to know about fixed gear stuff as well, and I hear good things about Hollywood Pro Cycles.

also anybody at the bikerowave who would be able to help me build a wheel?

I think there are definitely folks who could help you build wheels. Someone mentioned Jim B giving a wheel building class, and I imagine Dan knows how as well. I believe they have most of the wheel building components. Are you using the rims that are on the bike now?

Our mostly finished projects (took one 4-5 hour Saturday session, plus part of another session):

[dahouet]

thanks for the advice.
- what is the reason for a track crankset. crank length?
- do i need to change my BB?
- i will keep the front wheel as is. for the rear i might be convinced to buy a new rim if i can get a reasonable price.

thanks

PS: jim B or dan: will you be offering a wheel building class?

[will47]

thanks for the advice.
- what is the reason for a track crankset. crank length?

I'm not an expert, so take all my "advice" with a grain of salt. I think crank length was one thing, but TJ mentioned some other stuff as well... I think track cranksets may be a little better equipped to handle the stress on a fixed gear bike. Maybe he's just being a perfectionist or blowing smoke up my ass trying to sell stuff... you could ask around on the ss/fixed forum of bikeforums.net if you want advice from someone who's not trying to sell you something. Also, the chainrings on most geared bikes are a different number of teeth, so if you're using the old chainrings, you may want to pick a different size cog. And if you want to set up the old crank arm up so that there is only one chainring on it, you may need a special bracket. More info on Sheldon Brown's "fixed gear conversion" page (http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html).

Btw, with the cheaper ones, like the one I have, there can be some slight irregularities in the chainring. Louise's 46 tooth one seems a little better than my 48t one. Not a big deal, but my chain tension changes ever so slightly as it goes around.

- do i need to change my BB?

Bottom bracket: I was told that the old one on my frame wouldn't work with the new crankset. As it turns out, I think it might have worked. So not sure - if your existing one is in good shape and will accomodate whatever crankset will be there (obviously, if you use the existing one, shouldn't be a problem), you might want to just wait and see whether everything fits together. You can always run up to a bike shop and get a new BB if you need to replace it.

Btw, getting your bike semi-taken apart ahead of time might be a good idea, but (after having gone through this process), I'd leave the crank and bottom bracket on, unless you have the specialized tools and know a lot more than I do about taking bikes apart.

- i will keep the front wheel as is. for the rear i might be convinced to buy a new rim if i can get a reasonable price.

I think you can get a new machine built wheel w/ track hub for ~ $80-90ish. We got hand built ones that were a little more. Leaving the front wheel the same should be fine, but if it's not 700c, you'll need to make sure your new rim is the right size (I think). On the other hand, rebuilding your old wheel will mean that the wheels should fit without bending the frame or using washers. My frame was super old, and to accomodate the newer wheels, we had to:
 * file the front dropouts
 * bend out the fork a tiny bit
 * add a washer between the rear dropouts and the wheel

I kind of wanted to get this project finished, so I wanted to make sure I had all the components ready, and didn't want to spend a few hours (supposedly how long it usually takes a first-timer to build up a wheel). But in retrospect, I do kinda wish I had built or rebuilt my own wheel - it seems like something everyone should do at least once or twice.

PS: jim B or dan: will you be offering a wheel building class?

I think the class I read about was in the volunteers section of the forum, but would be interesting - I'd consider checking one out.

[buttrumpus]

just wanted to throw in my 2 pennies about the difference in track cranks as i see it. i'm no expert myself, but i think most of the difference comes in that the chainring on the crank has to be much closer to the chainstays in order to stay in line with the single cog on the rear wheel. so, track/singlespeed cranks are designed with this geometry in mind to be as strong as possible. Most road cranks inner chainring is usually close to being in line with the rear cog, and thats how I set up my first conversion. Thats it from me.

[Alex Thompson]

I've definitely seen people convert road cranksets into fixie cranks successfully.  Karla did it successfully.  I don't ride fixed so I'm not an expert.

I just finished building two excellent (I think!) wheels at BRW.  If you want to handbuild your wheels I can show you as well as an excellent mechanic named Mike Wilkerson.  There is another volunteer mechanic Francesco who could probably show you but I'm not sure he is as overconfident as I am.  Keep in mind that if you do that it will probably take you 4 or 5 hours minimum the first time - mine took me about 6 hours a piece but I am a nutty perfectionist.  So that adds substantially to your time.  You would need to purchase your own spokes as our supply is limited and our ability to get them iffy.  I won't be in this weekend so your best bet if you want to build a wheel is Mon or Wed.

edit:  WILL - thanks so much for helping him out - we should appoint you Fixie Forum Facilitator!  Great advice.

[oregondan]

Track cranksets are a little bit tweaked for the chainline perhaps, (although most of the chainline can be fixed with a very short BB spindle, which is why they recommend replacing it) but the real reason is that they are short, like 170, 165, 160 mm so you don't hit them on corners, as there is no coasting.

I haven't built a wheel since 1994, so my advice on that would be informed, but old. I'd agree with Alex and say that 6 hours is a good time to budget to build your first wheel or two.

We don't have a spoke tension gauge do we?
And a spoke length chart?

[buttrumpus]

i was using a tension gauge at the brw on saturday. i wish those things weren't so g-damn expensive

[Louise]

Nico,

If you want to limit your buys to the west side:

Wheel World doesn't seem to have much in store in the way of fixed gear, but there's a guy there named Yan who seems to be a fixie enthusiast.  While they don't have much in store, he can help you decide what you need and help you order it from a catalog.

One good thing about Orange 20 is that they're open late (till 10pm) on weekdays (except Wednesday when they're closed all day) and there's a good ice cream place across the street.

[ScottS]

Buying on the westside.

I. Martin and Helen's Cycles in Manhattan Beach both stock IRO hubs. Really nice sealed bearing hubs for about $75/pair. If you pay in advance, you can also have them transfered to any other Helen's if it works better for you.

You also might try talking to John at Bikecolgy on Lincoln just south of Washington. I heard he was starting to stock fixie bikes and parts.

For tons of info, check out Sheldon Brown's site.
http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed/index.html

-ss

[buttrumpus]

i didn't read all of the last few posts, so pardon my laziness, but if you want to go way over your head in track stuff visit bill ron's shop in redondo. google his name and you'll find the website, they have everything on earth.

[Alex Thompson]

We do have a tension-ometer, we don't have a spoke length chart, but we do have a spoke ruler.  The best way to decide what spoke lengths to use is to use a spoke calculator like this:

http://sheldonbrown.com/rinard/spocalc.htm

or the one on the DT Swiss site (although they did not have my relatively common front hub in their database)

[Kieron]

The main difference between a track crank and a road crankset is simple:  the track crankset is made for a single chain ring as opposed to it's roadie counterpart being designed to accomodate two (sometimes a third) chain rings.  The length of the cranks bares no difference because you can get different length cranks for both track and road components.

[dahouet]

thanks for all the great advice. i just dropped some serious dough at orange 20. good hours, good selection, and knowledgeable staff. apparantly the way my chain ring is built i had to change the whole thing. drove the cost up but i now have a fancy sugino crank! i bought a machine rear wheel since the cost is about the same  but i am leaving myself open to rebuilding my front at some point.  my schedule is a bit eratic so i will start the strip down but will swing by brw soon.

later