Anyone else ride fixed gear?

[DOD]Asprilla · 16 Apr 2010 at 10:10

Don't forget transparent lacquer spray to protect the shiney new paint job.

platypus · 16 Apr 2010 at 10:12

Bloody hell stripping that bike was knackering work, the vibrations from the angle grinder...

platypus · 16 Apr 2010 at 10:15

platypus · 16 Apr 2010 at 10:30

[DOD]Asprilla;16373354 said:
Don't forget transparent lacquer spray to protect the shiney new paint job.

I'll get that tomorrow, I've got to prime it and paint it first. Annoyingly looks like it's about to start raining...

platypus · 16 Apr 2010 at 15:59

fortunately no rain and no wind, soooo

Tr Insanity · 16 Apr 2010 at 20:39

platypus said:
fortunately no rain and no wind, soooo
*snip*

Aha, nice way of hanging the frame

What colours are you going for? Not sure if you've said yet! :cool:

touch · 16 Apr 2010 at 22:54

Mr-White said:
Cycles have to have front and rear brakes by law to ride on the roads...you guys must be in agony using those off road

MW

Not quite right. Cycles must have 2 means of stopping. So fixed wheels can legally get away with only a front brake because the rear wheel can be stopped by the cranks.

Just found this genious brake on bikeradar forums:

Bri · 17 Apr 2010 at 02:30

I can't get my head round what the advantages of 'fixed gear' would be, can you enlighten me please?

[DOD]Asprilla · 17 Apr 2010 at 14:41

touch said:
Not quite right. Cycles must have 2 means of stopping. So fixed wheels can legally get away with only a front brake because the rear wheel can be stopped by the cranks.

Just found this genious brake on bikeradar forums:

I've not followed that beyond the first page, was it deemed to be a good or a bad idea?

Bri said:
I can't get my head round what the advantages of 'fixed gear' would be, can you enlighten me please?

There are a number, but the main one for me is that they are cheap, rugged and low maintenance.

Another is the you have much, much low drive train losses so you can run higher gears easier, if that's your thing. I can feel the drive train on my road bikes now robbing me of power.

touch · 17 Apr 2010 at 17:50

[DOD]Asprilla;16380992 said:
I've not followed that beyond the first page, was it deemed to be a good or a bad idea?

It was posted in the MTB General section for some reason so not many people really understood it. One of the main points was that you cant use chain lube with it (which is why the chain is painted in self-lubricating blue hammerite or something).

I think it's a genious idea. All the normal advantages of a disc brake without the extra weight of a rotor. And you wouldnt normally be able to get a suitable disc hub for a fixed gear.

[DOD]Asprilla · 17 Apr 2010 at 18:17

Ah, I was reading the thread about it in the commuting section. I don't think any of the fixers in there were much impressed, especially since a chain break removes all your braking ability - single point of failure kinda makes having a brake a bit pointless.

oddjob62 · 17 Apr 2010 at 18:36

[DOD]Asprilla;16382036 said:
Ah, I was reading the thread about it in the commuting section. I don't think any of the fixers in there were much impressed, especially since a chain break removes all your braking ability - single point of failure kinda makes having a brake a bit pointless.

There's also the fact that the gear ratio is working against it. Compared to a disk brake of the same diameter on a 48/18 gear it will have 18/48 of the "stopping power" (Assuming everything else to be equal.

"andy" · 17 Apr 2010 at 21:11

platypus said:
fortunately no rain and no wind, soooo

looking good

should have took the pump? mounts off and grinded them clean though !

is it an old raleigh ? i have a very similar looking frame/forks , you should easy manage to get the right chain tension with those semi horiz dropouts. run singlespeed on mine though as i cba with fixed on the hills round here

platypus · 19 Apr 2010 at 08:55

"andy" said:
should have took the pump? mounts off and grinded them clean though !

Pump mounts?!

If you mean the forks, they're being sprayed a different colour, just primed them at the same time.

oddjob62 · 19 Apr 2010 at 09:02

platypus said:
If you mean the forks, they're being sprayed a different colour, just primed them at the same time.

Should have still removed them and the headset.

platypus · 19 Apr 2010 at 09:28

I couldn't actually get the headset off. I took the bolts off, and it stayed on, so I primed it and then taped over it to paint the frame

.

[DOD]Asprilla · 19 Apr 2010 at 09:34

platypus said:
Pump mounts?!

If you mean the forks, they're being sprayed a different colour, just primed them at the same time.

I think he meant the pump mounts under the top tube; very old school.

platypus · 19 Apr 2010 at 09:40

[DOD]Asprilla;16390464 said:
I think he meant the pump mounts under the top tube; very old school.

Oh right yes, well I'd have had to cut them off. Suppose I could.

[DOD]Asprilla · 19 Apr 2010 at 09:54

I'd keep them, original features rock.

platypus · 19 Apr 2010 at 10:08

Aye I'd not intended to remove them.

Anyway, the frame is ready now, I'm going to have to struggle to get the old handlebars off somehow. Not sure how to get them off because I undid the stem bolt and it was stuck on.

Other then that, just waiting on the wheels now! Well, that and I still haven't decided on chainset.