My fixed gear project

[dkel]

I was planning to wait until some other things got done in my life, but I was a little bored this afternoon, and instead of going for a ride, I stripped down my old Schwinn World!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]6793[/ATTACH]
I don’t have a crank puller or any bottom bracket tools to get those off.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]6794[/ATTACH]
Fork is good. I kept the seatpost bolt just in case, but I’ll have to replace those ball bearings for the steerer.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]6795[/ATTACH]
A pile of parts. The seat is fair, but the seat tube is too short. Those rims have rust patches in the braking surface. I could keep the stem and bars, but they’re pretty rusty.

So what I’d like to do is turn it into a fixie, and I’d like to use new components, in part because the old ones are really dingy, but also because I’m too lazy to troll endlessly for used parts on Craigslist. I want the finished product to be a bit of a beater, but I’d like it to be reliable, and if I wanted to upgrade to a nicer or newer frame, I’d love to be able to move the components over without them being totally out of place. That said, I’m not ready to spend a fortune.

I realize, of course, it would be cheaper and easier to buy a new fixie from somewhere like Purefix, but then I wouldn’t get to do the work myself.

So, gurus, what say you? I’ll have lots of questions as I go, and this project will probably take months, but I’m interested in how you all think I should go about getting started.

Topic

[cyclingfool]

@Geoff 98725 wrote:

And isn’t he still in school? At least until the dissertaion is finished?

Stop guilting me for falling behind on my Master’s capstone! (Oh, you’re talking about dkel)

[dkel]

(To all of you.)

[dkel]

@Rockford10 98700 wrote:

A member of my family wrote emails to several bike shops last night to see if they had a fixed gear bike in stock and if he could test ride it.

He’s got $20 in his pocket and is off school today. #tobe12again

Bikenetic set him up with one, and he had a ball. Amazing. I didn’t think he would go through with it.

[ShawnoftheDread]

Dkel, you’re going black on your accessories, right? This is a decent price on a wheelset.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=824805347572120&set=pcb.1567773863453203&type=1&relevant_count=2

[mcfarton]

I think I saw this for sale on Craigslist as a project. …..

sent from your mom’s house

[dkel]

Wheels!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]7016[/ATTACH]

I thought I would have all kinds of trouble getting these to fit in the dropouts, but they slid right in. The spacing on the front is a little bit tight even after all that fork stretching I did, but getting the wheel on was a matter of wiggling, not a matter of trying to wrench the fork blades apart, so I’m pretty happy with it. I found out the rear spacing is a few mm wide, but with this steel frame, tightening the nuts squeezed everything into place just fine. I also picked up some rim tape, tubes, and one tire (the other is on order at Bikenetic).

[dkel]

Thinking about ordering my cog and lockring…do I need both a chain whip and lockring tool for this? I’m assuming I would definitely need both for taking the things off, but since the cog will tighten as I ride, can I skip the chain whip for now? Also, is there a DIY chain whip I could mock up with a vice grip and a bit of chain? How about a big plumbing wrench for the lockring?

[ShawnoftheDread]

You don’t need a chain whip for a fixed cog, just for a freewheel. It can be useful though, but not absolutely necessary.

[dcv]

@dkel 99929 wrote:

Thinking about ordering my cog and lockring…do I need both a chain whip and lockring tool for this? I’m assuming I would definitely need both for taking the things off, but since the cog will tighten as I ride, can I skip the chain whip for now? Also, is there a DIY chain whip I could mock up with a vice grip and a bit of chain? How about a big plumbing wrench for the lockring?

You need to tighten the cog before tightening the lockring. You risk loosening the cog when backpedaling or backward force when slowing down with just your legs. If it’s loose you risk stripping the lockring and ruining the hub. If you don’t use a chain whip you could try rotafix, but make sure both cog and lockring are tightened before riding.

[dkel]

Is it possible to put your weight on the bike and use the cranks and chain to tighten the cog?

[ShawnoftheDread]

@dkel 99947 wrote:

Is it possible to put your weight on the bike and use the cranks and chain to tighten the cog?

Yes. But the chain whip is $7. And you will need it eventually anyway.

[dcv]

rotafix
http://www.urbanvelo.org/issue11/urbanvelo11_p76-77.html

[mstone]

@dcv 99964 wrote:

rotafix
http://www.urbanvelo.org/issue11/urbanvelo11_p76-77.html

What could go wrong? Oh,

Quote:

It is feasible to overtighten a cog with this method, pulling the threads clear off the hub. It is also possible to cross-thread a cog completely on, once again ruining the hub threads. As for removing a cog, be sure to remove the lockring first to avoid carnage. Delicate bottom bracket shells should be protected with a rag, this method is likely to leave marks in fancy paint and aluminum frames.

[vvill]

Yeah anytime you want to swap a cassette or freewheel you’ll need a chainwhip anyway. I think I own two, but haven’t even opened my spare.

The only thing I would say is maybe get a 1/8 chainwhip so you can use it on 1/8 stuff as well as 3/32. I bought a wheel from craiglist that came with a 1/8 cog and couldn’t use my chainwhip on it – took it to Bikenetic instead – they took it off for free!

If you think you might change your gearing more often, there are proprietary cog holder designs from Miche and I think White Industries’ current ENO hub has splines.
(I have the Miche version on an older threaded ENO hub.) This will of course require you buy the cog from the same manufacturer, but you won’t have to unscrew/rescrew on a cog for a gearing change. You still have to unscrew/rescrew the lockring though.

[dkel]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]7093[/ATTACH]
17T cog and lockring. I went ahead and got the chainwhip and lockring tool, too. Made the job easy, and wasn’t that expensive.

[Author]

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