After not very much agonizing, I bought myself a fixed wheel bike last week.
I got it second-hand from a bike shop here in Perth and spent a bit more getting pedals, a computer and some white bar tape (in keeping with the austere philosophy of a fixed wheel). Also, I replaced the brake with one off an Orbea. A couple of pictures are at http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~dfarrow and click on the obvious link.
I took the bike for it's maiden voyage yesterday morning - 40km along river here in Perth. Nice and flat with occasional undulation, perfect for the new machine. I can see this bike becoming my main bike for flat rides. I went for 44x15 cogs giving me 79" gear - I found this pretty good for maintaining 30 to 35kph.
I reckon everyone should have one of these in their shed.
That's quite a strange frame design.. it should turn a few heads 🙂
hippy
Yeah, it is a bit of an odd frame. The shop reckons it's 531 - the frame's been resprayed so I don't know if that's right. Apparently it was a custom job for some racer. I noted that the top tube is not horizontal and that the forks do not look orginal. This made me wonder if it originally had a smaller (say 26"😉 wheel on the front.
Good looking bike - as well as the bar tape, some black wall tires and a pair of shorter forks...what's that clearance for?
The frame is for 27" wheels. It currently has my smaller 700c track bike's wheels installed. I plan to build some new wheels for it (still 700c) and get either shorter forks (i have some already) or longer brakes (preferred option) OR make a drop bolt for the calipers like Sheldon does..
Quoted message said:
What gear ratio are you running?
48/18, simply because that is what the Miche groupset came with. I want lower so I can skid the hell out of it and then notch it up a bit for commuting once I know how to skid it to a quick(ish) stop.
After not very much agonizing, I bought myself a fixed wheel bike last week.
I got it second-hand from a bike shop here in Perth and spent a bit more getting pedals, a computer and some white bar tape (in keeping with the austere philosophy of a fixed wheel). Also, I replaced the brake with one off an Orbea. A couple of pictures are at http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~dfarrow and click on the obvious link.
I took the bike for it's maiden voyage yesterday morning - 40km along river here in Perth. Nice and flat with occasional undulation, perfect for the new machine. I can see this bike becoming my main bike for flat rides. I went for 44x15 cogs giving me 79" gear - I found this pretty good for maintaining 30 to 35kph.
I reckon everyone should have one of these in their shed.
Cheers, Duncan.
PS To e-mail, remove finger.
Good Stuff! Once you aquaint yourself with the way of the fixie maybe you would be interested in doing the barrack st ride on a tuesday or thursday. I take my fixie on that ride and it is great for building a bit of character ( thats what i tell myself...). There are always a couple of others on fixies there as well. Look out for me on my Orange KHS pursuit fixie around the river (48-16).
