Fixed Gear Falcon conversion

[davellis]

Some of you might be interested in this (?!)

I recently had a bike stolen and picked this one up from my dad - it'd been sitting round for a long time and my last one was a fixed, so decided to re-invest / waste some money on this 10 speed and convert it. So it's now fixed gear, with velocity track wheels and a nice retro look! Think it was about 20 years old before the rebirth

Never thought I'd go for gold but I think it works! I'm biased, of course...


the tiny and only brake:



nice new hub



Whole thing!




Any thoughts are welcome - I never planned on getting into bikes at all and took the pee out of my flatmate who's a big fan. Couldn't understand the obsession with something that doesn't even have an engine! But it's a great way of getting about in London, and as soon as you start fiddling with something, you know how it is!

Cheers

[perry]

gotta love a fixie

i take it you know of the www.fixedgeargallery.com/

[disasterbus]

very nice - a career as a bike courier beckons if you can rid a fixed wheel in London traffic

[davellis]

cheers!

I literally just found out about the fixed gear gallery so I'll get some slightly better pics and maybe take a visit!

And yeah, the traffic is fun...it's fine if only buses and taxis are around, but as soon as cars and pedestrians get involved things get difficult! I have run one person over though he stepped out from behind a bus and I couldn't stop!

[reanimation]

Cool I really like what ya done there old n new in harmony. personally i wouldn't be able to resist some flat bars, or at least some tape

Ace!

[markbognor]

That looks cracking, really purposefull. Is the fixed gearing to keep the weight down and mechanical parts to a minimum? Loving the look of yours and lots of other bikes on the website that seem to be retro frames with modern components.

[Neil]

That's lovely!!

Well subtle & easy on the eye - nice work, dude!

[surprisingskoda]

ah nasty fixed bikes. how i loathe them! tis pretty tho!

[TerraRoot]

don't know F-all about cycles, but that looks real nice, skinny fast whippet all pointing in the gogogo direction.

[DerbyDan]

That looks really nice It looks kinda white in the picture?

Have been thinking about single speeding my old Raleigh Discovery MTB - where did you get your freewheel & hub from & what sort is it? Mind you - ten years worth of playing 5 a side twice a week has taken its toll on my knees, not sure if they'd cope with a one speed bike?

Love this genre of bikes - I love seeing the courier bikes when i'm in london, all simple, lythe yet robust & purposeful. They are normally built up with hugely expensive components - but then wrapped in insulating tape & generally look ratty

[davellis]

Thanks for the comments!

To answer some of the questions, it does pretty much help keep the weight down, but also makes the bike really nice and simple and easy to look after / clean. In a flat city there's really not much need for gears. It also means you can do away with the back brake, and it adds a nice feeling of control to the ride - you slow down and speed up just by pedalling differently. Does mean you can't freewheel down hills though!

reanimation - yep, need to maybe get some tape...Just not sure whether to do white or tan (and change the saddle for tan) or chop the bars like you said!

DerbyDan - yeah it is white, but sort of pearly white. It' be great with a respray sometime. As for the knees - it doesn't have to be a huge strain on them; slowing down form a speed is hard work, but you can have brakes front and back if you want and make your life easier. It does mean that your legs are always turning, but not necessarily always under pressure if that makes sense.

The parts all came from brick lane bikes. check out their site, there are some real beauties on there:

bricklanebikes.co.uk/gallery


Thanks all for the kind comments too! Wicked

[reanimation]

OMG Jeez fixed gear as in track racing Chris wotsiz name, no freewheel

blimey! never tried one, but kinda makes sense on the bike you built, and makes sense when ya got ya hand down low on the bars.

The old bikes like 80's BMX's and shoppers sometimes came with a coaster brake. it would freewheel but if you back pedalled some pressure it would brake! don't see a lot of em about these days, I don't anyway

[DerbyDan]

Ah - i'm getting mixed up with fixed gear & single speed ;D

Don't think I could go completely fixed around - my ride to work Includes a climb up a long hill (where I ride past a secondary school & try to look like i'm not out of breath ;D) Followed by a nice 'roll' down the otherside which takes me pretty much to the door of my work Think i'd look a bit silly doing a 'Hovis bread' with my legs out forward as I speed down the hill with the pedals wildly spinning around

Might give it ago at taking the Burner into work - but i'm sure i'll get laughed at by the school kids

[reanimation]

LOL at 'Hovis bread' sounds scary dangerous for minced legs too! ;D

As for the Burner, "hey ya bikes too small" etc!

[rmad]

I love the stripped down look of fixed (and brakeless in many cases) bikes but it does seem unneccasarily dangerous - I've got more than reasonable bike skills, including fast commuting experience in London, but I'd feel very scared on a fixed wheel!

[HoTWire]

They look awesome,.. and are the cool thing.. but I find them terrifying.

I'm still trying to work out how to wire/cable tuck my bike. I think it can be done, re-routing all the cables through the frame. I've got some other ideas to minimise the impact of the various normal bike bits as well.

[CR500Dom]

Fixies are great

Totally different to ride but somehow a lot more focused, you really tune into the bike, much more than whit a freewheel

don't know how you can ride that one without SPD`s or Toe clips though

I will build another one someday as I really miss it.... have had a lot of bikes and still have a roadie and an MTB but I don't think I am ever as happy as I was on my old 60`s steel frame fixie ;D

[trg1984]

admin said:

They look awesome,.. and are the cool thing.. but I find them terrifying.

I'm still trying to work out how to wire/cable tuck my bike. I think it can be done, re-routing all the cables through the frame. I've got some other ideas to minimise the impact of the various normal bike bits as well.

not sure if thsi will help u much but ive often seen people blow a piece of sting thru frames then attach whatever wires/cables to the string, which they then pull thru, bringing the wires/cables with it, seems the easiest way of hiding wires ive seen any way, u just have to watch for the frame being plugged in certain places, but ive only seen this on motorbikes so not sure if bike frame will be plugged

[TYP 19]

i took a dazzling by many a custom bike in Copenhagen a few weeks back, as I'm a big fan of the coaster brake too and bare bars

[TYP 19]

i wanna build up another bike purely for playing polo, that will probably be a fixed wheel. But a stripped road rocket single speeder will be the case soon.