Bit the bullet...

TinyExplosions

...and went fixed!

Been thinking about it for ages, and when I came down to find my rear wheel nicked :eek: this morning, I decided it was time (a new wheel is more than the bike is worth, so that's justification enough).

Down I went to Cyclelogical, and came away with a lovely Kona Paddy Wagon... had looked around the usual suspects (Langster, Bowery etc), and the Kona won out -it's freaking light, but seems well strong, and is lovely to ride.... Looking forward to leaving gears behind

Morgan

Nice one - now there's no stopping you

Mr. Skeffington

Thats a lovely bike, how do you find the gear ratio? I have been thinking of going fixed myself but am wondering if I will struggle on hills. Do you mind me asking how much did u pay for the Paddy Wagon?

TinyExplosions

Mr. Skeffington wrote:

Thats a lovely bike, how do you find the gear ratio? I have been thinking of going fixed myself but am wondering if I will struggle on hills. Do you mind me asking how much did u pay for the Paddy Wagon?

I find it grand so far, but haven't cycled on it much (only around the city centre a bit), and I have it on the freewheel side for now, as I have to go to work tomorrow (Mulhuddart, so I'll know better how the ratio is then), but I'll flip over to fixed on Sat, and never look back!

It was 600 euro, which I think is a fair price indeed.

Also, I've got to say that I found the atmosphere and service in there to be top notch -don't know if I got the right guy, got them on a good day, or was buying fixed so seen as a 'better' customer, but I'm very happy with them... CycleLogical++ in my book

Mr. Skeffington

Yes they are good in Cycleogical I got them to build me a set of wheels and went for a spin on them tonight, they are sweet. Cliff in there is a good bloke, he knows his stuff hes been in the industry for years.

Didnt know that you could switch between freewheel and fixed, thats interesting, how do you swap between the two, do you have to take the freewheel off or something, do you need any special tools?

niceonetom

well done man. congrats.

i got a second-hand langster last winter because i wanted a super-duper road bike but couldn't afford the €s, so i thought i'd tide me over. since then i put about 2000km on it and have barely touched my ol' trek roadie. i'm not one of these "never go back people" but i always take the langster, it's just more fun. i actually find riding with a freewheel really disconcerting now cause i can't resist against the motion of the pedals to slow down. i've got my ratio as 48:17 which is biggish, but it really builds strength and technique without wrecking my knees. when i bought it (from some polish courier dude) it was 48:15 which was impossible for me as a newbie. what ratio does the kona come with as stock?

my advice would be to flip that wheel immediately and have some fun with it. coasting is a sign of weakness :eek:

peterk19

niceonetom wrote:

i actually find riding with a freewheel really disconcerting now cause i can't resist against the motion of the pedals to slow down.

Im in the same boat i bought a second hand langster about 6 weeks ago and i have barely touched my trek 1200 since i have to double check when i go to coast the bike, ah and bought the trek 1200 in cycleogical about 5 months ago and have to agree they are a great shop to deal with

good look with the fixie and flip the rear wheel as soon as you can but be carefull i had to cycle my langster 15km home when i bought it with the wheel fixed i had a few scary moments on that journey

TinyExplosions

Mr. Skeffington wrote:

Didnt know that you could switch between freewheel and fixed, thats interesting, how do you swap between the two, do you have to take the freewheel off or something, do you need any special tools?

There's a cog on both ends of the hub, so to swap around you just undo the rear wheel bolts, take the chain off, flip the wheel over and slip the chain on. Nice and easy, no hassle!

The stock gear is 42/16, which seems pretty good for around town... I'll flip when I don't have to go to work, as I don't want my first foray to be my commute in case I do something stupid like fall off :eek: Flip it and a few laps o Pheonix Park should get me in the groove

Only downside is that if I take the rear brake off, I'll have to retape the handlebars -something I've not done before!

Raam

I test road a Paddy Wagon from Cyclelogical a few weeks ago when I was looking for my fixie. It's a nice bike.

Itsfixed

TinyExplosions wrote:

There's a cog on both ends of the hub, so to swap around you just undo the rear wheel bolts, take the chain off, flip the wheel over and slip the chain on. Nice and easy, no hassle!

The stock gear is 42/16, which seems pretty good for around town... I'll flip when I don't have to go to work, as I don't want my first foray to be my commute in case I do something stupid like fall off :eek: Flip it and a few laps o Pheonix Park should get me in the groove

Only downside is that if I take the rear brake off, I'll have to retape the handlebars -something I've not done before!

Not necessarily. I've seen fixies with both drop bar levers still in place if if there is only a front brake. The left, rear lever is kept there as a dummy. But of course, you'll have to remove the cable.. d'oh!

TinyExplosions

Itsfixed wrote:

Not necessarily. I've seen fixies with both drop bar levers still in place if if there is only a front brake. The left, rear lever is kept there as a dummy. But of course, you'll have to remove the cable.. d'oh!

And of course, the cable happens to run under the bar tape!

Either way, it looks like it'll have to come off, though I may change the bars for some straight or aero ones... is changing the length of brake cable hard if I get a lever for the front?

Itsfixed

TinyExplosions wrote:

And of course, the cable happens to run under the bar tape!

Either way, it looks like it'll have to come off, though I may change the bars for some straight or aero ones... is changing the length of brake cable hard if I get a lever for the front?

TinyExplosions, if you're interested in a cheap aero bar option, I have a set of chopped and flipped ITM bars with newish ITM light blue bar tape wrapped around it. Or an older one with black bar tape - both 42cm wide. Both look the part. I had used them with a cyclo-cross style bartop lever for my front brake rather than the drop bar lever, but you could use either, but you'd have to remove the bar tape if you wanted to use drop bar lever. Does this make sense?

PM me if you're interested. Yours for €10.

niceonetom

Itsfixed wrote:

TinyExplosions, if you're interested in a cheap aero bar option, I have a set of chopped and flipped ITM bars with newish ITM light blue bar tape wrapped around it. Or an older one with black bar tape - both 42cm wide. Both look the part. I had used them with a cyclo-cross style bartop lever for my front brake rather than the drop bar lever, but you could use either, but you'd have to remove the bar tape if you wanted to use drop bar lever. Does this make sense?

PM me if you're interested. Yours for €10.

that's the set up i'm using at the moment, i.e. a flipped/chopped drop bar with an interrupter brake lever and i really like it. i think couriers may give you dirty looks for it but hey.

TinyExplosions, i reckon you should take that offer from ItsFixed. one of the beauties of the simplicity of fixed riding is being able to swap the bars without it being a major operation. i use the home-made-aero-bar for commuting and general pottering around and put drop-bars on for long-haul training (or just for a change).

if you wanna know how to wrap bars i found this page very useful.

TinyExplosions

niceonetom wrote:

TinyExplosions, i reckon you should take that offer from ItsFixed. one of the beauties of the simplicity of fixed riding is being able to swap the bars without it being a major operation. i use the home-made-aero-bar for commuting and general pottering around and put drop-bars on for long-haul training (or just for a change).

if you wanna know how to wrap bars i found this page very useful.

The PM was sent this morning

The only other question I would have then is if I was to have two sets of bars, one aero, and one drop, what's the best brake system to use for a quick change? AM pretty clueless when it comes to braking -which I shouldn't be, as it's so important

Itsfixed

TinyExplosions wrote:

The PM was sent this morning

The only other question I would have then is if I was to have two sets of bars, one aero, and one drop, what's the best brake system to use for a quick change? AM pretty clueless when it comes to braking -which I shouldn't be, as it's so important

As mentioned by niceonetom, the interrupter/cyclo-cross type brake lever makes swopping bars over a 2 minute job. You still use the same lever for both configurations, y'see. I'm now using a new randonneur drop bar with this lever.

You do get dirty looks from the couriers alright. I thought that was just me! :-)

niceonetom

brakes are important aren't they...

the bar-swap procedure is pretty straight forward for me, just undo the handlebar clamp on the stem, undo to little allen nut that clamps the brake-wire to the side of the calliper and away come the bars, brake cables and all. each handlebar setup has its own brake lever, brake-cable outer and wire, not really removable cause of the bar-tape. the only slightly tricky bit is getting the tension right in the brake-wire, but once you've done it a couple of times it only take a couple of minutes.

Ghost Rider

Does anyone know the procedure for swapping the wheel around if there isn't already a cog on the fixed side of the flip-flop hub?

I know somebody gave fairly comprehensive instructions on this in the past month or so but the search engine on this site seems to be more or less farged at the moment.

TinyExplosions

niceonetom wrote:

brakes are important aren't they...

the bar-swap procedure is pretty straight forward for me, just undo the handlebar clamp on the stem, undo to little allen nut that clamps the brake-wire to the side of the calliper and away come the bars, brake cables and all. each handlebar setup has its own brake lever, brake-cable outer and wire, not really removable cause of the bar-tape. the only slightly tricky bit is getting the tension right in the brake-wire, but once you've done it a couple of times it only take a couple of minutes.

That actually sounds a little easier than swapping levers.... now to get a new lever and some cable, and play this weekend!

Morgan

Ghost Rider wrote:

Does anyone know the procedure for swapping the wheel around if there isn't already a cog on the fixed side of the flip-flop hub?

I know somebody gave fairly comprehensive instructions on this in the past month or so but the search engine on this site seems to be more or less farged at the moment.

1. Buy a cog and lockring
2. Remove the wheel and screw them onto the fixed side of the hub
3. Stick the wheel back in

You'll need a chainwhip and lockring spanner to fit the cog - if you don't have them you could bring your bike into the shop where you're getting the cog and they could fit it for you. Cycleogical have a good range of cogs.

Ghost Rider

Thanks, Morgan. I actually have a chainwhip but not a lockring spanner. Reckon I'll bring it in to Cyclelogical, although Mattie in Cycleways knows his s*it when it comes to singlespeeds too...

Morgan wrote:

1. Buy a cog and lockring
2. Remove the wheel and screw them onto the fixed side of the hub
3. Stick the wheel back in

You'll need a chainwhip and lockring spanner to fit the cog - if you don't have them you could bring your bike into the shop where you're getting the cog and they could fit it for you. Cycleogical have a good range of cogs.

thesunwashot

Was the paddy wagon mentioned in the OP the all blue 2006 one?

I went into cycleogical today and that was all they had. Looked nice but seems a bit cheeky that there is such a small reduction (670 down to 600) for a 2 year old bike.

They didn't seem very keen to get the 2008 one in. Evans do it for about 690 including delivery from uk although the only differences seem to be the paint job and better spec rims.

What do people think? Should there be more of a reduction on the 2006 PW?

Thanks,

John

TinyExplosions

thesunwashot wrote:

Was the paddy wagon mentioned in the OP the all blue 2006 one?

I went into cycleogical today and that was all they had. Looked nice but seems a bit cheeky that there is such a small reduction (670 down to 600) for a 2 year old bike.

They didn't seem very keen to get the 2008 one in. Evans do it for about 690 including delivery from uk although the only differences seem to be the paint job and better spec rims.

What do people think? Should there be more of a reduction on the 2006 PW?

Thanks,

John

It is the 2006 blue version, yes... don't think there's all that much difference between the models tbh, so am happy enough with the price of it... also, I don't like the silver of the new one

fish-head

Jesus, you bit the bullet and today my bike takes a bullet in the ****ing chest. God! Two of my chainring bolts came out and my chainring (cheapo BBB, don't buy one) bent itself outta shape and I guess I'm lucky enough I was just moving off from a light when it happened..

So now I'm in the market for a dedicated SS, possibly a track bike.

TinyExplosions

fish-head wrote:

Jesus, you bit the bullet and today my bike takes a bullet in the ****ing chest. God! Two of my chainring bolts came out and my chainring (cheapo BBB, don't buy one) bent itself outta shape and I guess I'm lucky enough I was just moving off from a light when it happened..

So now I'm in the market for a dedicated SS, possibly a track bike.

Man, that's not good :eek:

I'd definitely say go SS, even it's it's hard to get used to... took it out yesterday fixed, and it nearly made my heart stop a couple of times... gonna take a bit of getting used to

fish-head

TinyExplosions wrote:

Man, that's not good :eek:

I'd definitely say go SS, even it's it's hard to get used to... took it out yesterday fixed, and it nearly made my heart stop a couple of times... gonna take a bit of getting used to

Ah no I just meant a frame with a track ends and a higher bottom bracket as opposed to a converted road bike. I love riding fixed! It's a laugh.

unionman

Best of luck TinyExplosions, when you go fixed you won't look back. I'd been riding the Langster 07 on the freewheel for a year before I flipped it over and found myself wondering why I didn't do it sooner. The ride is more controlled, responsive and great fun on the straight. When I ride my hybrid now, coasting feels really odd, and ineffective. The hairy moments when you go fixed are few, and your technique will probably adapt very quickly. Enjoy it!!

TinyExplosions

unionman wrote:

Best of luck TinyExplosions, when you go fixed you won't look back. I'd been riding the Langster 07 on the freewheel for a year before I flipped it over and found myself wondering why I didn't do it sooner. The ride is more controlled, responsive and great fun on the straight. When I ride my hybrid now, coasting feels really odd, and ineffective. The hairy moments when you go fixed are few, and your technique will probably adapt very quickly. Enjoy it!!

That's what I'm hoping! At the moment I have it brakeless, which is not a good idea, as I'm to nervous to go at any speed... once I stick the front brake back on it should be better... I hope!