Thinking about going Fixed - can I convert my bike?

joker77

I do a short-ish commute - about 6k each way, from Milltown into Smithfield. No major hills (the one at Darty, and coming home up to Christchurch are about it). So I'm contemplating converting my bike to a fixed gear.

I have a hybrid - a Dawes Giro 200. Would this be good to convert? If so, how would I go about doing it - are there any sites which give a good rundown from a beginners point of view?

TinyExplosions

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/fixed.html will give you all the info you need. It can be a pretty expensive process though, so work out the cost and then see if you can get a new one for the same amount

niceonetom

that bike is not a good starting point. sorry.

to go fixed you really need horizontal dropouts (look em up) so you can move the rear wheel fore/aft to adjust chain tension. there are work arounds such as eccentric hubs and bottom brackets but they're expensive, too expensive to justify using on that frame really; and 'magic gear' systems, which are tricky to get working sweetly and limit your choice of ratios.

find yourself a cheap old steel racer with the appropriate dropouts and you'll have a much easier job ahead of you, and you'll still have a geared bike for backup.

joker77

Cheers for the tips lads.

So a new bike would be the way to go?

I mean, would it not be more expensive to go looking for a 2nd hand racer, then to build the fixed from scratch on that?

I would content most people that build their own fixed a lot of the time aren't doing it to save money, they just want to do it?

blorg

If you are small, McConvey's do a Giant Bowery for £299 - this is the cheapest I've seen. Ebay is also an option for conversions starting at £100 or so.

niceonetom

flickerx is the resident expert on this whole process, you should see if any of the projects he's working on appeal to you (there's a tasty enough raleigh with goldtech hubs he flogging at the mo).

it is possibel to put a fixie together for less than you'd pay for an off the shelf one, though maybe not possible to then sell said production for a profit - as flickerx is learning. but a well made preject bike may ride better and certainly have more character than a mass produced fixie. it depends...

joker77

blorg wrote: »

If you are small, McConvey's do a Giant Bowery for £299 - this is the cheapest I've seen. Ebay is also an option for conversions starting at £100 or so.

I'm about 5' 10', so no. Will have a look on eBay

fish-head

Flickerx, our resident entrepreneur, may be able to sort you out.

PeadarofAodh

Was considering investing in a fixie myself for commuting, if I can get my hands on an old steel frame what sort of cost would I be looking at?

stuf

PeadarofAodh wrote: »

Was considering investing in a fixie myself for commuting, if I can get my hands on an old steel frame what sort of cost would I be looking at?

I've been researching this quite a bit and frames on ebay are quite hard to get at the moment if you're on a limited budget.

You're looking at £40 for Royal Mail Parcel Force delivery from the uk but there's a lot of people who quote £120 - probably for standard postage.

I've seen frames go for £30 and for >£130 so it's really down to the quality. I've been actively looking for about 5 weeks and still haven't got one.

Look out for strange details like french threads on BB and other anomalies.

Once you then get on to getting the bits and bobs, as with any aspect of cycling, the sky's the limit.

Best thing to do is research, research, research and then do some more research. Make sure you know what you need and how much you want to pay. If you're not interested in going through the build process and everything it entails then go for a ready made either new or flickerx special.

PeadarofAodh

stuf wrote: »

I've been researching this quite a bit and frames on ebay are quite hard to get at the moment if you're on a limited budget.

You're looking at £40 for Royal Mail Parcel Force delivery from the uk but there's a lot of people who quote £120 - probably for standard postage.

I've seen frames go for £30 and for >£130 so it's really down to the quality. I've been actively looking for about 5 weeks and still haven't got one.

Look out for strange details like french threads on BB and other anomalies.

Once you then get on to getting the bits and bobs, as with any aspect of cycling, the sky's the limit.

Best thing to do is research, research, research and then do some more research. Make sure you know what you need and how much you want to pay. If you're not interested in going through the build process and everything it entails then go for a ready made either new or flickerx special.

Thanks for the help stuf. The build aspect of it is actually what draws me towards a fixie most!

Something I've been wondering though - would commuting on a fixie affect how I cycle a geared bike for long trips?

TinyExplosions

PeadarofAodh wrote: »

Something I've been wondering though - would commuting on a fixie affect how I cycle a geared bike for long trips?

Yup -although in mostly good ways. Rding fixed is a good way to increase your cadence, which will help in cycling a geared bike, as well as increasing your power (as you're pushing a larger gear than you possibly normally would)

stuf

PeadarofAodh wrote: »

Thanks for the help stuf. The build aspect of it is actually what draws me towards a fixie most!

Same here - I'm not sure I'm ready for the riding aspect

just reminded me that wheelandsprocket ebay shop is good for cranks and stuff

and there's some discussion of duty if buying from the US here:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055310949&page=2&highlight=fixie

flickerx

Sorry for the delay in jumping in here, I know usually if you say my name three times I appear beetlejuice-like and start pimping off my projects. Yeah anyway as the others have said that bike is a non-starter for a conversion. Sheldon B's pages are a goldmine of info, start there and finish there! My one is the one on eBay at the moment, the Schwinn conversion, which isnt generating much interest to be honest. There was some bids on it but then someone retracted it saying that they'd put in the wrong amount. So it might yet go for a song, it ends tomorrow night and there's about a third of the amount of people watching it as the last two I sold. I'll have another one ready very soon.

Stuf I still might have a really nice frame for you in the next couple of weeks (no forks though), but its hard for me to work at the moment, I cut my numb finger on my left hand the other week and some dirt got under my nail, then it got infected and started to swell up, but nothing too serious.
I think I took the whole DIY ethic a bit too far when i decided to perform a small bit of surgery on myself with a heated scalpel and some dettol, cutting off a large chunk of the skin where the infection was. Needless to say this didnt work out very well, and now my finger looks like I've contracted leprosy, and is extremely painful to the touch. Maybe I'll leave the medical procedures in future for the professionals.

hardCopy

flickerx wrote: »

Sorry for the delay in jumping in here, I know usually if you say my name three times I appear beetlejuice-like and start pimping off my projects. Yeah anyway as the others have said that bike is a non-starter for a conversion. Sheldon B's pages are a goldmine of info, start there and finish there! My one is the one on eBay at the moment, the Schwinn conversion, which isnt generating much interest to be honest. There was some bids on it but then someone retracted it saying that they'd put in the wrong amount. So it might yet go for a song, it ends tomorrow night and there's about a third of the amount of people watching it as the last two I sold. I'll have another one ready very soon.

Stuf I still might have a really nice frame for you in the next couple of weeks (no forks though), but its hard for me to work at the moment, I cut my numb finger on my left hand the other week and some dirt got under my nail, then it got infected and started to swell up, but nothing too serious.
I think I took the whole DIY ethic a bit too far when i decided to perform a small bit of surgery on myself with a heated scalpel and some dettol, cutting off a large chunk of the skin where the infection was. Needless to say this didnt work out very well, and now my finger looks like I've contracted leprosy, and is extremely painful to the touch. Maybe I'll leave the medical procedures in future for the professionals.

:eek::eek:

stuf

flickerx wrote: »

Stuf I still might have a really nice frame for you in the next couple of weeks (no forks though), but its hard for me to work at the moment, I cut my numb finger on my left hand the other week and some dirt got under my nail, then it got infected and started to swell up, but nothing too serious.
I think I took the whole DIY ethic a bit too far when i decided to perform a small bit of surgery on myself with a heated scalpel and some dettol, cutting off a large chunk of the skin where the infection was. Needless to say this didnt work out very well, and now my finger looks like I've contracted leprosy, and is extremely painful to the touch. Maybe I'll leave the medical procedures in future for the professionals.

cheers flickerx - mind that finger though - been there done that and it ain't nice

Wez

Yeh, I'd second the motion of getting an old beater frame and working up from there. If you're lucky you might still get a Bottom bracket and maybe forks/stem etc. All these parts count when you're building from scratch!

One of the more popular dropouts the semi horizontal (45˚) is all you need to go fixed, or ideally straight horizontal. This is really the most important part when you're buying a frame for a conversion, can either cause or save so much hassle when it comes to chainline/tension! The semi's seem real popular here, most old school racers/tourers you look at have them, so shouldn't be hard to find, once you know to look for it. Try and avoid the vertical/holed dropouts, too much hassle, although there is a way around it!

Also, try and get nice crankset, make sure it's not a one peice! Found these so much hassle trying to adjust the chainline/ratio, turns into a headache! There are so many little tips I could give, but they're real intricate and only make sense once work grinds to a hault until you get passed the problem!

Best of luck going fixed!

flickerx

flickerx wrote: »

My one is the one on eBay at the moment, the Schwinn conversion, which isnt generating much interest to be honest.

This ends tonight! Around twenty past ten. Good luck to anyone here thats bidding. I'd rather it went to someone here actually, community buzz and all that.

Wez, did you see my request for the pix of the self-built truing stand on the other thread?

I'd take some pics of my finger for you all but I cant get good close ups. Its only marginally looking less disgusting this morning.

Billy Whizz

flickerx I was considering bidding on that bike but 59cm is just too big for me. You got any 54-56cm frame fixies in the pipeline?!

flickerx

The blue singlespeed I'll have up and running soon is a smaller frame, but there's no option to set it as a fixie I'm afraid.. I have another frame at home, probably 54-55cm, but I cant get the old crank off it, I might have to hack through the bottom bracket. Once the Schwinn, Raleigh, and the singlespeeds (have both a gents and a ladies one in the pipeline) have been sold, I wont be making up any more fixies, I'm emigrating. So if you're interested in making one yourself I could sort you out with the smaller frame..

Billy Whizz

I would most definitely be interested in the smaller frame! Has it horizontal dropouts?

Where are you emigrating to?

flickerx

Billy Whizz wrote: »

I would most definitely be interested in the smaller frame! Has it horizontal dropouts?

ok.. you'll need to remind me about it again in a week or two, the frame is currently lying idle in my "workshop" in the suburbs. The dropouts are horizontal yes, they're short but manageable.

Where are you emigrating to?

Anywhere but here.

stuf

just scored a 531 frame on ebay so my new baby is just entering it's initial gestation period

flickerx

Got any photos or an eBay link of the ended auction? Am interested to see what people get for what prices.

stuf

£40 + £36 p&p:
http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250268121598&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=015

old frame and takes 27" wheels but he had it setup with long drop Weineman brakes and 700C wheels

These brakes have a longer drop than the ones he was using so I should be grand

http://www.billys.co.uk/english/group.php?prod=bcdc808

flickerx

stuf wrote: »

£40 + £36 p&p:
http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250268121598&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=015

old frame and takes 27" wheels but he had it setup with long drop Weineman brakes and 700C wheels

These brakes have a longer drop than the ones he was using so I should be grand

http://www.billys.co.uk/english/group.php?prod=bcdc808

Frame looks good!

Thanks for the link on the ridiculously cheap long reach caliper brakes. I think it was either fish-head or raam that had them on their self-build and I was looking to buy one, they gave me a link where the pair was seventy quid sterling! Way too much.

I put the Raleigh fixie conversion up for sale on eBay too. Had to put a reserve on it cos the brand new wheel was 110, new cranks were 70, new chain was 10, new sprocket was 10, fees and stuff are around 20 euro, etc etc. I dont think there's much profit to be had in selling converted fixies on eBay...