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@Tijs
Hello guys.
My name is Tijs, I’m from The Netherlands and this is my first post on this forum. I would like to share the story of my first fixed gear bicycle with you all. I want to apologize in advance for the lackluster photographs; they we’re taken with my cell phone.
But first of all my two other bikes, starting with my road bike; the Trek:
And secondly my (t)rusty grocery getter and city bike; my single speed Wheeler with coaster brake:
Now, onto the subject of this post; my fixed gear.
It all started earlier this year with a set of wheels, so first I’ll give a brief history of my bike up until its current setup.
The wheels which got this project rolling; a second hand set of Miche Pistards with nice tires and in great condition (or so I thought):
Next; the frame. Initially I ordered the Goldsprint Track Flamed Raw:
I made a quick sketch in Photoshop of some of the parts I wanted to put on it:
But unfortunately this turned out to be irrelevant, because I received an e-mail from the guys at goldsprint.de telling me there was some damage to the finish:
They said I could get a pretty decent discount or I could chose to change the order. Because I was afraid the spot would keep bothering me, I opted for a new frame; the Colossi Rambler Pursuit, colour grey:
The wheels under the frame:
The frame (58cm) turned out a little more compact than I expected, but this wouldn’t turn out to be a massive problem with some minor adjustments.
Along with a Thomson Elite seatpost, a Selle Italia seat and some BLB track drops (all second hand and in perfect condition), it started to look like somewhat of an actual bicycle.
Then (most of) the final bits; a mediocre BLB crankset (and the rest of the drivetrain), some hybrid Shimano SPD/platform pedals, too short of a BLB stem, Ultegra brake caliper and Goldfinger brake lever and the bike was done:
I then found out the back tire was slowly but steadily letting some air out. Unfortunately the Pistards were a tubular set (should’ve bought clinchers from the get-go) and since I couldn’t fix it myself, I decided to sell the pair (still available).
Put on some other Miche wheelset with Primato hubs, and the Silver Surfer (as one my buddies calls it) was ready to rock:
Maiden voyage to Amsterdam (74 miles round trip):
During this trip I learned two important bits; the drops had to go (my back was killing me) and the stem was too short. First order of business; track pursuit bars. Then came the longer (100mm) stem:
A ride with ‘the boys’ (local (fixed gear) bicycle initiative):
Up until this point, I mainly used this bike for longer trips outside the city. But I thought it could’ve been nice to maybe also use it inside the city. So I threw some risers on it and I was quite pleased: