FTF Fat Tyre Fixed

Fat tyre fixed gear, commuter, winter, pub bike, all around monster trucker for Neukölln cobbles and Brandenburg sand pits.

Since converting my Custom Orlowski Workhorse to larger 650b tyres I've enjoyed having a do-all bike that's a bit more comfortable and a bit more versatile however it's not perfect...no space for mudguards up front (didn't want to downsize the tyres to create space as the BB is already quite low for fixed), no dynamo > tail light cable routing.

When venturing off the roads and into the forests around Berlin you soon hit sand and the Orlowski with 38s sinks in pretty quickly. Big balloon tyres are the only way to get through and so a must for the new bike.

The new FTF will be an updated version of the Orlowski with all the little extras and tweaks that bike was missing.

The plan is:

• Fixed gear
  
• Carbon fork with rack, guard, light mounts and dynamo cable routing
  
• 700c (x 55 for summertime sand-pit smashing) x44 (the majority of the time)
  
• Mudguards
  
• Front and rear dyno lights
  
  
  

Oooh can you make me one too?
:)

I highly endorse this sort of build:
(Mine(currently on 27.5 x 2.25":)

1 Attachment

I like the sound of this and I know it's gonna look good. subbed

@user15324 also, cool bike. What colour is that?

Battleship grey(ish).

That looks cool! What is it? Custom build? Retrofit 650b?

Great idea! Subbed!

I kept seeing something like this locked up in the West End around Charlotte Strett a a while ago, think it was made of a Cotic frame, schmancy mudguards etc. Looked the nuts. And definitely looked ‘on here’.

Did you say carbon fork with rack mounts? I was under the impression this is not a good idea - though as a recent convert to carbon bits (no carbon bike yet) I look forward to being proved wrong.

That looks cool! What is it? Custom build? Retrofit 650b?

Top picture is of a tubeset, so I think we’re seeing a custom frame build. Also 700c as mentioned in the first post.

@cgg post yours in here!

Nice idea. I keep thinking I need something like this when skinny tyre fixed and medium fat tyre fixed arnt quite good enough. subb'ddd

orlo is lovely as well

It’s a Tonic.
Fairly custom yep.
Designed with a similar set of requirements as your build specs...
It’s a lot of fun, but sadly not being used much atm thanks to absurdly short commute/ many hours at work.

Yes @cgg please do!

Ah awesome! Do you have a side profile pic? What chainline, chainring and chainstay length does it have out of interest? Did they use a yoke?

Carbon fork with rack mounts is generally not a good idea as the mounts aren’t designed to take weight but we’ve been working on one with reinforcement and decent load carrying capabilities

The plan

The details

The set-up

@Eamesy what's the specs on your FTF? The pics on your thread aren't working for me, would love to see more of it!

@skant Sounds like an awesome project!

Mine’s currently running 700x35c but can just about fit 40c - no space for mudguards though and I did want to be able to run track cranks without a yoke.

Pm me if you want the build/geometry details :)

1 Attachment

Fat tyre fixed is great, here’s mine after this weekend’s rides. 650b 47 for mine.

1 Attachment

One of the reasons I've stuck with my cross-check was fantasising about building it up as FTF.

One thing I've struggled over though is getting a nice rear mudguard curve and maintaining it through different ratios etc.
@cgg @Skant are you intending on plumping for a ratio and sticking with it or designing in some kind of adjustability? I'm thinking of getting some kind of axle mounted mount made so the rear of the guard can follow the wheel position and just accepting a bit of gappiness at the front of the rear guard

We just adjusted the geometry so that the gearing I had in mind would fall near the the middle of the dropout adjustment course (dropouts are Paragon Machine Works Rockers and to compute the stays' length for a given ratio we used the fixmeup online tool). Then it's just a matter of making sure there's enough space on either side of the mudguard but you don't need that much.

That tool is amazing, thanks!

@alialias It's totally flat around Berlin so my thinking was to optimise the mudguard clearance around where the 44mm tyre will sit with street gearing, 74" or so (I also used fixmeup calculator), and then have a second gear ratio for forest riding but that will only be used in summer with different tyres and no guards.

Rad bike! is there a project thread or more details anywhere?