My first Fixed/SS mini bike project (and other infmz projects)

EDIT: Latest build post starts from: https://www.lfgss.com/comments/17413268/

Bought this Fuji Track from the recent Herne Hill velodrome bike clearance for £100. Since then, I've changed pretty much everything (from spare parts, or on the cheap) except for the seatpost, headset and crankset.

I'm enjoying the ride and my first proper foray into single-speed/fixed, but this thing steers like a truck. I would've thought the steep head angle and fitting standard 42cm drop bars would mean it's just as or even more twitchy than my slacker road bikes, but nope. The headset seems okay; the bars do swing quite lightly and freely. I am riding on the tops with inline brakes though; so a narrower position overall - but one I'm more than familiar with. Any suggestions on what to do, or change?

Since this is the Current Projects sub-forum, here are more details on the build, and approx costs:-

• Bike - £100
  
• DP18 wheelset - £30 (from a user here <3, old wheels were beat)
  
• Campi Mirage calipers - £15 (Condor)
  
• Condor inline levers - £22.5 (Condor)
  
• Red brake housing - £5 (Condor I think)
  
• 18t cog - £10 (Condor again)
  
• Miche 18t Freewheel - £? (on my LBS credit)
  
• New chain - £? (LBS credit, old one had paint coming off)
  
• Shimano M520 pedals (Spares bin)
  
• Brooks Cambium C13 (Spares bin, but too precious so will change)
  
• Specialized 100mm stem / FSA 100mm stem (Spares bin, still deciding which I prefer)
  
• FSA Omega 42cm drop bars (Spares bin)
  
• Fizi:k bartape - £5 (Halfords, hustled 3 strips from their no/damaged packaging box)
  
• Vittoria Zaffiro Pro tyres - £22 (Wiggle, not in pic)
  
  

So barring the tyres which I was buying anyway, I've spent around £100 on basically braking and a new, partial drivetrain. More than I hoped, but I wasn't gonna run 48x14 gearing so that had to go.

Thinking of changing the bars to bullhorns or just adding road bike brakes, so I have slightly more width/control, and have something more comfortable to hold while climbing too.

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i guess a shorter stem will make the handling more twitchy and you could also take a look at the fork... more or less rake will have an effect on the handling.... people with more knowledge can elaborate on this
fork is more money than a stem in general....

Track bikes don’t need to turn (much) on a track, so steering would feel slow if the fork is a proper low-rake track type

Disclaimer: I have been riding a Fuji track classic circa 2015... Same geometry, correct me if I'm wrong.

First off, I usually only lurk other peoples projects and feel compelled to help. I would suggest shortening the stem and running a pursuit bar or time trial base bars minus the tt extensions to liven up the steering. I'm personally running a 60mm Thomson stem with wide risers and it handles plenty tight. Allbeit my setup has a less exposed seat post, your adjustments maybe limited to the amount of setback you would need to accommodate the short stem.
If it feels cramped you could opt for a setback seatpost and run the saddle as far back as possible...

I could post a pic but don't want to thread jack.

Good luck with the build. I'm really happy with the ride quality of these frames.

Have Fun!

Thanks all for the suggestions. Makes sense.

@skrtluv, this is what I had in mind too -to go for pursuit or bullhorns, and add some tt brakes on the ends so I can stay in that wider position. I'm actually thinking of lengthening the cranks (they're 165 or 167.5mm) as I'm used to 172.5-175, so I can also bring the saddle height down and lower the stem. Might not help with steering much but my center of gravity feels too high and on sharper turns it feels unstable.

My 2p
Slam the stem, pop on some road levers and give it a blast round the block. I wouldn’t change the cranks if you are thinking of going fixed, as it increases the chance of pedal strike in the corners and once you get used to it you will be getting good levels of lean. As for the top heavy feel, welcome to the world of the high BB. You’ll get used to it.
But mainly have fun out there!

Short stem and wide risers should change the steering feel a bit

If it comes to it I'll give it a shot, but keen on keeping to drops or bullhorn/tt like bars for now.

You could as already mentioned throw some familiar road levers to stretch out on the hoods for some stem humping action.. If time or budget isn't a factor you could just wait around for the right cockpit combo to come along.

I'm personally gonna run dummy levers to make space.

Heavy Steering

I suspect there is a headset problem here.

Judging by the look of the bike I would not expect sluggish steering - the head angle looks normal and the fork rake offset, even though it may not be perfect, doesn't look far out.

I had a similar problem with my ancient A.G. Duckett. This dates from th 1920's so it really does have a shallow head angle, which might have been seen as the cause of its heavy steering.

After struggling with it for some time (after restoration) I dismantled the head set again, and on close inspection I could see a witness mark where the crown race was fouling on the cup above - it was a replacement, and slightly too tall. Luckily I had another suitable crown race which was a bit smaller and this completely cured the problem.

The Duckett has a Current Projects thread:

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/369572/

That was a fascinating read @clubman and achievement, with a nice bit of East London history so thanks! The headset moves freely, but not exactly smoothly, there is some grind that needs taking care of.

I've now done around 100 miles this week on the bike, and am starting to get used to it. Some of the problems I had are more down to familiarity and even other things I didn't give attention too; the first being braking, which I've adjusted more to my liking, and the second being tire pressure.

The Zaffiro Pros I've fitted feel nowhere near as grippy as the Graphene 2.0 versions, a criticism I ignored in their reviews (and paid the price by slipping and hitting the deck on a slippery mini roundabout). I actually lowered the pressure from their minimum recommendation by going with my preferred method(s) - using either SRAM or Silca's tyre pressure guide. With the front/rear lowered by 15/10psi respectively, control and stability already feels much better.

The headset moves freely, but not exactly smoothly, there is some grind that needs taking care of.

I've found the photo of that crown race with the witness mark - see below.

If your headset feels 'grindy' I think that's where your problem is.

It's worth mentioning that my Duckett felt OK when it was on the workstand, but when it had the weight of the bike and rider on it, then the stiffness was only too evident

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Reviving this thread instead of starting a new one...

I sold the Fuji Track with pretty much stock parts (from HHV) to a local dude I met here. I've since picked up the Dazzan frame that's been around on LFGSS a few times (see: https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/396695) and have started to build it up for commuting and road-riding. I doubt I'll use it on track - on the rare occasions I do track I end up hiring a bike.

The thing is, I've got enough parts to build it up as an MGOOF rather than a traditional look I've put a pic of it up in the current state with what I've done so far, which isn't much.

• Miche Express wheels (black) with 25c Vittoria Rubino tyres (wet braking on the rear)
  
• Miche Advanced 48t chainring with the BLB Super Pista cranks
  
• Deda 1" > 1 1/8" quill adapter
  
• Thomson seatpost I had lying around
  
• Brooks Cambium C13 I had lying around
  
• There's an Izumi chain somewhere
  
  

Next steps:

• Need a stem. I only have oversized ones left, so will get a shim. Silver will probably look better than black.
  
• I have a range of handlebars to choose from. I'm leaning to the BLB bull horns. I found drop bars uncomfortable with a cross-top brake only.
  
• Braking is an issue on this bike currently. The clearance is too tight for a front brake, though the forks been drilled for one after-market. I'm planning to try out some Surly Monkey Nut V1 washers to lower the wheels by 5mm, which should solve the clearance issue, but there's no guarantee this will both work and be safe.
  
• I prefer SS to fixed (I have hills to thank for that), but the rear bridge doesn't have a brake mount. Not a major issue for now, but ideally I'd like to solve that.
  
  

So thoughts on bars stem, overall choices etc? One thing I'm regretting is not getting silver cranks. A bit of panda'ing as @Browndonneur taught me can work well, especially when I'm already chucking on black wheels on a frame with silver hardware.

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This has been trickier than I thought. The seatpost has been removed - it was a 27.2mm yet my vernier calipers have measured in inside diameter of the seat tube at around 26.8mm or even 26.6mm. I also wanted a slimmer, silver 1" 1/8 stem, but one that lets you mount oversized bars. No luck so far. Most are either 1" 1/8 or oversized on both sides.

Still haven't found a solution to lower the front wheel to create extra clearance for the wheel and brakes. The Surly Monkey Nut V1s (5mm) look like they'll do the job, but Surly is quite explicit in saying they're for horizontal dropouts, not this.

DO NOT use monkey nuts for the fork. They do not provide clamping force to the dropout. The screw is only to keep the parts alligned.

Thank you. This is exactly the sort of information I needed and was concerned about.

Does anything exist to lower fork nuts?
Feels like that would be dangerous..

Probably you want either
A) 650b with long drop brakes (expensive)
Or
B) a new fork (easier to find second hand)

I’m a little confused about the stem you’re after, but I think freshtripe probably have something.
Lots of silver stems to fit 31.8

There is something specifically designed for that purpose which I imagine is serrated (or similar) to actually handle clamping forces. Hard to acquire, only found on a Japanese bike site.

I'm looking at a new fork and put up a WTD thread. Silver/chrome would go well with a more classic look, but I think a carbon Columbus would be more ideal and in theme with both the Columbus SL tubing, and the more modern components on the bike so far and have at hand.

I do have some stems but would need to run a shim. A slimmer stem would look better though; the ones I have are a bit chunky.

Ah okay, interesting, although still feels a bit sketchy to me.. good luck with whatever approach you go for!

Still a bit confused on the stem.
The frameset is 1” threaded, but you want to use 31.8 bars?
Stems do exist for that.

Although if it were me, I’d probably keep it classic with a standard quill and 26.0 bars.

I was hoping for a stem that is 1" at the steerer clamp to save me running a shim, but oversized at the bars to save me needing to buy thinner bars when I have plenty of 31.8 to try.

I think a quill would look better too, but might be too much of a modern/classic clash. The other thing is that in my head at least, it sounds easier and cheaper to get the fit right using a standard stem as I have various lengths and angles at home. Which I guess means I've answered my own question - just buy a bloody shim and use a normal stem that I possess.

Agree, it still sounds risky using those fork adapters.

You could probably raise the brake mounting point with some of these adapters

Also available from Hubjub

Heard of these and it's definitely an option. The bonus is I could also buy the rear, run SS when I want, and not have to change the aesthetics of the bike too drastically (as with a fork)

I don’t think I’ve had enough coffee today…
I’m still confused..

The quill adaptor in the photo should be 1 1/8, so why do you need a shim?

Shims are usually for converting a 1” threadless fork into 1 1/8” threadless. Your fork looks like 1” threaded no?

My bad... The quill adapter has an diameter of 22.2mm to slot into the fork, and goes to 1"/25.4mm. To run a 1 1/8"/31.8mm stem it needs to be shimmed: https://www.condorcycles.com/products/deda-quill-to-a-head-stem-adaptor?variant=12521459679315

Ahhh I see.
Didn’t realise those adaptors exist in 1”.

A shim sounds like the easiest (and cheapest) approach then.
Happy tinkering.