Road fixed / fixed road

My brother kept leaving his (ie my cast off) outside in a hot climate and it turned pink haha

Haha! My forks are a bit pink as well.

That is nice, would love one of those - also, the yellow colour is amazing!

Your post 2997,

The rear ends on that Condor Tempo are exactly like the tradtional ends which I refer to in my post 2980 - the style which I date (roughly) from 1910 -1980. If something lasts a long time there must be something good about it!

You refer to the Tempo ends as being 'horizontal', but in fact they slope down towards the front. This is, as stated above, to allow for the wheel to be moved while still keeping the brake block alignment.

Back to my Question

In the interesting discussion above some good suggestions have been made for how to deal with the problems arising from using track ends for normal road riding, but so far as I can see no actual benefits have been suggested; that is, in comparison with traditional, angled, forward facing dropouts. Track ends are better for a single gear than vertical drop outs, but that's just stating the obvious.

Is this the conclusion: Track ends can be used for road, but they cause some small problems which can be overcome with a little ingenuity. There are no benefits?

The benefit is that track drop outs look better and that it doesn't look like you ride on a converted old road bike:)
Also I think the amount of people who use track ends with mudguards is negligible for bike brands.

There are no benefits?

I suspect track ends are a little stiffer in relevant loading conditions for the same amount of material. Probably not a material issue unless you're trying to plot an inch perfect line while pushing 2kW out of the saddle 🙂

The benefit is that track drop outs look better and that it doesn't look like you ride on a converted old road bike

I genuinely think this is the reason

Conversely, I think road dropouts are nicer than track ends for road fixed. Otherwise, you look like an bell end riding a track bike.
And your mudguards. Where do the attach?

Fausto Coppi didn’t mind the conversion look:

http://bicicloide.blogspot.com/p/questa-bicicletta-e-stata-trovata-nel.html?m=1

I wouldn't trust someone with tyres like that...

@tmevans please do!

there's a word for that i think, it's called a fixie

A benefit of track ends is that if you are the sort of person that has no interest in looking after your bike you can just keep moving the wheel back as the chain stretches and the gears wear away. As long as slightly more than half the nut is in contact with the dropout you are fine This also works when fitting an over sized tyre. I don’t recommend either of these things, but it’s fine

if you are the sort of person that has no interest in looking after your bike

I don't think we've met but you know me so well.

Coppi and the 'conversion look'

Coppi was the master of looking cool and stylish on a bike - you might almost say he invented the concept.

I was aware of his choice of ends for track. I will admit I was surprised the first time I saw one, which was in the bike museum in Novi Ligure. That machine also had campag q.r, skewers with the release levers cut to about half their normal length; track regs? look, if you've paid a big chunk of start money to Il Campionissimo you're not going to tell him he can't start because of his bike!

I'm not sure where I heard this, but there is a story that Coppi's track bikes are more common than you might expect. This is because when he went to a track meeting (outside Italy, at least) he would take a spare bike 'just in case'. Being a thrifty (and shrewd) Italian peasant, he would sell the spare bike before returning home. I guess Bianchi winked at this, thinking the publicity was more valuable than the bike.

Track ends only look better because that’s what you’ve been conditioned to think.

I took my social engineering victim winter fixed trackfinder out on Team W’s training ride today. Storm Bert is a little bit weaker here.

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+1

just wondering what GI people are rolling on for winter?

sorting out build at moment and tempted to go down to 63 GI for winter fixed when I generally roll 68 GI the rest of the time.

Do people make such a change to their rigs for the colder months?

Do people make such a change to their rigs for the colder months?

I don't tend to ride in crappy weather anymore but according to the AI overlords winter in the UK is the windiest time of year. Makes me feel better about putting a lower gear on recently.

This is especially relevant to @jonny now he’s mainly riding in East Anglia.

not really, it's either 68 or 72 I think, I cant remember. But then I mainly ride my fixed for commutes so changing it is a faff further than I can be faffed with

66 all year, never thought of gearing down for the cold/wet. I'd say just stick with 68 unless you're tackling something particularly hilly.

In East Anglia?

I live at the top of a hill in East Anglia it’s 17%, if I go up the other side it’s 21%. Considering it’s in the flat lands Norwich is hilly. It is also the windiest place on earth.
I ride 80GI most of the time, although the Pest with its nobbies is 67GI