Team Banana Conversion

This will be my first expedition into the world of fixed gear bikes and also into the world of bike repair/maintenance as a whole.

About a month ago I bought a Raleigh Team Banana through eBay. The initial plan was to keep it as a bit of an all purpose ride to get me to work and maybe a bit of leisure riding over the weekends.

When I went to collect the bike it was in worse condition than I expected:
-Wheels not true
-rotten tyres and inner tubes.
-heavily worn bottom bracket
-rear derailer turned to scrap (chain had been running off the sprocket and had worn through most of the cage, rust had done the rest)
-General rust and wear on the frame
and on top of this I'd obviously overpaid.

The seller, taking pity on my predicament, offered me a used set of Alexrims AT-400's for free which, he told me, consisted of a rear flip flop hub (had absolutely no idea what this meant at the time) The wheels and bike came with the advice that "it'd make a great fixie!" I willingly accepted the gift/challenge and rolled the bike back to my house.

Back home I wasted no time dissembling the bike and prepping the frame and forks for paint.

Saw someone on the forum using paint remover. As an after thought that might have been easier than the hours I spent sanding.

While browsing various pictures online I came across a bike colour I quite liked:

I did later realise this was Bianchi blue/green just the photo angle made it look a bit different. I got a couple of spray cans filled with a custom colour to match and painted my frame and forks.

At this point I had to figure out a way to insert the headset cups back into the head tube (had a bicycle shop remove them and the bottom bracket earlier)

A few googles and a trip to B&Q had me threading washers and nuts on to a massive threaded rod. Using this improvised tool the cups slid smoothly in and I could finish assembling the headset!

Next came the freshly cleaned up and polished stem and drop bars. I decided to remove all the black paint from the stem, preferred the polished metal look.

The next challenge came rather surprisingly. Apparently the axil in my rear hub was suppose to spin freely. Instead it seemed to be completely seized up with rust.

Luckily this was quite easy to fix and purchasing a couple of new ceramic bearings was no problem. I resembled the hub with a healthy portion of grease and decided to put the wheels, brake and bar tape on to give me an idea of how the bike would look!

Took what I've completed so far down to the bike shop this morning for them to fit a bottom bracket (I wasn't sure I could work out the correct sizing from what knowledge I had and decided it wasn't worth the risk of loss)

My new seat arrived today at work too, a Charge Spoon in brown that should look nice with the bar tape.

Behind you can see what I have been using to commute while I work on this project.

In summary I'm really enjoying this experience. Spent a lot more money than I'd planned but not particularly regretting it and gained a lot of knowledge, enjoyment and really bizarrely specific bike tools.

Will be collecting it from the bike shop tomorrow morning in a ready to ride condition. My first time on a fixed gear bike...