Conversions... what's the problem?

the main PRACTICAL disadvantage is that the bottom bracket will be lower —*meaning you'll be more likely to get pedal strike. The solution is to use short cranks, but you'll get less leverage and so it will be harder work. e

About that short crank solution, quite honestly I don't know how a mere 5mm shorter would make a huge difference in preventing pedal strike, I mean 5mm, that's pretty short.

I'd have though it come down to the choice of pedal than the crank length itself, a short clipless pedal would have less chance of a pedal strike than a wide BMX-style pedal.

Also:

lean less.

crank length has no bearing on gear inches. It does have a bearing on gain ratios though and that is what should be used when changing/comparing crank lengths.

Sorry, yes I meant gain ratios, not gear inches. Fail on my part..

I've just done the sums myself and gone OTP.

Always meant to buy an old 70s/80s road bike and "fix" it. I'd keep all the old bits so I could always make it geared again in the future if I wanted.

But a decent (i.e. paint good, decals intact) old bike goes for a lot these days and I couldn't find one that seemed a reasonable price once I'd taken into account the cost of new wheels, chainset and so on (e.g. probably new BB and headset).

So, thanks to eagle eyed GA2G on the definitive OTP thread, any day now Triton Cycles will be delivering me a brand new Paddy Wagon for £350. Not sure I could have made up a decent fixie for that price. Cheers, GA2G!

For now, I'm just dipping my toes in the fixed water. So an OTP like the Paddy Wagon will suit me just fine. In the future, who knows?

Love my Champ Mondial conversion, yours couldn't possibly look worse than mine so I wouldn't worry and just go enjoy it. Mine's on a freewheel though so crank length isn't an issue.

About that short crank solution, quite honestly I don't know how a mere 5mm shorter would make a huge difference in preventing pedal strike, I mean 5mm, that's pretty short.

I'd have though it come down to the choice of pedal than the crank length itself, a short clipless pedal would have less chance of a pedal strike than a wide BMX-style pedal.

Combo of all those things Ed, and of course the Q-factor has a bearing if you run a wider chainline and longer BB axle than a track set up.

There is no disadvantage to running 165mm cranks on the road.

About that short crank solution, quite honestly I don't know how a mere 5mm shorter would make a huge difference in preventing pedal strike, I mean 5mm, that's pretty short.

I'd have though it come down to the choice of pedal than the crank length itself, a short clipless pedal would have less chance of a pedal strike than a wide BMX-style pedal.

My fixed machine is a conversion with 170mm cranks and is old enough to use a 120 rear spacing. Pedal strike has never been an issue either with track pedals or clipless as the BB is fairly high. BMX pedals could cause a few issues but I've never tried them. It all depends on the frame design itself and the Q distance (distance between pedals) made up of your BB width and crank profile. My tourer on the other hand would have awful pedal strike due to the low BB and would therefore be totally unsuited to fixed wheel shananigans.

One advantage of running an old road frame is often they have bottle cage braze-ons and readily accept brakes which is a god send IMO.

Pretty much what RPM just said above you hoonz.

tourer are a problem, even on freewheel bicycles, I have to stop pedalling even at a mundane speed through a corner.

3) Armourtex in your choice of nasty colour, destroying nice period paint/decals and patina.

or rattle can it black and say "it's my work bike"...

Zing!

One of the strongest riders i know, rides a conversion and he's been riding fixed in excess of 7 years

Oh that's alright then

But hold on, I know a really strong rider and he says conversions are shit. He's been saying it for around 7 years , give or take.

Not sure if this has been mentioned before but surely riding a conversion is a bit more sensible than riding a track bike, why ride a bike that's made for a track on the road. You don't see people driving race cars around London do you?

You're riding on the road, get a road bike*, whether you want it geared or not is irrelevant.

*or a beach cruiser.

I think it has been mentioned many times but totally agree.

Saying that, I used a Caterham 7 as my only car for 2 years....

Awesome.

Bet the missus ask you to go shopping and you're like "can't love, look, no boots".

I think it has been mentioned many times but totally agree.

Saying that, I used a Caterham 7 as my only car for 2 years....

...you bastard.

Excluding the Lotus Elan that is far and away my favourite car.

caterham, hehe, a licenced go-kart no less. fabulous.

Shopping with a Caterham would be awesome. You could use it as an excuse not to bring the wife aswell. Or not to go altogether. You can't come sorry, need to get loads of groceries... GOnna hafta set them beside me. No room.

Holy shit the shopping could be done in 10 minutes (door to door too with the speed of those things).

As long as you weren't in London, and it wasn't a saturday, or sunday...

the main PRACTICAL disadvantage is that the bottom bracket will be lower —*meaning you'll be more likely to get pedal strike. The solution is to use short cranks, but you'll get less leverage and so it will be harder work.

Oh and track drop outs make it easier to tension the chain, but only marginally.

There is also the fact that the geometry will be slacker, which will affect the handling— but this is a matter of personal preference.

The only other objections will be aesthetic - I personally think it's a bit sad when people 'slay' lovely road frames to make them into 'fixies'.. but each to his own. As long as you don't saw off the cable guides and mech hanger you'lll be able to convert it back when you get a 'proper' track bike

All the above is spot on! (IMnvHO)

@parkie - check out this thread http://www.lfgss.com/thread2960.html for lots of info on Gazelle and post some pics when you're done. As for the conversion I'd say go for it, it's your bike after all, but cutting off braze-ons would be daft in this conversion case (as I'm sure you know) because you've already said you want to convert it back at a later date.

My conversion project has been a bit of fun and and a way of learning about bits of the bike I used to just pay people to work on for me. It's a fuck-ugly old Raleigh which weighs several tonnes unladen, the front forks look like you could use them as a sledgehammer, it was found in a hedge, rusting to death and needed pretty much everything changed. I just started riding it for a laugh and as a change to my old bike but I got to like it. So I've cut off many of the braze-ons (oh, the horror!) but I didn't use a Dremel, I used an angle-grinder for the extra-industrial look (and because I couldn't be bothered to sit with a rotary tool for half an hour), I sprayed it with rattle cans and am building it up again now, when funds allow for new bits.

Nobody is going to think that a bike like that is any kind of work of art. In fact anyone who wasn't such a hoarder as me would have had it on the scrap metal pile long since. It's a project, I do it for fun. It could take another two years to get on the road, I don't really care.

I guess if you're taking bike pron and ruining it, then I can see the point of some of the purists. But making a fixed/ss out of a manky cheap old bike like that is an act of charity in my book. Plus educational to boot. And if I completely screw it up, all I've done is postpone its eventual journey to metal recycling by three or four years.

I ride a Koga Miyata conversion currently, picked up the frame far cheaper than I could have got a track frame.

My thinking was build best bike I could on my budget at the time did everything myself and did it properly utfs etc.

My intension is to refurb the frame with new paint and decals and turn over to geared next year (money is tight as I am paying for my wedding in October) swap the parts on it currently to a different frame. (the advantage being I will end up with two bikes and my other half won't know how I managed it)

At the end of the day you own the bike do what you want with it (apart from covering it in stickers, putting a spok on it or hacking anything off it!)

Hey mate do you have any details of your conversion? I'm also in the process of building (violating) up a k-m road frame into fg /track style! I love the frame and like mentioned its a hella cheaper option than a real track frame build.

http://www.lfgss.com/thread83354.html#post2810667