My 'conversion' to Fixie (MTB-SS-Fixed)

So to explain where I'm coming from with this bike It probably helps to have some background, It's not going to be a thread for the purists, and haters are going to hate, but I'm posting anyway to show my angle on things.

I've always been into bikes, I spent my mid to late teens doing a lot of MTBing. After that following moving to Hull, and numerous years of having a car and my MTB long since been deceased I decided I should start riding again to keep fit if nothing else. I didn’t have money for a proper bike at the time so picked up a late 90's Rayleigh (sorry but the MTBer in me couldn’t bring myself to get a road bike) it was given to me as it was wrecked (needed all new cables and a back wheel) I got it up and running for next to nothing (about 6 years ago). Here's a picture (actually not my pic, but a google image of the same bike):

It did me for a while, then along with a move further up north where's there's more hills I bought a proper MTB (but that’s not for this thread/forum). I'd kept hold of the Rayleigh, it was my towing bike for pulling the trailer with the kids in it, and also handy as a spare for a friend to borrow for light rides.

After a change of jobs I ended up commuting, it was only short (<2mile) and again the MTBer in me was resisting a road bike, in my head I justified it by saying I'll get more out of the journey on an MTB and the geometry will match closer to my MTB and keep the right muscles in shape. I kept changing bits here and there on the bike, I had picked up a second hand saddle when I was getting some other bits for my other bike, it was white, so I took the white flat bars off my wifes old bike to match.

After a while I decided I should go single speed, whilst I was at it I raw'ed the frame, its dark as I covered it in Krust rust inhibitor before lacquering it. It lasted a while, but eventually had many parts of the laquer giving up so I stripped the lacquer and just waxoiled it instead, that kinda worked but took a lot of reapplying in winter.

Eventually I gave up on raw and painted it:

And in off road mode (this was more of a one off as I've got a proper MTB for that):

I acquired some 700c wheels from a friend (with flipflop hub, he'd done the artwork on the wheels), I measured things up and there was enough clearance on the frame, the rear one was very bent but I managed to true it (though the tensions are uneven to say the least). I figured why not (on day I'll put a proper frame on it), I put a longer axel on the rear to suit the wider mtb frame spacing. Here it is (awaiting solving the brake and pedal situation -I needed a long drop calliper for the front).

Here it is after I hacksawed off the brake mounts, and painted the forks (and where If chopped of mounts):

I've now changed the bars, the paint on the frame wasn't holding up so I wrapped it with tape, cheapest easiest robust paint job:

I am loving it. I still love my MTB, though my usual MTB ride generally involves putting the bike in the car and heading for the hills first, then there's the rigmarole of cleaning it. So I do often just go for a blast on this bike to keep the fitness up, going fixed has really added a lot to these rides, I'm loving the experience (even though I'm expecting the haters to hate my bike ha).

Nice one.
Simple bike with purpose and built from bitsnbobs.

Good work!

I like that you've kept it and adapted it to suit your needs.

Plenty of love for MTB and functional, non-porn bikes on here.

Thanks guys. yeah it is fully bits and bobs, including the brake lever that I've had since 1997, glad to put it back in use.

Edit: see here for new frame and progress on bike: http://www.lfgss.com/conversations/270544/