Search results for:

well here's an interesting update!

My girlfriend found her bike locked up to a lamppost in Brick Lane yesterday, complete with the stickers still in place (so there's no doubt). She found the girl who has it now, and discovered that she bought it from the second hand furniture place next to Rockit on Brick Lane.

It seems they are selling on stolen bikes!

They reported it to the police, and I think they are going to go and pay the shop a visit today. Get the girl her money back and give my girfriend back her bike!

I said I hoped they gave the shop an earful, and the PC responded "We don't tell people off sir, we arrest them"

I guess watch this space, and tell your friends to keep clear of the shop.

My girlfriend just had her bike stolen from the richmix at the top of bricklane where she works (bastards climbed over the fence to get it)

its a burgundy raliegh ladies bike (not fixed) single cog on the front and multispeed on the back. It's pretty distinctive as the gear lever is bolted to the handlebar stem, not the bars themselves. It's not worth anything much, but means A LOT to her.

burgundy frame, black handlebars with bronze brake levers. silver mud guards and a "one less car" sticker on one side.

if anyone sees it please email me robin (at) spacehijackers.org asap

i'll be down at bricklane this weekend looking for someone to thump.

that said, i'm quite keen to try wheel building, as this is a spare bike.

and a new flip flop hub would mean I could run it as a freewheel too if a (nonfixed friendly) friend wanted to borrow it.

lukerative Loctite: Red High-Strength No. 271, 262, 266, 268, 272, 277 & 2760 - Used on things that you don't want to take apart for a long time. It requires heat from a torch or iron (to 250° C) to loosen its grip. It cures into a thicker, sticky bond that holds up better against vibration and shocks. Preferably to be used with automotive and mechanical operation such as nuts and bolts on Cars, Motorbikes, Ski-doo's and Boats.

next time I do an on-the-cheap conversion....

• once you work out the gearing you want ;)
  
  

maybe not a bad idea, the gearing with a freewheel 52/17 seems to be pretty good, i'm guessing a fixed 17 cog on the back is going to be the same?

Nicholas You only need one wheel, that front wheel should do you fine.

true but being 27 x 1 1/4 i'd have to have odd tyres on the bike.

i'm considering trying to rebuild the back with a track hub (seems the cheapest option) but this is perhaps a bit out of my bike tinkering league? re-dishing the wheel was quite easy and fun, so perhaps it's worth a punt. Is it as hard and as specialised as people seem to make out?

Hello,

i'm mid way through converting an old dawes galaxy to a spare fixed bike. So far i've removed the gears, taken off the 5speed freewheel and replaced it with a single speed one, re-dished the wheel, shortened the chain and removed one of the front cogs.

here is a pic:

however I now need a new pair of wheels as the current 27inch ones have whats been termed a "suicide hub' if I want to fixify my ride.

what's the cheapest/easiest way of doing this?

I tried a pair of 700cc ones from my other bike in it and they look like the front brake would reach, but the axle was too fat to fit in?

I'm guessing 700cc wheels with fixed or flipflop hubs are going to be easier to find than 27" ones. anyone got any spare?

asm Actually bristlypioneer, i have a 3/32 16t sprocket you could have. Its just the cheap stock one from my pista, but it is chrome!!

sounds perfect, how much do you want for it?

piran When I converted my first fixed gear, I just removed freewheel from old hub, and rotafixed/locktited/extra bb lockring -ed a cog on.

As far as chainline is concerned: I bought some washers from hardware store to respace axle - I was able to slightly move the hub on the axle without the rim hitting the chainstays. I also just shifted my large 52t chainring from the outside of the crank spider to the inside, additionally moving it in with two washers on each stack bolt (again from hardware store).

Everything else stayed the same - whole conversion only cost ~£5 for cog and lockring from lbs bin.

Keep brakes until really confident, then loose back only.

Also get clips and straps or clipless pedals - prevents incidents down hills.

My views only.

This was the kind of conversion I was thinking of, but consensus seems to be that this is a suicidal route?

I was definately going to keep the front brake, and get pedal straps.

perhaps I'll give this a whirl first and see. I've a fuji track as my main bike, but just fancied something nice and cheap to leave outside the pub etc.

Thanks for all the advice!

I guess replacing the rear wheel is the best plan. I've done a bit of wheel truing before, but I'm guessing replaicing the hub is a whole different kettle of fish.

So the cheapest option seems to be either persuading a shop to swap the hub on the back wheel for me and re-dishing it, or finding an old 27 1/4 inch wheel with a fixed hub already attached (unlikely).

the front cogs seem easy enough to remove and the BB sounds fine so that shouldn't be a problem.

I guess I could swap both wheels for a pair of 700cc ones, but as you say, the front brake (which i'd like to keep) probably won't reach any more. I have a spare front wheel, so perhaps I'll try this out first.

thanks for all the tips, I'll keep you informed of how it's going, and perhaps even post some pics.

andrewleitch86 - if the sprocket is a 3/32 one and not a 1/8 one, then i'd definately be interested, I could paypal you the money?

Hello,

I've just been given an old dawes galaxy road bike as a freebie, and want to convert it into a (very cheap) fixed wheel.

It's got horizontal drop outs and lovely 531 tubing, so seems to be an ideal candidate.

I went along to Brick Lane Bikes and asked them about it today, but they started quoting me for new wheels, Bottom Bracket, cranks, everything. By the time she had reached £250 of new stuff I told her to stop. The wheels are 27 1/4 not 700cc so I'd prefer not to have to switch everything.

Surely I can do this on the cheap without switching to a 1/8 chain, new wheels etc.

So I thought I'd come here for some tips.

Can I just take off the outer cog from the crank and use the inner one? It's 40 or 42 teeth I think.

can't I just remove the rear freewheel cassette and add a fixed sproket, lock ring and some spacers?

for spacers can I just use wheel nuts like suggested here:
http://paulm.com/on/cycling/fixed_gear.html

is it possible just to shorten the existing chain, by removing links rather than buying a new one?

is there a lot more to it? Do I have to rebuild the rear wheel to make it more even?

HELP please.

megaman2016 A bit off topic but those sleek handle bars about 1 foot long, where do you get them from? or are they just normal handlebars chopped up with a hacksaw?

yep, flipped them over, took a hacksaw to them and bought some new tape

tallsam I thought the Fuji was white to begin with. Looks good though.

Cheers, it was blue though, the dark blue bit at the front is from the original spray job, I just masked it off, then sprayed the back half light blue (covering the black and white logos and dark blue rear).

Spokey Dokeys rule, I've added a few more since this photo was taken, beats spoke cards any day in my book!

Here's my fuji with a part respray, flipping the bars and some spokey dokeys.

winston
Natasha Kaplinski cycling on Thames Path near Kew gardens too...

mmmmmmmm

makes note to self to hang out at kew more often

Exactly

it's a £30 fine, i had one myself a few years back

stompy [quote]pip Don't discount the Fuji track as well

seconded[/quote]

Thirded!

I have loved mine ever since I bought it about a year ago. It's frame is also a bit more classic than the langster/flyer ones, much prettier in my opinion.

I went too,

Fixedwheelnut, you're not Sam are you???

Riding up Primrose hill on a fixed wheel bike isn't much fun. Riding down was even more interesting.

My bloody legs were spinning around like crazy!

I live in Aldgate at the top of commercial road, but rent studio space in Limehouse town hall where the wheelers do their bike repair workshop.

Hello,

This is my bike:

It's a fuji track which I resprayed the back half of to cover the logos and make it a bit less bike thief friendly, plus I chopped off the bars.

I have had it about a year now and love riding fixed, i'll probably not go back.

nice to find this site, I'm based in London and occasionally go along to towerhamlets wheelers events, but I think a few of them think fixed wheel bikes are satan's spawn.

"Zero Bike" is designed by Makota Makita and Hiroshi Tsuzaki from Tokyo, Japan. The bike is a hubless, spokeless and very lightweight bicycle powered by cranking magnetic pedals which rotate the tires suspended between other magnets. It has won a design excellence award by the Industrial Design Society of America.

found here

It's unfortunately not a fixed wheel bike, but never the less, enjoy Kylie: