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Same here, been riding a single speed mountain bike around town for the last 10 years and have finally decided to build up a dedicated fixed wheel road/track framed bike.

I build all my own bikes, even making some of my own parts (home made gear shifters, brake levers, chain guides etc) so I am not too worried about putting the thing together, I have my torque wrenches, hammer and beer at the ready, but there is a lot I don't know about putting together a fixed wheel ride.

Like Steveiehype says above, this site is pretty cool for information and inspiration, I don't have much time for the whole anti-'fakenger' tribalism - basically 'if you don't work delivering packages for big business like we do, you shouldn't be riding the same bikes as us ? - (fuck that !, you can stick that attitude back up the same hole that religion and racism is excreted from) :) but the rest of the stuff here is just great, I am currently trawling through all the posts (all 36 pages) and sucking up all the information like a giant throbbing bike building brain.

So expect questions !

Thanks in advance to everyone here for a great site.

Lee

hippy [quote]Stef let's hope they don't turn track bikes into prada handbags...even though it's already started

Too late:
[/quote]

I love that bike !!

Takes all sort I suppose.

Cheers :)

Good evening and welcome.

I am going to build up a fixed wheel machine (coming from MTB single speed) and was wondering about frame sizing.

I am something around 5' 11" and have fairly long legs for my height (two of them as well !).

What frame size would you all recommend, I realize the best course is to turn up at a shop and try a few out, but I wouldn't mind being armed with a bit of knowledge beforehand (just in case the shop tries to sell me the 72cm frame they have been trying to get rid of since 1987).

Any and all information greatly appreciated !! :)

Cheers big ears

Lee

Where can you get customs decals made up ?

Get a straight on photo (not at an angle/distorted) - then clean it up in photoshop - then use this:

http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/

It really does work very well.

Lee

Never leave your bike unlocked, even in photos.

Mat Sinclair I have a beard and a tan

That's good enough for me, 10 years, no parole.

hippy Easy.. I've been using textas to "paint" my bikes for years! Can't be arsed locating correct touchup paint so out comes the permie marker.. done.

And you.

[goes off to polish his £10,000 custom Klein]

hippy Come on leeww.. have you ever seen a Coke can crushed before?
No, I didn't think so!

;)

For a minute I thought he had used a paper label from a 1 litre coke bottle, but now that I see it is an actual coke can I think it should be absolutely fine.

Must rush, the cling film that I use as a front door has blown through again. . . .

ISIS durability = poor, very poor.

Ask any member of the mountain bike community, ISIS as a standard stinks ! (really).

I really want to do this, but this fricking terrible summer conspirers against the whole thing.

SMEEAR i kid you not, part of my frame IS coloured in with marker pen

you dirty bitch.

my favourite 'fixed' moment was realising that people who had reduced their gear choice to the singular were better people than those who had not, they were faster, cooler and better between the sheets.

The Nazis missed a trick when it came to leverage.

I never has ride a bike, isn't it, but I sees people is got bike with no geers, so I do same= ace !

meneer I fixed the seat-stay dent with loads of areldite and a coke-can. . .

No, you didn't ! - you covered the dent up cosmetically, nothing more, if it is going to fail, it still will fail.

the-smiling-buddha What you going to do to it...?

Bad shit.

22g KCNC lever = ain't nothing getting better.

I write music for telly ads.

I have one of those little pens you get in Argos/Bookmakers and it has got some ink left - £2 for the whole frame ? - if you leave the wheels on I will also do the tyres.

Sidi + Bebop pedals = :)

Stef good idea but the hell that is way too much hassle, get a thomson stem and it'll still look classic

Indeed ! It is much less hassle to just get a stem that works with the steerer, there are millions of them in every bike shop.

get a thomson stem and it'll still look classic

Forget the Thomson - you mark my words they will all be using 'fist of fury' or the 'skull of death' style stems on the next Tour de France.

;P

P.S !!

Just thought of how with the above set up you could over come the headset tensioning problem (well it's not really a problem just a little tricky)

A: Insert one of those 'ring-go-star' things (from U.S.E) between the seat post clamp on the steerer and the top of the headset, push it all down by hand nice and tight and tighten the seat post clamp, then once it is all locked into place - remove any remaining play by tightening the 'ring-go-star' (it basically expands vertically when tightened).

Hope this makes sense !

So to sum up - to get the quill to work on a 1 - 1/8 steerer all you need is a seat post clamp (of the right diameter) some beer cans (for shim material) and to make life a little easier one of those U.S.E 'ring-go-star's

http://www.use1.com/products/ringo_star/index.php

I would personally buy a stem that fits !

pip The short hassle free answer is: No, its not really possible due to the way the headset work.

Just an idea:

You could lock the headset into place with a seat post clamp (or at a push a jubilee clip) - just sit it at the very top of the stack (above your head tube) and clamp it around the protruding steerer - although setting the tension of the headset without the usual [star nut + cap + bolt] might be a little tricker but not impossible.

Here is something I knocked up in the very latest CAD modeling software running on the mainframe in my shed.

pip 1 1/8" quills are very rare (made mainly for the MTB market).

God did not rest on the 7th day as many of his flock believe, 'twas on this day that he brought the 'Shim forth from his bosom of creation.

I have made many a shim from layers of beer cans to fit various bike parts together, here are the rules:

Cheap beer (supermarket own brand) = thinner shims.

Posh stuff (Kronenberg/Stella) = thicker shims.

• just to make everything tight and solid between the quill and inside of the steerer - a thin layer of assembly paste (sometimes called friction paste) can really help.
  

yelmarb Mmmm.... I guess I'll be using a new style stem. Thanks guys.

Stem Power !