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Thanks for the spokecalc program, my 319s have an ERD of 600mm, spokes are 1mm over long and I'm using 12mm nipples. I may try a pair of cheap 700x25mm tyres and see how they look.

mumble grumble... useless bleedin hippies :) (thanks for your input)

I'm hoping that is the case, its about 10% different I think, which I'm hoping would be ok, but I'd like to hear from someone who has tried, failing that does anyone know of a suitable rim that is the same spoke seat diameter and I can just swap rims over :)

I'm currently running on a set of 36spoked Mavic A319 touring rims, because I'm a fat bastid and wanted good strong wheels (they were quite reasonably priced too). I've got Swalbe marathons on there in 28X700c which suit me very well. I've been looking at track frames though and 28s will be tight or possibly not even fit, so I understand tire sizing in as much as:
My rims are 19mm wide where the tyre bead sits
I've read somewhere (probably sheldon's site) that tyres should be 1.4-2.0 X rim width
so that puts me on 26.6mm minimum,

Do you think I could get away with a 25mm wide tyre, has anyone tried real skinny rubber on such a wide rim?

EDIT:

this is the dimentions off Mavic's site

ETRTO compatible size: 622 x 19c
Recommended nipple length: 12 mm
Recommended rim tape: 622 x 20 x 0.6
Recommended tire widths: 28 to 47 mm

I know 28 is the smallest reccommended but would a slightly smaller tyre still be safe?

Someone does a tubular clencher, basically a tubular tyre so you save the weight, but it has two beads moulded into the rubber so fits a clencher wheel, no gluing. that would be your best solution IMHO if you want to try tubulars, if they prove to be too big a PITA you can go back to regular rubber.

I'll add a link to the tyre if I can find it in my history.

Google is my friend: http://www.poshbikes.com/make.php?13

the weight saving is rotational so your wheel can spin up and slow down quicker and easier regardless of how much extra weight YOU are carrying.

If you can get about 42-44 teeth in a 4X whatevermountainbike pcd is then I'm interested in one.

The pins are tiny setscrews on of mine, you need a small allen key to get them out (once you have found the heads under all the greasy crap!).

EDIT: as for the rough surface for the and nut bit to grip, I reckon a bit of the weak threadlock (green one IIRC) would hold it fine if you flip the cog, to be honest I'd just tighten it up really fking tight and not worry about it much.

If your at uni, where are all the bikes parked and does anyone 'police' them. We (I work at a uni in Surrey) have a system where all the old bikes are tagged every summer and if not moved withing 2 weeks are claimed as lost property and 2 weeks later sold on (monies to a charity). It seems many foreign students buy a cheap bike and then just abandon it at summer on the campus. you can often pick up a reasonable bike that just needs a service and little TLC for £20, frames and bits go for small change. Does your uni operate any system like this?

Can you strip the rear cassette down and re assemble it with the cogs flipped round so you are now driving against the other (un-worn) side of the teeth. Quite a bot of hastle but if you don't want to spend any money it may work.

IMHO the Dave Yates course isn't expensive for what you get (£700 for 5 days, if you think of the workshop hire and expertees your buying into), but I havn't the money to do it ATM. I'll be getting a bag of cheap lugs and some cheap tube from Ceeway and having a good play before I start building my first frame. A friend of mine built a large tubular subframe for a kit car, thay was all jigged up on a 4' square sheet of 18mm thick ply, came out very straight so I reckon you could do the same for a bike, that is my plan anyway.

Also worth looking at Oxy Propane for brazing, saves the hire of an acetylene bottle, you just need oxygen and propane can be bought from B&Q (gas barbeques and patio heaters use it).

Hmmm touch a nerve???

I think a couple of people have kinda read more into this than they should, the comment:

'it's just a bike with one gear not a license to cover your bike with silly 'one relly nice speed' stickers, beer cap stem caps, whiskey flask bottle cages etc'

I'm talking about a small one line comment to write on probably the chainstay in about 12pt text that 99% of people will never see and the other 1% will smile at. IF I wanted plain with no thought process I would have bought a langster or similar, I didn't I built something a little different and built it my way with what I had, and that is how I'll finish it, painting in colours I like with a small throw away comment on it that I want. I'm not trying to be part of any scene (hell I don't think I've met anyone else who rides fixed and have one friend with a SS mountainbike).

I know feel I'm defending myself for something I see no wrong in...

I need a beer!

Small (suit 5'4") titanium frame £70 start £99BIN in Surrey somewhere

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270166253122&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=017

bit long for my other half but may suit some short arse on here ;)

I'm liking:

If its not fixed, its broken

and

Just one gear, still no idea

No latin for me thanks, I work at a Uni but don't want to appear too educated (elitist yes :) educated no :( )

EDIT: might break out the colouring pens before I go home.

Panic over, Emailed HubJub and Will has responded saying they have an odd 130mm in stock that was ordered and never paid for.

So its mine!!

broken_77 how tall is it? finish doesn't matter.

I've found the Nitto (130mm length quill overall length is 225mm) for £18 shipped +robbing taxes (although £18 will probably slip through customs as a gift) from the far east through fleabay.

No Probs, I've contacted HubJub about getting the Nitto in 120mm and I've found an ebay seller who can get the 130mm Nitto direct from Japan as a last resort.

How tall have you got? I'm currently running an old MTB stem which sits the bars probably 75-90mm above the steerer I'm using the moutache bars so I'd probably like the bars (I'm looking at flat/risers again) to end up a good 75mm above the top of the steerer and 120-150mm in front of the steerer. I want something nicer looking than my current black rusty MTB stem.

Ideally something like a Nitto Technomic but I want 120mm or preferably longer. I'm in Guildford and don't venture into the big smoke very often so it would have to be posted. I have a nice 3/32" 16T rear sprocket (unbranded but looks like a Surley) with about 30miles on it for swapsies if anyone is interested.

Looking for something to put on my bike, a fairly subtle small text slogan (kind of thing that if you notice it will make you smile), but don't know what.

All I have come up with it:

'I'll get gears when I get too old'

you guys & girls must know of something better, so please share.

You can heat them if you have access to oxy acetylene/propane to melt the brass/silver and lift them off, but you will still have to file them flat after, I removed a couple of cable bosses with heat and I need to go back and brass fill the small dents left by them and file them flat. For the canti brake bosses on my frame I'll just take an angle grinder to them to remove 95% of the boss and finish the last bit with a flat file.

Angle grinder and flat file IMHO

I was planning on powdercoating a set of Stainless DTs, black spokes are weaker by design I believe, my LBS certainly sees more broken ones. I think the black is an oxide layer, done by heating the spoke to cherry red and dropping it in oil to get the black surface coating, not very good for the metal iirc. I need to get a nice fat piece of steel box section and drill about 36 holes in the top and tap them to M2 for holding the spokes to powder coat them, and I'm lazy so it never got done hence I'm on silver spokes still.

Another one I used was a piece of plastic cut into an 'L' shape with a magnet glued to it, then true the wheel with the edge of the rim against (almost touching) the inner corner of the 'L', providing you have a steel frame the magnet will keep it in position, I have used cable ties around the chain stay and the long end as a ref point on an aluminium frame before.

When I built my first wheel, my LBS (who were very helpful) suggested squeezing adjacent spokes on the machine built wheels on my Rockhopper and making the wheel I build a bit tighter, then when I'm happy take it in to them and they would check it over. They did and said there was plenty of tension but not too much and it should be fine to ride on. I then based my next wheels on that one and they are holding up fine. I probably spent 40 mins including a tea break to lace a pair of wheels then probably an hour a wheel tensioning them up and checking the dish, then 30 mins in the frame each truing them. I used a small bit of paperclip soldered to an M5 (I think) bolt which I screw into the cantimount as a reference point for truing.

IMHO Paying over the odds for a bike you like is better than getting a great deal on a bike you don't like. If your happy its money well spent. I certainly got some of my bits cheap and payed over the odds for others (I also made the job of replacing drop outs far more difficult than it needed to be), I'm enjoying the bike though and that is what matters.

IMHO wheel building is easy IF you are patient and methodical. I have built 2 pairs from that book and both are at least as good as the machine built wheels from my specialized rockhopper (one pair replaced them). I'm happy riding on my first pair of wheels I built.

Look at Nitto Moustache bars, they will push your grips forward by about 3"ish giving you more effective length to the top tube.