# Need your fixie wisdom guys..



## clefty (8 Aug 2007)

I'm going to see a potential new bike tomorrow, I'm dipping my toe into fixed (cos it looks a lot of fun!) and dont want to spend 400+ on a new bike, and don't quite have the confidence or know-how to convert my own.

Anyway the spec of the bike is below, he wants £160 for it - what do you think?

Reynolds 501 frame (1980s Raleigh) resprayed in grey with black cro-moly forks.

Campagnolo crank set - 42 chain ring

Wolber profile rims laced to Campagnolo hubs with 16t fixed sprocket secured with BB lock ring.

Vittorio Rally tubular tyres (not clinchers)

Selle Italia Gel Titanium railed saddle. SR laprade seat post.

Dia Compe Aero lever (dummy on left)

Alloy bars and stem

Alongha Deep drop front brake.

1/8th pitch chain.


It sounds like a good price to me, but I could be talking absolute tosh, any opinions gratefully received.


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## skwerl (8 Aug 2007)

sounds ok but depends if all that's in good nick.
BTW - An irrational pet peeve of mine. 1/8" is the width. All chains are 1/2" pitch, except the old track kit which was 1". Pitch is distance between sprocket teeth.
God, I'm a pedantic git


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## clefty (8 Aug 2007)

Is there anything in particular I should look out for when I go and see it as far as condition of sprockets and such like?

I got a picture of it, although its not detailed.


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## Christopher (8 Aug 2007)

Eyeball it for general condition. Spin the wheels for trueness, have a _very_ close look at the headtube and downtube for cracks or crash damage, rotate the bars to check the sooothness of the headset, see if you can move the seatpost, try the brake. Oh and if you can move the *cranks* at all at 90 degrees to their normal plane of rotation, the bottom bracket's knackered. 

Bit concerned that it has tubs. You might be okay with them, but most people go for the ease of clinchers. If the hubs are nice you could perhaps get them laced to clincher rims in the long term, or you could just use another front wheel and hope the rear tub doesn't go pop. For all that £160 sounds reasonable to me.

PS: is the rear a Pista hub? If so it's worth a few £ by itself!


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## Mr Phoebus (8 Aug 2007)

Seems a reasonable price, like mentioned previously check as thoroughly as you can for trueness,wheels, frame, etc.


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## clefty (8 Aug 2007)

forgive my ignorance but whats the difference between tubs and clinchers?


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## peejay78 (8 Aug 2007)

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tyres.html


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## Christopher (8 Aug 2007)

Tubs are where the tyre and inner tube are combined into one piece and glued onto the rim. They apparently are much nicer to ride than clinchers and corner better but a complete pain to change or repair, as you have to tear the thing off the rim, find the hole, unstitch the tyre casing, patch the tube, sew the casing back up and glue it back on the rim. Or you can post it to somebody who will repair it for £10 or so. Most racers use tubs for the slight extra speed over clinchers (tub rims are lighter than clinchers too).

Clinchers are the conventional separate tyre-and-inner-tube.


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## clefty (8 Aug 2007)

Well that clears that up, I can understand your concern over them now. However I will give it a thorough once over and if all is well go for it. As you said Frustruck I can always upgrade the rims in the future if I get bitten by the fixie bug and want to spend more money on it.

Thanks for everything guys, you've really given this fixie ignoramus a much appreciated helping hand, I will report back tomorrow - hopefully with a new purchase!


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## xroads (8 Aug 2007)

You dont mention rear sprocket teeth count. 42 front, 16 rear should be bearable for a beginner (42/16x27=71"). Any higher than this, and you may wish to replace rear sprocket with a larget 17 or 18 tooth. Try it and see.


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## clefty (8 Aug 2007)

xroads said:


> You dont mention rear sprocket teeth count. 42 front, 16 rear should be bearable for a beginner (42/16x27=71"). Any higher than this, and you may wish to replace rear sprocket with a larget 17 or 18 tooth. Try it and see.



Yeh was just thinking about that looking back at the spec I think its 42/16 - i would have preferred an 18, from what I've read - but I'm going to give it a go anyway, part of this adventure into fixed is to improve fitness, I'm currently doing min 60 miles commuting a week on a flattish route so will see what happens, although I think it will be a while before I try the commute, I have to admit riding fixed on london roads scares me a little, but then I guess I just need to get used to it, and it should teach me better roadcraft as well..well thats the plan anyway.


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## peejay78 (8 Aug 2007)

it says you're in london, i imagine you've ridden before, and in light of this - not trying to be obtuse, i think you could push something slightly bigger, maybe a 72", 48:18 or 17, simply because it's flattish and you might find it too spinny.


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## xroads (8 Aug 2007)

Im fixed on my 48x18 (72") around Heathrow. My geared hybrid now sees very little action, except when it rains, and thats only because its got mudguards and a rack. 
I love commuting on my fixed, it's so much fun and a great workout. It will feel odd for about a week, and then grow on you. Be prepared to be fixated!


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## skwerl (9 Aug 2007)

peejay78 said:


> it says you're in london, i imagine you've ridden before, and in light of this - not trying to be obtuse, i think you could push something slightly bigger, maybe a 72", 48:18 or 17, simply because it's flattish and you might find it too spinny.



I've been riding 48:17 for about 18 months now. It's a good gear but it can be a bit hard on the knees. After riding exclusively fixed for 4 years and recently riding a regluar bike at weekends and increasing weekday commute mileage by 30% I'm starting to feel it in my knees a bit. I'm thinking I might drop to a 46 as I could do with a new ring.
I'd say it's better to spin than end up on a gear that can be hard going when it's windy etc.


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## BentMikey (9 Aug 2007)

I'm on 48x19, and have been up to 60km/hour on that, 180-odd rpm. Plenty big enough for London.


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## clefty (9 Aug 2007)

Yeh I think it will be a bit strange so prob wont use it on my 20 mile daily London commute at first, I already feel a bit bad at the prospect of neglecting my much loved Dahon Jack and I havent even bought the thing yet! I'm just hoping it isnt a complete lemon when I go see it tonight and I havent built up my hopes for nothing..I am quite excited tho


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## zimzum42 (9 Aug 2007)

I wouldn't get it just because of the tubs.

It takes 5 minutes to repair a clincher, but can be forever with tubs.....

Otherwise it's OK, but seriously consider those wheels, tubs can be a real arse.....


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## Christopher (9 Aug 2007)

Assuming the rear hub is re-laced onto a clincher rim that would be:
rim £20 
spokes (good ones): 36 at 50p each: £18
rim tape £1 
so you've got £39 in parts already without tyre, inner tube or labour.... of course you may get a nice fixed rear wheel for less than that but..


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## clefty (9 Aug 2007)

I hear what you're saying guys, this is a 'toe-dip' for me, If I get into riding fixed then i'm quite happy to spend some money improving it, I just dont have the money to shell out on a ready to go fixed when I might not even get into it, I dont really have the time or the knowledge to spend time building up my own, and while I have had a look at the amount of info around on converting bikes to fixed, I find a lot of it rather confusing and dont have any 'fixed' friends that I can rely on to help me out.


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## Christopher (9 Aug 2007)

Fair enough Clefty. Let us know what you do...


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## clefty (9 Aug 2007)

Seems i'm out of luck anyway he's just sold it. oh well. guess it wasnt to be... 

this has made me think about the whole fixed thing in general actually, maybe I should spend some time and have a bit more patience, get a frame and attempt a build, I know bugger all about how to go about it, although admittedly you guys already taught me a shedload I didnt know before.
Maybe thats half the fun, If I got hold of a second hand frame what do you reckon is an ok ball park figure for building something thats ok and wont break the bank? Langsters are all well and lovely but I dont want to spend 400 quid on something that is rather nickable, especially in London. I dont actually care if it looks like a pile of crap, as long as it runs nice.


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## xroads (9 Aug 2007)

Sounds like a good plan to me clefty. Buy an old 80s racer and convert it into a fixed for starters. You will learn loads and will enjoy the ride just as much. Plus it wont stand out as bike bait. Whereabouts in London are you?
I "fixed" my old 12 speed racer for under 60 quid (new BB, crankset,chain,sprocket,tyres,rattle can paintjob, bar tape, respaced and redished rear wheel)


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## Christopher (10 Aug 2007)

& in the meanwhiles, Clefty, havealookat:

http://fixiefaqs.xwiki.com/xwiki/bin/view/Main/


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## Blonde (10 Aug 2007)

xroads said:


> You dont mention rear sprocket teeth count. 42 front, 16 rear should be bearable for a beginner (42/16x27=71"). Any higher than this, and you may wish to replace rear sprocket with a larget 17 or 18 tooth. Try it and see.



I just started fixing it on Tuesday, on a 48 x 19 gear. Is that considered 'high' then? Seems about right to me on my undulating 13 mile each way commute. The last couple of miles home is uphill all the way to the house and it's a bit steep in places too, though I'm actually about 3-4mph quicker up this now than I was using the free hub and gears. I've yet to try any really serious hills on it, though I don't think I'd get down the other side again if the gear was any lower!

Edit: Ooops - I just counted - actually it's an 18, not 19!


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## Christopher (10 Aug 2007)

Point taken Blonde. I seem to be the only fixed rider in the village who can't seem to get on with proper hills (proper being >= 10% grade), yet can climb well enough on a geared bike. I ride 38x15 (67 inches), all because there is a small sharp hill on a 3.5 mile commute - that gear is a touch low for the flat, but I can live with that.


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## Blonde (10 Aug 2007)

Frustruck said:


> .. the only fixed rider in the village



I hope that was said with comedy Welsh accent and whilst wearing the cropped string vest and skimpiest PVC cycling shorts!


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## peejay78 (10 Aug 2007)

don't buy a wrongster.


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## Christopher (10 Aug 2007)

Blonde;37494][quote name= said:


> .. the only fixed rider in the village



I hope that was said with comedy Welsh accent and whilst wearing the cropped string vest and skimpiest PVC cycling shorts! [/quote]
The really worrying thing about that statement is that I more or less possess those items! I have the high-tech version of the vest, and many-times-ripped lycra shorts from my dismal attempts at mountain biking


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## gkerr4 (10 Aug 2007)

peejay78 said:


> don't buy a wrongster.



do buy a wrongster - er, I mean langster!

They are a wonderful introduction to fixie-world without faffing about with rusting steel tubes.... or something.

peejay hates em, I've just got one - I think it's good and has opened my eyes to fixie-dom.
don't pay full retail on them though. some of the parts are pretty poor quality - the freehub for one - awful and the wheels feel pretty cheap too...


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## peejay78 (10 Aug 2007)

wrongsters and bromptons. 

must.....destroy.....arrrghhh


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## peejay78 (10 Aug 2007)

non-fascist hat:

the wheels that coome with the wrongster and the fuji are useful if you want to make some sort of sculpture out of the broken spokes in the first two weeks.


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## gkerr4 (10 Aug 2007)

i'm going to agree with you there - the wheels do feel like proper cheap nasty things..


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## peejay78 (10 Aug 2007)

get yourself a decent wheelset if you can afford it - although i'd recommend getting a rear wheel first - the front can definitely wait. also, that way, if for some bizarre, totally way out reason, you ever want to upgrade from your wrongster to something else, you can use the same wheels and save money...


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## clefty (14 Aug 2007)

Definitely plenty to go on there, thanks guys - I think I have a bike project for the winter. I will no doubt be back asking you all inane questions at some point concerning chainlengths, sprockets and what not!


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## flattythehurdler (21 Aug 2007)

I commute on a 48 18 which is a bit too easy on the flat and a bit too hard up the 10% climb on the way, so about perfect. If it wasn't for the 10% i would have a 17 on the back I think. I am not especially powerful. I would also recommend putting marathon pluses on any commuting bike following extensive trial and error with every kind of puncture proofing known to man.


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## peejay78 (23 Aug 2007)

indiispensable advice from bike snob "Gearing rule-of-thumb: your chainring should not be larger than your front wheel".


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## Wogan (23 Aug 2007)

From another thread:

"Langer" - Irish slang for w*nker. Close enough.

Saw one of the Union Jack ones this morning. All the rider needed was a bowler hat and an orange sash to complete the Unionist bigot look. I predict it will sell well in certain parts of Northern Ireland.


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## peejay78 (24 Aug 2007)

go for it, you can't be a good build on an old bike, and you learn so much that way.


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