roadmap

Chuck was the one guy I know who had actually finished building their fixie at the time, and has a lot of bike smarts, so I said, "Hey Chuck, lets build me a fixie." He replied with this fairly explicit email:

From: Charles
Subject: Re: bike
Date: February 12, 2007 10:29:53 AM EST
To: Dieter Laskowski

here are the steps in an easy to read fashion

1) Get frame with horizontal dropouts (also the frame should be the right size for you, otherwise you compensate with a long (or really short) seatpost and headset.

2) We need wheels to roll around on. Try and get a track wheelset or Flip Flop hub wheelset. Flip flop hubs are cool cause they are threaded for freehubs on one side and straight cogs on the other. So you could buy a freehub if you want and just flip the wheel around and *POOF* singlespeed. Wheelsets can be crazy expensive or not so expensive. expect to pay $150+ for a wheelset.

3) Find a seat thats good for you (or that is cheap, like I found for 15 bucks in rochester).

4) To go with the saddle get a cheap seatpost of the right length (i suggest kalloy, as they have every size needed, and my seatpost is pretty cool and cheap)

5) We need to get power to your wheels, Get a singlespeed/track crankset. Sugino makes a $60ish good singlespeed crankset. I would suggest a square taper one (thats why i suggest the sugino, cheap for singlespeed and fixies are all about being cheap)

6) Pedals to go with your crankset. This is a preference thing, but if you do get clipless (ie you clip in with special shoes) hope they have a platform enough on them to keep you stable. So if you get eggbeater clipless get candy SLs. I ride around sans special shoes all the time and am pretty comfortable. PEDALS ARE YOUR PREFERNCE AS THEY ALL SHOULD FIT. k

7) You need a bottom bracket to go into your frame. So Figure out how wide your BB Housing is. Mine was something like 67.5mm or something. Make sure your bottom bracket is a square taper one to fit your cranks (or whatever your crankset is). BBs dimensions are funny, they'll say 67x110. its all on the same dimension, the 67 is how wide the bearing part is and the 110 is how far the edge of the square taper is from the other side
here is a picture
,................., 110mm
==|||||||==
.....'''''""""68mm

The second dimension affects your chainline, which is really important on a fixie, you want it as straight as possible (better in every way).

8) Tires are easy, just get cheap ones that fit your wheels. FYI My wheelset handles 18-30mm wide tires. 700x23c wheelsets are the cool roadsets you see me riding on. Those are the dimensions. I buy cheap tires from nashbar.com in "bulk", cause skidding is fun and i go through tires.

9)You need a cog to go with yourwheelset. I am running a 16 tooth cog (i think 11 is the smallest). The smaller = the higher the gearing. My crank is a 48 tooth crank, so i run a 3.0 ratio. Higher is pretty crazy, although in really flat places totally doable. smaller ratios (ie bigger rear sprockets) is better for hilly places. You can always change it later pretty cheaply

10) Now i have no idea what to do when it comes to a good headset. I have a shitty one that works for me. I also have a really old style headset so you're sorta on your own for that one.

11)This one is important. Your handlebars. This is what characterizes a fixie. It also affects the feel of your ride (along with the fork and chain) and can make or break long term riding. I have bullhorns, i think they're fun (they're known as time trial bars). Drops are pretty cool too, they're the standard road biking handlebar. You could be crazy indie and go for a flatbar fixie (ie mountain bike bars). There is also the old school moustache bar fixie, very rare. This is mostly a comfort and aesthetics issue.

12)Fork. If your frame didnt come with a fork you could get a carbon one as they provide smoother rides (so i hear, i believe it too knowing how they flex). Or stick with a normal old steel one just like your frame (probably). Aesthetics and ride.

13) Brakes, I started out with no brakes. But at most all you need is a front brake (as it does 80% of the max braking force anyway). Get a cheap brake that fits your fork and wheels. Get a cheap lever to go with it. That lever style depends on the handlebars. If you get bullhorns dont do what i did and get a crosstop lever. Getyourself a bar end timetrial lever, much better looking and more functional. If you have drops get hooded levers. Get some cabling to go with that lever.

Almost finished

14) Lights. I'm all about playing in traffic, and so i dont really wanna die so i have some lights. I have a flashing armband light thing, its pretty nifty. I also have a rear light, the most important i think, as I can control where im going and who im flying into, I cannot control what car comes careening into me. The mars 3.0 light is my favorite for rear lights. It has cool flashing abilities and is easy to mount (and remove for when locking up the bike). Im not a fan of cateye front lights as i have one now, but i cant remove it easily. I broke my goodlight and am considering buying it again.

15) most important. Helmet. Considering how much we pay for education, might as well spend some money to insure we dont lose what we paid for. A good helmet is key. Good helmets are comfortable and light. Go try some helmets on and dont feel bad about spending 100 bucks on a helmet. 100 bucks is easily what my head is worth. NO DOUBT, they also last longer than tires, much longer.

So far I'm basically following it step by step, we'll see how it goes.