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Fixie virgin

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  • November 19, 2011 at 7:54 pm #14513
    Gepin

    At the tender age of 42 I am dipping my toe into fixie riding for the winter.
    To be honest in the past I just rode an old MTB through the worst of the weather but a mate at work talked me into building a fixie.
    A 1960’s Olmo time trail frame was offered as a base for the build and over the last few weeks its been cobbled together out of whats laying around not only my mates but my limited parts bin.
    Tomorrow sees me put away the NEW Olmo and comit to the 25 mile round trip commute on the OLD Olmo..
    Does anyone out there have any tips for fixie riding?

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  • December 12, 2011 at 7:44 am #657823
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    giff77

    @Rushie – Could be a host of
    @Rushie – Could be a host of things. Check your cleats are set correct. It may mean a trip to the lbs and they will do it for you. If you are a short arse like me your cranks may not be short enough. I need to drop to 165mm most bike that are off the peg have 175mm. There are various means of measuring yourself to determine crank length. The shorter crank does improve your cadence as well if this is the case. And yep, you could have had too big a ratio. Again off the peg fixed tend to have a bigger gear (48×16) for some bizarre reason for which I have no idea to why. Worth switching to 48×18 or lighter. But start with your cleats and float in pedals first, that is the most common cause of knee problems.

    December 11, 2011 at 4:10 pm #657821
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    monty dog

    May be worth fitting a rear
    May be worth fitting a rear brake too if dealing with lots of downhill – using your legs to brake isn’t too clever of 20% downhills IME. Finding a gear that works for you is worth experimenting – aiming for 90-100rpm cadence at your average speed should leave enough for the uphills and mean you’re not cooking-it on the downhills too.

    December 11, 2011 at 1:27 pm #657819
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    Municipal Waste

    Learn to do skids with it,
    Learn to do skids with it, when you need to make a tight corner it’s invaluable!

    December 10, 2011 at 10:08 pm #657817
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    PeteH

    I’m getting caught out with
    I’m getting caught out with not being able to freewheel, that seems to be something everyone says, but that’s getting easier by the day.

    Going at speed is no different, but find it quite strange when decelerating to have to apply the brake.

    Strangest thing of all – and I was never really conscious of this before – is moving off from a standstill. I clearly like to move off with the pedals in a certain position and on a freewheel I just flick them round. However on a fixed wheel…

    But I guess its just something else to get used to. And its interesting to hear peoples’ theories about using fixies for winter training – I’m using the fixie for my commute but still on my road bike for weekend rides.

    December 10, 2011 at 9:13 pm #657815
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    Rushie

    Went back to singlespeed on
    Went back to singlespeed on my 25-mile round trip commute recently after 3 years on fixed. Knees not enjoying the latter at all. Did a track session recently and they flared up again. Don’t know what the solution is – maybe a lighter gear?

    December 10, 2011 at 4:23 pm #657813
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    Gepin

    PeteH wrote:I just flipped

    PeteH wrote:
    I just flipped from freewheel to fixed last week. Different…

    Very but got the hang of it now and loving it 😀

    December 10, 2011 at 12:38 pm #657811
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    PeteH

    I just flipped from freewheel
    I just flipped from freewheel to fixed last week. Different…

    November 21, 2011 at 8:52 pm #657809
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    Gepin

    lolol wrote:Love the build,

    lolol wrote:
    Love the build, and the fact that thats how cycling used to be for me, build out of whats in you and your mates boxes of bits, rather than todays “cycling is the new golf”
    Well done.

    Many thanks, this was the plan from the start, the only new thing on the whole bike is the rear wheel that was purchased from a well known auction site for very little. Its a parts bin special built by me, you cant buy that and thats what makes it special….

    November 21, 2011 at 7:41 pm #657807
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    lolol

    Love the build, and the fact
    Love the build, and the fact that thats how cycling used to be for me, build out of whats in you and your mates boxes of bits, rather than todays “cycling is the new golf”
    Well done.

    November 21, 2011 at 7:16 pm #657805
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    Gepin

    wyadvd wrote:front mtb hub
    [quote=wyadvd]front mtb hub for a fixed rear hub:

    http://www.velosolo.co.uk/shophub.html%5B/quote%5D

    Thanks matey much appreciated B-)

    November 21, 2011 at 3:43 pm #657803
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    wyadvd

    front mtb hub for a fixed
    front mtb hub for a fixed rear hub:

    http://www.velosolo.co.uk/shophub.html

    November 21, 2011 at 3:32 pm #657801
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    wyadvd

    to be clear. On the rear of
    to be clear. On the rear of the bike i am using an mtb front hub designed for disc brakes. where the disc should be bolted on ive bolted on a cog! it really is solid!

    November 21, 2011 at 5:52 am #657799
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    dreamlx10

    I don’t want to sound
    I don’t want to sound pedantic about the terminology but it is just another one of these lazy adoptions of american english. I just feel as if I have to point it out.

    November 20, 2011 at 9:49 pm #657797
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    Gepin

    dreamlx10: I live in South
    dreamlx10: I live in South Wales, thanks for the heads up on terminology.
    wyadvd: Being a mountainbiker I can see the benefit of a front disk, up front its running a Mavic open pro ceramic that was laying about… Disk for next year though I think. Thanks for the heads up about the sleeping policemen.
    nick_rearden: Cheers, its a great ride. My mate at work is a proper old school and convinced me to ride Fixed as a winter bike. This is a link to it in its last incarnation on Nic’s website: http://www.bikebrothers.co.uk/olmo.htm
    Looking forward to the ride in tomorrow already 😀

    November 20, 2011 at 9:25 pm #657795
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    wyadvd

    yeah heres
    yeah heres mine:

    https://picasaweb.google.com/wyadvd/Jul42011?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLuI9YXN1dKLew&feat=directlink

    stripped the vintage track hub trying to skid it (tw@t that I am!), so now it has a disc brake front mtb hub with the sprocket bolted on a la velosolo. no thread to strip!

    Um I do a 30 mile round trip on mine, lets see what’s gone wrong so far. just over shot a corner once trying to freewheel round it. wont do that again. feel much safer now I can skid brake when required! avoid pot holes and sleeping policemen if you value your ahem “assets” ahem…. and when it seems like hard work………pedal faster and it all gets easier…. funny that eh!

    as for punctures .. getting the back wheel off isnt so easy, and may require extra tools so think about that. other than that just google “sheldon brown fixed”

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