Decisions

[Leistonbmx]

Ok, I'm looking at possibly building a bike at christmas.

Now, I first thought gears would be better. But I'm not gonna be racing and maximum it would see in one ride would be no more than 100 miles.

Would I be better off with gears or a SS speed bike with a rear flip flop hub for choice between SS and fixie.

Doman?

[weirdoku]

Doman is in another country for 4 months! I can help to some extent, I was in your situation last week deciding on a road bike or fixed (single speed never crossed my mind).

Road bikes will be more expensive to build than a fixed though, just cos of the gears and brakes. Unless you manage to find decent parts for a road bike that totals up to less than a decent fixed.

You say each ride will be no more than 100 miles, is that often or once in a while? If often I would go with road bike, surely you don't want to keep you legs moving all 100 miles if you had a fixed? I ride fixed but I only do about 45 miles a week. No way I would ride 100 miles in a single ride, unless it was for some charity or something.

Remember though there's more maintenance on a road bike and more parts to go wrong that might need to be replaced. I ride fixed cos I like the style of riding as well as because fixed bikes need less maintenance than a road bike.

Edited November 3, 2011 by weirdoku

[Leistonbmx]

Ahh, ok cheers.

I knew they'd be more expensive but just trying to get an idea of what I want.

100 miles would be the absolute maximum on a ride, probably never do that. But wanted to give an idea of usage. I'd say roughly 45 a week like you would be closer to what I expect to be doing.

Maintenance doesn't really matter to me as I'm used to messing with bikes all the time (I couldn't ride if my bike wasn't set up properly)

I think I'll be going with a fixed/ss and a front brake. Probably with one of those dolan pre cursa framesets like you've got. £200 for frame, forks, headset, seat post and clamp.

Havn't a clue what to do for wheels. What's good fixed wheels?

Also, any clue on what a good computer is? Just something that does the top speed, average speed, distance, time and as waterproof as possible would suffice.

[weirdoku]

I would have probably taken it if you hadn't. Looks nice and a good price.

Will you ride it far? I'm looking for a bike I can use on the road, but don't know if I should get gears or if I'd be ok with SS and fixed on a flip flop hub.

Just quoting from the other topic. I want to ride somewhere far, was thinking of riding to croydon to see the girlfriend but I probably would die if I did that on my first attempt.

Ahh, ok cheers.

I knew they'd be more expensive but just trying to get an idea of what I want.

100 miles would be the absolute maximum on a ride, probably never do that. But wanted to give an idea of usage. I'd say roughly 45 a week like you would be closer to what I expect to be doing.

Maintenance doesn't really matter to me as I'm used to messing with bikes all the time (I couldn't ride if my bike wasn't set up properly)

I think I'll be going with a fixed/ss and a front brake. Probably with one of those dolan pre cursa framesets like you've got. £200 for frame, forks, headset, seat post and clamp.

Havn't a clue what to do for wheels. What's good fixed wheels?

Also, any clue on what a good computer is? Just something that does the top speed, average speed, distance, time and as waterproof as possible would suffice.

The less maintenance the better in my opinion, or less parts to go wrong to replace. Gears piss me off so much.

Mine just came today All set up ready to ride tomorrow to work and back. Pre Cursa's are nice frames I must say, very clean! I wasn't expecting much of the fork but it's pretty light on its on too. Can't say how stiff it is yet, will find out tomorrow.

Good fixed wheels? I've never bought a wheel set off the shelve! I like to build my own wheels, get the parts I exactly want. Velocity rims are pretty well known in the fixed community. Rims like velocity Deep-V's, Chukkers, B43's are pretty common. I always find non /\ shaped rims on a fixed looked weird. Deeper rims affect how the bike rides too, I don't know the technical side of that stuff though, I just ride haha.

Hub wise, flip flop hubs are cheap but still nice. My hubs are £25-£30 each (well I got mine cheaper from a friend who works at evans and got them for me with 35% discount...), there are hub sets out there too with a price range but I've never had a fault with the cheaper standard hubs though, as long as they are sealed bearings they run fine. On my other other fixed I had System-X hubs. Not amazingly light but £25 each for front and back I can't complain. A lot of track hubs out there are pretty much the same, just with different brand logos on them and different in price. You want high flange hubs too (pretty standard for track hubs actually), shorter spokes means stronger wheel.

Can't help about computers I'm afraid! Never touched one!

Here's some fixed online shops from the top of my head. Links clickable!

Velosolo

Tokyofixed

Brick Lane Bikes

Bristol Dropouts

All Terrain Cycles (not fixed related but you might be able to pick up some nicely discounted stuff here like tires, tubes, lights, locks, saddles, seatposts and that sort.)

And you obviously got the ones like chain reaction and wiggle!

Edited November 4, 2011 by weirdoku

[Leistonbmx]

Would those wheels be alright? 120mm sealed bearings and come with a freewheel too. £65 so cheap too, on that lfgss or whatever forum. Other people have dibs but I'll see what happens. Don't need amazing stuff. fixed/ss seems cheaper than bmx and trials. Apart from carbon wheels.

I can happily build my own but they'd need to be perfectly straight really and id rather get them built, for peace of mind lol.

Would rims need to be 700c?

Oh and what's the deal with bbs? Is square taper the norm?

Is the fork you got the road one, or track one?

If I do decide to build them, whats a good spoke calculator that will have those rims, hubs and all that jazz listed?

Also, what's the difference between tub, clincher and whatever else wheels there is?

[Leistonbmx]

And also, does the dolan have a hole for rear brake? Or is it not spaced well enough for it to even be drilled?

[weirdoku]

Would those wheels be alright? 120mm sealed bearings and come with a freewheel too. £65 so cheap too, on that lfgss or whatever forum. Other people have dibs but I'll see what happens. Don't need amazing stuff. fixed/ss seems cheaper than bmx and trials. Apart from carbon wheels.

I can happily build my own but they'd need to be perfectly straight really and id rather get them built, for peace of mind lol.

Would rims need to be 700c?

Oh and what's the deal with bbs? Is square taper the norm?

Is the fork you got the road one, or track one?

If I do decide to build them, whats a good spoke calculator that will have those rims, hubs and all that jazz listed?

Also, what's the difference between tub, clincher and whatever else wheels there is?

They look fine to me, £65 is good. I can't see if it's 2x or 3x on the back wheel though, you don't want anything less than 3x for back wheel. Front radial lacing is fine with rim brakes.

Yes they need to be 700c, 650c exist but people use that on the front to drop the front end of the bike. I would stay with 700c front and rear if I was you.

Square taper is the norm yes. You can get square BB's dirt cheap, I never settle for things that are not sealed bearings. My sram s100 1.1 cranksets take a power spline BB though, not that common in my case.

Spoke calcs, I buy spokes last. I use an app on my phone for that. When all my wheel parts has come I measure them myself then work out what size spokes I need. Just make sure you include the thickness on the inner wall of the rim, I made a mistake once where I forgot to include that and the spokes turned out to be too short. Some companies have their rim ERD's but I don't trust those. I haven't specifically come across a calc that has everything listed, I measure the hub and rim manually and enter it into a calc for spoke size.

Tubular compared to clincher. Clincher is your common type. Tubulars need more effort to set up properly, like glue and time for the glue to dry. I stay with clincher, way less hassle.

And also, does the dolan have a hole for rear brake? Or is it not spaced well enough for it to even be drilled?

Mine is the track fork (straight, road fork is curved), no brake holes on the fork or frame. rear bridge is about 20mm diameter, is enough to drill a brake hole yes. Front track fork I wouldn't drill one. Not sure about the road one.

Edited November 5, 2011 by weirdoku

[Leistonbmx]

They look 3x to me.

I'll probably get those sram s100 like you have as they're fairly cheap new. What bb size would I need with the dolan? and what arm length? I know it's personal preferance but 175 is what I always ran on my bikes, so guessing that would be best with 48-16? can also buy new chain rings for the front if it's not right for me.

No readily available spoke calculators is pretty turd. There's someone on lfgss that can build and work out spokes for 25 a set. So may be worth doing that. Saves me hassle.

I googled clincher/tubular after I posted. So clincher is the way to go then.

How far from the tyre is the middle of the bridge on the frame?

The road fork comes readily drilled. So probably the better option for me. Just liked the look of the track fork more.

[weirdoku]

They look 3x to me.

I'll probably get those sram s100 like you have as they're fairly cheap new. What bb size would I need with the dolan? and what arm length? I know it's personal preferance but 175 is what I always ran on my bikes, so guessing that would be best with 48-16? can also buy new chain rings for the front if it's not right for me.

No readily available spoke calculators is pretty turd. There's someone on lfgss that can build and work out spokes for 25 a set. So may be worth doing that. Saves me hassle.

I googled clincher/tubular after I posted. So clincher is the way to go then.

How far from the tyre is the middle of the bridge on the frame?

The road fork comes readily drilled. So probably the better option for me. Just liked the look of the track fork more.

I don't know what size BB is in my dolan to be honest, crankset was on already on when I got it. But cranks are definitely 175mm.

The first spoke calc result on google, here is what I used before I had the app on my phone. Works perfectly fine and accurate. I'd build them yourself and save £25, building wheels really aren't that hard!

Theres about 10mm gap between my 25c tyre and the bridge.

[Leistonbmx]

I looked on a dolan spec thing and doesn't say shell width.

I've built a fair few wheels. Always built mine before. Will do it, just working out spokes is effort as I cba measuring it all aha.

That gap tells me it'd be easy to get a brake to fit. Agree?

Also, if I do ever decide to fit gears is there a cassette hub with the right spacing to fit in the dolan (120mm?) and is there some sort of adaptor you can fit to the frame so it has a hanger?

[weirdoku]

I looked on a dolan spec thing and doesn't say shell width.

I've built a fair few wheels. Always built mine before. Will do it, just working out spokes is effort as I cba measuring it all aha.

That gap tells me it'd be easy to get a brake to fit. Agree?

Also, if I do ever decide to fit gears is there a cassette hub with the right spacing to fit in the dolan (120mm?) and is there some sort of adaptor you can fit to the frame so it has a hanger?

Shell width is 68mm, just measured mine.

A simple ruler or £25?? I'll go with a ruler.

I'm really not sure about the rear brake, gap looks too small. Unless you can find tiny calipers?

You can fit a freewheel cogset I suppose on the freewheel threads on the hub, I don't know much about those gear stuff though and definitely no idea about adaptors for a horizontal dropout to fit a hanger. Sorry, I'm not much help with gears!

[jambo]

Ive been riding fixed for just over 2 years now and love it! During the summer there I put in about 100 miles a week riding everyday and possibly a slight longer ride on my day off or after work at night. I dont beleive there is a simple soloution to run gears without having a pain in the arse setup just choose your one gear wisely, spin for the win i ride with a 46:16 ratio which is a good all round gear for me.

[Jake.]

Fixed gear gives a sensation to riding that I never found on a geared road bike...