30:30
Made it to uni today in a the best time yet, 30 minutes, 30 seconds. I thought I was going to spew. My time included stopping in at the bike shop to arrange for one side of the flip-flop hub to be converted to a fixed gear. Soon I’ll be away with the fixies, and beating that time on some skinny tyres. I bought some oil for my pathfinder yesterday. It made me sad.
January 20th, 2006 at 12:22 pm
looks like you are:
- practicing your URL linking; and
- had a good title and couldn’t resist.
January 20th, 2006 at 12:42 pm
dude you can’t make that bike a fixie inless you purchase a half link chain (muy expensive but looks like dragon skin on the bike) and even then there is no guarantee that you will be able to get the chain tension you require with vertical drop-outs. Don’t ask bike shops their opinions either, most of them don’t know what they are talking about nor are they very good mechanics.
January 20th, 2006 at 12:44 pm
just thought you should know, 1.25 or 1.5″ tyres would be pretty slick though
January 20th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
for those of us playing at home, could you please give us some more detail. what do you mean by a half link chain. i.e. what is it? what does it do? why can’t the chain that’s on there work? and, why did you buy a frame with vertical drop-outs in the first place?
January 20th, 2006 at 1:00 pm
and, the rear rim looks slightly thicker than the front one. will it still fit those slimmer tires?
January 20th, 2006 at 1:24 pm
it will you will just have a flatter profile go 1.5 geax or something like that
January 20th, 2006 at 1:28 pm
a normal chain has links that occur in pairs, one female and one male for want of a better way to put it, when you join the chain you need one male bit to fit to one female bit so conversely if you want to shorten the chain you need to shorten it by a whole pair = 1inch total chain length or 1/2 inch relative shortening of the drive train
January 20th, 2006 at 1:33 pm
which when you have vertical dropouts makes it difficult to adjust to the necesseary accuracy. this is easier with a half link chain http://www.wiggle.co.uk/Default.aspx?Main=ProductDetail.aspx&W=0&Manufacturer=&UberCatName=&Cat=cycle&CategoryName=Chains&ProdID=5360021268&UberCat=0
January 20th, 2006 at 1:36 pm
by the way no cutting of my frame or hub unless you want to buy me a white industries eno hub mmmmm http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/white-hubs.html
January 20th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
too late.
just kidding
the line between ‘mine’ and ‘yours’ appears to have become quite blurred…
January 20th, 2006 at 3:08 pm
blurred like the former colour on the frame…
January 20th, 2006 at 3:11 pm
dry your eyes, it looks sweet.
January 20th, 2006 at 3:13 pm
I was about to “dry your eyes” with your hard times on the orange clockwork front
January 20th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
well, you do need to be careful of the citric acid: it could give you a nasty burn on the eyeball.
January 20th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
so, are you crushing my fixed dreams?
January 20th, 2006 at 3:18 pm
i sent you some links to point you in the right direction, if you find the right ratios you could be away, first fixie in the ville
January 20th, 2006 at 3:25 pm
i had a look at the links, but am still confused as to why you can’t just get a fixed gear the same size as the current freewheel gear on the hub and use the same chain, tensioner etc…
the half-link chain is only 15 pounds, doesn’t seem that expensive to me. maybe my uncle could get me one for my birthday and send it over
like this?
http://www.bicycletires.com/tek9.asp?pg=products&specific=jomqdre8
January 20th, 2006 at 4:44 pm
You like fixies? You like photos? You like cool t-shirts? Yes, Yes and Yes?
http://www.fyxomatosis.com/
But seriously, tomo, do you understand how sketchy it is riding a fixie in traffic? There is a very good reason that they are only good for the velodrome. Street cred? Yes. Road rash? You bet ya.
January 20th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
you can’t ride a fixie with a chain tensioner, the forces involved in stopping your mass at pace by simply stopping pedaling will snap any chain tensioning device, drop the chain and send you flying over the bars with not a lot to stop you
January 20th, 2006 at 7:00 pm
see, that makes sense.