Fixed gear on a fixed income

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After spending a lot of the spring and summer shooting a documentary on track racing in St. Louis, I am jumping on the fixed gear bandwagon and going to build one.

And like most, I'm going to try do it a cheaply as possible by using what I've got and selling the parts I don't need or want to buy what I do need.

I started out with this 1979 Scwhinn Continental that I got on Craigslist for $20. A good solid bike to cannibalize and sell the unwanted and unneeded parts even if it is a bit heavy.

schwinn3.jpg


schwinn2.jpg


Here are some of the parts I removed and sent off to a new home.

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schwinn6.jpg


The one piece crank weighs a ton and neither chain ring really has the right number of teeth for a fixed gear bike so I'll replace it with a more modern 3 piece crank. Have ordered a bottom bracket adapter from my LBS that fits the unthreaded old style brackets and allows the use of a one piece tapered crank.

So far I have $20 in the bike, have sold $40 in parts and spent $20 on the BB adapter/converter so I am even. That won't get it done as I still need the new bottom bracket and crankset, wheels and more.

Next steps are to get the bike prepped for paint and to flop and chop a set of aluminum dropped bars. That won't cost anything and will allow me to root around for more stuff to sell to finance this build
 
Not keeping the original drop handlebars on the bike. They go in the "Sale bin". I have a no name set of aluminum drop bars that I gave the
chop and drop to.


IMG-20110924-00142.jpg


While an angle grinder is my tool of choice for cutting, in this case the pipe cutter worked great on the aluminum bars. Quiet and smooth.

Here is an early mock up of what the bike could look like with the bars and the original seat. Not sure the angle on the bars is quite right...
Or maybe have to trim it back just a tad more.

IMG-20110913-00127.jpg


The original schwinn stem will be changed out too. More on that later. As of this posting it's stuck fast to the steer tube and penetrating oil and patience haven't caused it to budge a millimeter.

Nothing's sold on ebay yet so I have to do freebie mods til then. Paint prep and priming are next up.
 
Re: Fixed gear on a fixed income FORKED!

I had planned to use the original pretty chrome fork on this project. All I'd have to do is remove the stem and lube the bearings etc and be good to go.

IMG-20110926-00155.jpg


I have never had a stem so stubborn that I couldn't remove in one fashion or another...til now.

I first tried penetrating oil and patience. Several days of spraying and soaking. I used a wrench worked through the stem with a long breaker bar and got nowhere. At that point I gave up on the stem and started beating on it with my breaker bar and bfh and still got nowhere. At this point I am hampered by having the fork still on the bike so I cut it off and removed the fork. Now with more leverage and access and penetrating oil I planned my attack.

IMG-20110926-00154.jpg


This is how it sits today. The stem won't move down, it won't move up. It won't twist it won't budge. I have chiseled and pounded and twisted and turned it and my mark on the stem hasn't moved.
I am officially in the market for a new fork as this stem seems welded in place and I have fairly ruined the threads at the head and the bearing race at the bottom.

I did manage to clean up the chain and get it gunk free and fairly well polished up.

IMG-20110925-00147.jpg


Looking to get primered and painted maybe this week if the weather holds.
 
you can also drill a hole underneath the fork and use some pb blaster or any other lubricant and spray it inside the hole you drilled. After letting the lube penetrate use something like a skewer axle or something similar and hit the skewr with a hammer and hopefully the stem comes out. :D I've done it a few times and it worked like a charm.
 
Grinding the cable bosses down

I went ahead and sanded and primed the frame and then got looking at the cable bosses. I decided they really did need to go.

IMG-20110927-00158.jpg


So I got out the angle grinder and a file and went to work. I broke the "tabs" off of the bosses with pliers and thought about a chisel to get knock them off. I was worried that I'd tear a hole in the frame if the welds didn't break loose. It took a little time to get them smoothed down and not nick up the frame but I think they are pretty smooth.

IMG-20110927-00160.jpg


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It looks a lot better without the cable bosses sticking up and being non functional
 
Re: Fixed gear on a fixed income *Update*

Looking forward to the finished bike!
Keep up the good work!

brentville said:
After spending a lot of the spring and summer shooting a documentary on track racing in St. Louis,

Is the documentary done? Can we see it? :mrgreen:
 
Re: Fixed gear on a fixed income *Update*

The documentary is still being edited. It looks at the history of the Pnerose Veledrome and track racing in St. Louis. A few of the local riders went up to the Chicago track this Summer and did pretty well.

Probably the end of the year for the doc. Thanks for asking!
 
Re: Fixed gear on a fixed income *Update*

for $18 shipped you can get a set of proper bullhorns on Ebay. They'll look a lot better.
 
Re: Fixed gear on a fixed income *Update*

Went to the local bike coop this morning looking for some goodies for the bike.
IMG-20111001-00164.jpg


Found a half chrome fork to replace the original with the stem still stuck in it. May need to cut it down about a 1/2" in length to get it to fit. Keeping with the Schwinn motif I got a set of Le tour cranks and chainrings. have to run 18 to 20 teeth on the rear cog to be able to move that big 52t front ring. The old chainrings and cranks weighed in at over 6 pounds. I am at less than half that now.

The seat is a Marukin, really nice looking and in great shape. I have the exact seat on my 10 speed commuter scooter and it looks and rides great. May use it or stick with the original schwinn seat. But I couldn't pass it up.


Paint is next
 
This is the bottom bracket converter/adapter that allows you to swap out the old dogleg one piece crank set for a modern 3 piece set. It works pretty nicely and looks good.

First you have to drive out the original BB bearing cups and clean up the BB.

IMG-20111003-00166.jpg


Then drive in each piece of the new converter into the BB. The only trick is making sure that the holes for the allen bolts line up and that you use a board or a rag to protect the finish of the part. The old dogleg schwinn crank set weighed in at 6 pounds. The new alloy crank set and chain ring is less than three and a real upgrade.

IMG-20111003-00167.jpg
 
I've yet to use one of those adapters, but I have a couple projects in mind for one. They are cool.
 
It's too late now but I think it would have been cool to remove the kickstand mount. Most fixed gears don't have them for weight purposes and seeing how this is a Schwinn it would be good to lose as much weight as possible.

Good work though I like it so far.
 
Ok got some more progress on this but it's two steps forward and one step back....

IMG-20111030-00186.jpg


IMG-20111030-00184.jpg


Got it mocked up with the original Scwhinn seat and and new wheels. Will probably run a 14t and 16 t on the hub for starters. I was going to use the original 52t Letour chainring up front but it's just too big for me. I'll try a wimpy 39t up front and see how that goes.

And it turns out that after checking many times that the bottom bracket adapter is threaded wrong and I'll need another one...

Otherwise it's looking good.
 
Yeah got the schwinn kickstand out and capped it with a handle bar plug. In true hipster fashion I probably should have used the bottle cap from a PBR but I'm just not that cool.
 

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