Viking IV

[HotRodHocke]

Been working in Copenhagen, Denmark since February and brought last years build the Path Racer down there as Copenhagen really is a bike friendly city and very nice to go bike riding in. Anyway, I've seen all these cool fixies and single speed bikes in Copenhagen and I really like the simple look they have, vibrant colors, almost no shiny parts etc. And as I needed a bike here at home anyway I've started to build a bike with inspiration from the fixies/single speeds I've seen.

Here's what I started with, didn't really know from the start what fork to go with. The rear wheel is BTW a 7-speed Shimano which of course has nothing to do with the fixie/single speed concept. But as I had it I might as well put it to use:

Cleaned up the frame:

Marked the chainstays to shorten them in the same fashion I modified my Path Racer frame:

Found that I could use the 26" fork even with a 700 wheel. Cleaned it up from brackets and in the background is the headtube from the original fork that needs to be transplanted:

First mockup and this is pretty much the rake I was looking for:

Here's how much I shortened the chainstays:

Second mockup after welding, with handlebar and seat in place:

Cleaned and sanded the frame and the fork:

Guess this is not very good as it's probably toxic epoxi primer, but it's easy to get carried away when having fun building bikes...

At least most of the primer ended up on the frame:

Hopefully will have time to sand the primer tomorrow and shoot the topcoat.

Håkan

 

[deven_science]

I like so far!

 

[HotRodHocke]

Today's progress.

Painted the frame:

And made sure I have everything ready for final assembly. Gonna polish the handlebar and there also some of the other small parts that needs some attention and mods before I can start to put it back together again:

 

[HotRodHocke]

Used most of today to work on the bike and it's more or less done:

Only real hickup during assembly was that I had to replace the crank as the one I was planning on using was hardened and impossible to re-thread for the new pedals. Also of course took it for a test ride and it was really nice! Only thing left now is to replace the shifter that I've ordered and maybe shorten the shifter cable.

 

[Machine Age Victim]

Nice build! The only thing I would change is what you said you still need to do

 

[Carbon]

Cool build, great job, I like that orange!!

 

[moleman]

Oh! I do like that, very tight.

 

[carrotsnax]

I like the way you painted the chain ring, looks sharp.

 

[HotRodHocke]

Thanks for all the nice comments!

Still waiting for the new shifter to arrive and I have also ordered a new front hub to be able to put a disc brake on it. Been riding the bike a couple of times around the small town where I live and it is really working great, very happy with it!

 

[HotRodHocke]

Received the new front hub and installed it together with the disc brake, shortened the shifter cable, added some lights, painted a "Viking" sign on the head tube and took some new pictures: