Fixed wheel bike project no.2

n + 1 (where n is the number of bikes I have), is how many bikes I need. Fact.

After re-building the Thanet, cycling it home, and handing it back to it's right-full owners I was left back where I started... in need of a fixed wheel bike for my winter training and 'around town' cycling.

I knew it might be tricky to find one in time for the festive 500, but I tried two bike shops in Portsmouth - and whilst Portsmouth Cycle Exchange was my first choice - it was actually Haslemere Cycles that were able to fix me up with something. (Sorry, pun was intended).

Buying at Haslemere Cycles in Portsmouth

(Sorry Portsmouth Cycle Exchange... I had no choice but to go with the competition)

The Cycle Exchange have sold me many quality bikes in the past, but unfortunetly they had nothing in fixed, so I popped across the road rather guiltily to check out the competition. They had a couple of new bikes that were not my cup of tea, and a second hand one that I really didn't rate. It's frame was aluminium with chunky tubing (which somehow seemed heavier than my Tifosi audax bike running a Sora triple), despite having the one gear and racier wheels... but it was sadly on my price tag at £300. It wasn't encouraging.

However, in the window was a rather stunning Peugeot frame that looked retro cool and light weight with slim steel white tubing. It was marked at £199, which on reflection might be a little steep seeing as it is over 30 years old, and not in great condition.

The paintwork seems to flake off more each day and the stickers are pretty bashed out of shape in some parts. However I do love it, it does have a charm, and whilst it might be frowned upon I may get it resprayed at some point. It's not exactly an antique and I don't want it to rust with so much exposed metal rapidly appearing.

With a £200 frame thereabouts I knew my £300 price limit was going to be hard pressed. I tried all my best bargaining tactics picked up from South East Asia... (in fact it was much like Vietnam...) 'can I get it any cheaper? No? Ok then'.

I was quoted £400 in the end for a build with the frame, the two guys did a good cop/bad cop thing which was very entertaining to watch. I was not sure at the time that £400 was a good price, but on reflection I think it's probably about right if you agree the frame is ok at £199.

I guess I'm just very skeptical at times, but either way I was happy to pay an extra few quid as I couldn't bare to be bike-less for Christmas, as stupid as that is, and it was all pretty short notice for them to turn a bike around in, so I appreciated the work.

For the remaining £201 I added:

Two used wheels
Two used tyres and new tubes
Hubs (back hub is reverse-able for if I fancy a free wheel)
Chain - used
Crank & arms - used
Pedals - used
Front break lever - used
Bar tape
Stem & bars - used
Brake cabling and housing

I also teamed this lot up with a Selle saddle, new. In blue of course - to match the very bold blue theme that had developed throughout the bike. Blue tape, chain, hub, and brake housing to go with the blue frame detail and tyres. I was not sure at first, but it grew on me pretty quick, and I wouldn't change it for the world now. Even if it is all a bit too cool for school.

All in all pretty happy, certainly given the short notice and the price limitations, and the guys were really nice too.

The light mounted on the handlebars here is the Electron Terra 3 Li-Lon Front Light.

The first 500k...

The weather was largely windy and wet (lots of flooding), so she got some pretty rough conditions to be tested in, and much to my discomfort I was still not riding with spd's as I would have liked, as I was talked out of it by the bike mechanics who were concerned for my safety riding clipped in on fix.

With continuing flooding across Hampshire I soon realised I could do with some mudguards, and the braking was pretty terrible to say the least... I had a suicide lever (as many people tastefully call it. I soon realised why) along with my front brake lever, and just the pedals for back braking.

I also was not too pleased with the tyre quality unfortunatly. I spotted a wopping whole in one before I left the shop, and they were both pretty much both written off by the time my 500k was up... well ten miles before actually, which was very frustrating. But they were used so I guess it's to be expected.

A fixed wheel bike is for life, not just for Christmas

After the challenging Christmas mileage, so soon after the intense ride home, I can't say I have ridden my new stead a huge deal. In fact I've barely broken 10 miles on the new tyres. I've been getting reacquainted with my rather clunky Sora triple...

I have however spent a far bit of time with it, and have made a few modifications which I am pretty pleased with.

My modifications once home included

Brakes and leavers:

I have added a back brake and scrapped the dodgy leaver in exchange for two used levers from Bike Workshop, which I picked up at a bargain price of £10. I also replaced the housing so that the blue matched on both front and back. (I carried out this work myself this time, working from an assortment of YouTube videos).

The brake I went for was Acor Dual Pivot Brake: 53/73mm Reach: Rear, and again the light on the bars is the Electron Terra 3 Li-Lon, it's awesome.

Tyres:

Two new Vredestein Fiammante DuoComp Folding Tyres, blue, which seem to do well on my Tifosi. It took a few damaged innertubes and couple of broken nails before I realised stretching the tyre out first is essential... after that the second one was a piece of cake.

Pedals:

I've done some pedal swapping between bikes and after realising a modern pedal wrench was no good for this one, and that my local Bristol bike shop Bikeuk was at a loss as to how to get these retro ones off, I ended up back at Haslemere Cycles in Portsmouth again, whilst in the area on a family visit.

They were more than happy to help. In fact they went to great lengths to get them off by sanding down a 17mm wrench for the job. Turns out it needed a 16.7mm. They did it free of charge and fitted the new pedals too. The bike is now sporting my combination Shimano spd pedals.