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| Still trying to figure out the saddle angle on this one. . . |
Of course, the fixie fad started to decline, and I'm sure part of it had something to do with the fact that people figured out that multiple gear ratios and derailleurs were invented for a reason. But what to do with all those old fixed gear bikes after their owners realized that being able to change gears (and coast once in a while) is a really nice thing?
Well, the folks at Fyxation, from Milwaukee, have the answer: the Six Fyx Conversion Kit -- which turns a single-speed fixed-gear bike into a 6-speed derailleur bike.
The Fyxation kit includes a 120mm wide cassette hub, a 6-speed cassette, shift cables, and a Fyxation-labled Microshift derailleur and bar-end shift lever. There is also a derailleur hanger that works with bolt-on axles, and a 46 tooth chainring. The regular kit sells for $250. For those who don't want to build a new back wheel, a $300 version of the kit has a complete back wheel built with the Six Fyx hub. A 9-speed chain is needed, but not included.
I'd suggest making sure one can add brakes to their bike as well, but then, I've always believed any bike ridden on the street, fixed-gear or otherwise, should include brakes.
It's so nice when things come around full circle. Before, people were turning old road bikes into fixies. Now they'll be turning old fixies into multi-speed road bikes. I'm I alone in seeing irony here?
I've ridden a fixed-gear bike brakeless in traffic, though I wouldn't do it now.
ReplyDeleteAnd the bikes I've converted were not what most would consider to be "classics". I agree that there's something "vaguely unholy" about installing sawed-off straight bars on a classic Colnago. (The current Colnagos are another story!)
Years ago, I used to ride with someone who converted a fixed-gear bike to a six-speed. The reason he did it, he said, is that his track bike (Italian--Frejus, if I remember correctly)--had a shorter wheelbase than any road bike and he wanted the response and handling it offered.
Sounds like your friend put a lot more thought into it than trendiness. I'm curious how he did it -- did he use one of those derailleur "claws" that used to be so common on old "10-speeds"?
DeleteI can't figure out why new comers to road cycling have their saddles pointed downwards.
ReplyDeleteLooking through the fixed-gear blogs, I've seen lots of them set up that way -- I had to start wondering if there was some fixie-related reason for it. Can't think of one.
DeleteWell, because they have the seat post jacked-up way too high. Yagotta get some relief somehow. A jacked-up seat post is fashionable, ya know.
DeleteWeirdly-canted saddles and stupidly-cut handlebars are the norm for the "fashionable" bike rider.
ReplyDeleteMaybe in 10 years, or so, we'll start seeing kits to take motors off of bikes. Ooh, or maybe some fancy frame tubes that are so small that you can't fit batteries and computers and whatever else in them. Perhaps... peddling your bike without any electronic connections will become fashionable!
Wolf.
I built my first fixie in 2006. I suppose that must have been about the height of the trend. I was attracted to the simplicity because I was becoming disgusted at how complex(and expensive!)bikes were becoming. It's a bike. It's simple. Quit trying to turn it into a goddamned Formula One car! The fixed gear was my personal jab at Madison Avenue. I rode that bike in RAGBRAI 2007. It was a real hoot spinning my ass off down the back side of Iowas' rollers. I still commute on my fixed gear about half the time. My geared bike gets the nod on soggy days only because it has fenders. I still love my fixie and I'll still be riding it when the last tattooed hipster douche buys his first box of depends. Haha!
ReplyDeletePhilco
It occurs to me now that I probably made it sound like I'm anti-fixed gear -- which is not actually the case at all. But being a "trend" meant that all kinds of people got into it and made it more about fashion than function.
DeleteI have a fixed gear bike that I ride on the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath, which runs through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park -- right near my home. The towpath is relatively flat (5% grade would be considered steep), and it's "paved" in a crushed limestone dust that gets into every crevice on a bike. That dust (which becomes like an abrasive paste when wet) will clog up freewheels, and derailleur pulleys, etc. after only a few rides -- so the fixed gear bike is the perfect choice there.
Then there's Southern Oregon which is always about ten years behind the times:
ReplyDeletehttp://medford.craigslist.org/bik/4977380409.html
My Fixie story is actually a track bike story steeped in the truest cycling spirit. As a youngster, I purchased a hand built bicycle frame from a builder named Francisco Cuevas. A builders builder who got his start in Spain before fleeing to Argentina before fleeing to NYC, where he continued building for racers without even putting his name on the frames. He just built them in the old style without the vanity, but with masterfully clean joints. I still walk out to my garage just to inspect his joints. Beautiful. Not long ago an aged Francisco passed away. Fast foward to 18onths ago when I required a heart valve transplant. As I prepared for the surgery I thought about my life of cycling. On a whim I googled Cuevas. Although Francisco was dead his now aging grandson built frames like his grandfather. I emailed him and struck up a friendship through his very thick accent. I discovered he was battling cancer and I sensed concern, just like mine. Not sure of either of our futures, I asked if he would build me a frame, like his grandfather did 32 years earlier. I sent him the money for the build, not knowing or caring if fate decided I should never get my frame. When he asked what kind of frame, I asked him what kind I should get. "What was his specialty?" He had told me that as a boy it was track racing that his grandfather got him into. So a track frame it was. We both went through and survived our procedures and continuing the building process, I told him I wanted my frame to be built Old School. Just the way he and his grandfather would have done it. He loved the idea and called his father, who had also built frames, in Argentina and found an unused set of vintage Reynolds tubing with rounded fork blades -- not ovals. He built it to take vintage components and only one brake drill out on the back because I didn't want to obscure the beautiful track fork crown he found. In between his dialysis he would work on my frame and send me pictures along the way. I asked him about his life and three generations of builders. I was like a little kid just absorbing all that he described. After several months the frame arrived. It's subtle Cuevas workmanship draped in a simple French blue powder coat, simple white band on the down tube and the Cuevas emblem on the head tube. It's simplicity made it beautiful.
ReplyDeleteNow I have two generations of Cuevas frames in my collection. And for this frame , in honor of my new and special friend I built it up using campy pista components from 1980s, complete with sheriff star high flange hubs. I don't call this bike a Fixie because that cheapens what it is. It is a track bike built in the truest old spirit if cycling that can be achieved today. When I ride this bike, I don't care that most people don't recognize how special it is. But the ones who do, just smile and stare. That's my Fixie story and I really love it.
I'm familiar with the name Francisco Cuevas -- and I've seen a couple nice frames. Didn't know his grandson was building. I'd love to see some pictures of your 2-generation bikes -- send me an email (my address is in the "profile" section). Thanks!
DeleteAmong my eleven road bikes is a 1957 Maclean Featherweight road/track bike. The geometry is rather laid back but it has reversed dropouts, fender eyelets, and of corse a single chainring and single cog. It has a front brake but the rear brake bridge is not drilled for a brake. I only ride it once a week, and that on a flat surface, but I really enjoy that bike. It brings me to think of the olden days of British cycling. BTW, four of my eleven are Mercian.
DeleteI actually stumbled across this kit myself a few weeks back when I was looking for a replacement 6-speed freewheel for my beater bike. I acquired my beater bike when my wife was browsing the local craigslist "free" section and noticed a listing for a fixed gear bike and nabbed it for me. It turned out the seller didn't understand the traditional meaning of "fixed gear" and it was really just an old 12-speed BSO stripped of shifters, cables, and derailleurs (a kludged SS). The fit worked for me so I figured I'd resurrect it as a beater. A set of low-end Shimano stuff and a few hours time and I'm enjoying my apparently trendy 6-speed (didn't bother with a front derailleur) for probably $60. Now I'll just have to keep a lookout for these kit conversions so I can talk about how much better mine is /sarcasm
ReplyDelete