Well, I’ve been reaaallllly slacking on posting the final photos of the fixed gear project. That is, of course, because I’ve been spending all of my free time riding my bike instead of writing about it. Funny, that.
But I get ahead of myself. Imagine you are transported back two months ago…I’ve just recounted which parts I was able to salvage from the old frame. Turns out, after scrounging the used bins at Re Cycles bike shop in Berkeley and coming up blank, I realized I was also able to resuse the crank set as well:
This was a welcome suprise — though I overlooked them the first time around, the Sugino crank shafts and spider were just what I needed, actually of decent quality and saved me almost 75 smackers! You’ll also notice the cable housing that I pulled off the old bike which was put to good use.
As mentioned, the Sunday salvage trip didn’t turn up much aside from a pretty cool, old-school brake lever. Here’s a not-so-clear shot of the brake lever on the handlebars in mid-tape job:
Since I wanted to finish the bike sometime this century, I decided to relent and started buying new parts. This was always part of the plan, especially a few key components for which new is much safer and easier than used. It took a while to assemble everything I needed, but these parts were fun to track down and envision fitting together. Here they are arranged for your viewing pleasure:
Of particular interest is the chain — pregreased, I might add — along with the chain ring that is affixed to the spider on the drive-side crank arm by the chain ring nuts, as well as the cog which threads on the the back wheel and is held in place by the lock ring.
And there you have it — chain, chain ring, cog — that’s as complicated as it gets with fixed gears. Unless, of course, you are trying to convert an old frame from the 80′s that was built in Japan. Putting all these pieces together wasn’t quite so simple, as you will soon learn. Up next, the trials and trevails of Project Fixie!
Filed under: Et Cetera
