[gabe0807]

Hey everyone,

Since I now live in a city with no sign of getting out anytime soon I figured I should put together a road bike. There was really no question in my mind that it had to be a fixed gear. After a lot of reading and browsing on ebay I ended up with a pile of parts in my garage that I put together last weekend. The frame and fork are Lemond Zurich (Reynolds 853 baby!). I put it together with a mix of Shimano 105, TTT, Ultegra, etc. Anyway, this thing is amazing. The ride is just out of this world. The bottom bracket feels very low, almost like you're running. At first I was worried about pedal strike but with my 165mm crankarms I've had no problems and it corners like its on rails. The geometry is just amazing and it feels smooth as silk yet still compliant when I sprint. I don't think I'll ever get rid of this bike and that's saying a lot!

Oh ya, please excuse the ghetto electrical tape on the bars. I did a horrible wrapping job and it is coming off but I wanted to see if I need a shorter stem before I tried to re-wrap it.

Here's some pics....

 

[dirtpaws]

Nice build.

Dig the half yellow bar tape.

 

[dodjy]

She's a beaut!

dd..''

 

[Bikehigh]

What are you doing for a fixed gear hub? Did you space out a track hub? Nice bike!

 

[gabe0807]

What are you doing for a fixed gear hub? Did you space out a track hub? Nice bike!

yep, spacers on a Suzue track hub. They work fine but I ended up doing something kinda funky. I was able to get a good deal on the standard Suzue hubs and some rims that were drilled for 28 spoke count. Its the first time I've ever built a "low spoke count" wheel (anything besides 32). Under hard acceleration, such as from a stop light, I can feel some flex in the rear wheel. It isn't very bad but I don't like the way it feels. Keep in mind that this is only in very limited instances and I have pretty strong legs for low cadence stuff. In the future, possibly distant future, I'd like to build up a more traditional Suzue ProMax/Open Pro or maybe Phil Wood/Open Pro wheelset with a full spoke count.

Plus honestly the standard Suzue track hubs don't feel all that smooth. I'd say they're definitely not as smooth as my Shimano XT disc hub that I just got.

Sorry, that is kind of a long answer, but to answer your question.......yes

 

[Hollywood]

nicety

nice bike - glad you're lovin' it long time.

what gearing choice? (ring / cog)

 

[gabe0807]

nice bike - glad you're lovin' it long time.

what gearing choice? (ring / cog)

Right now I'm running a 48:16. It works quite well for flat stuff which is all of what I'm riding right now. I can get a good cadence going but its pretty tough coming off of stop lights.

I just got a 18t in the mail yesterday which I'm going to put on there because I want to smooth out my cadence and get a bit better acceleration from a stop. I'll see how it goes...