The Friday Fix: Back to School Special Fixed

Here is my Fuji Dynamic 10 looked like when it came into my possession. Front wheel missing, rear hub was frozen, rusty chain and components all over. While taking it apart I was able to show my daughter how various things on the bike should work.

Here is what the Fuji Dynamic 1 looks like now. A sleek, fixed gear conversion bike. It's a little small on me, 58 cm seat tube but that angled back head tube and shortened Nitto stem makes for a really cramped cockpit.

I think the cranks, from Sugino, are 171 mm long. There is a stamp of 171 on the inside of the crank, so I am assuming that is the length of the crank. Riding it around the drive way, it reminds me of my Raleigh.

Gearing is pretty tall, 50:14, or 96.4 gear inches, that's 22 gear inches more than the Stinson! This is not a bike for climbing in the Litchfield Hills. Even the Stinson is probably borderline for this area, as well, but the little squish upfront makes up for the crappy roads that is also synonomous with this area as well. The rear 14t cog was pretty unforgiving when it came to my existing selection of chains, so I had to get a colorful KMC chain.

I stopped by the Goodie Shop to see if they had any yellow Ourys but they didn't and it looks like you can only get yellow in mount grips and not road. If they come in I will have to pull these reds one off and replace them with yellow.

With all my fixed gear conversions, I like to ride these bikes for awhile before selling them on Craigslist. I put this one up just to see what the market is like and whether someone might be interested in it. If I am going to ride it, I will have to put on a longer stem, which I have, and I might go with a softer, gel saddle.

While I was taking these pictures, my son Elliot insisted on being photographed with bike. Who could resist a kid as cute as him?

With all my rebuilds, I always include at least one hand brake for safety. Riding in the Litchfield Hills, you need it because you never know when you will need it while decending some of these hills we have around here.

Fuji Dynamic 10

Another project has come into my possession with a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly. Overall, this frame which is a Fuji Dynamic and hails from the mid 70s is in great shape that just needs a little cleaning, wheelset, better bars and a saddle and it could be a kick ass fixed gear conversion. The build might even take precendence over my Fuji Royale.

Look at the grease point on the BB - that is awesome! I have to borrow my father's grease gun and give it a try. I can't wait!

Cranks and rings are in great shape, too! Can't say the same for the bars, levers, cables on the rear wheel. Didn't come with a front wheel.

Stripped Naked: Fuji Monterey

This early 1980s Fuji Monterey showed up in my driveway the other night and since it was missing its wheels was laying on the ground.  My wife didn't see it and ran over the back drops with the car.  I am not sure what the conversion value of this style of frame is but this bike has some pretty nice parts.  In fact, in addition to the white Huffy which I eulogized last week and this bike, there are two more Huffy's in need of tear down.

I don't know, Cro-Mo is still heavy no matter what you call it.  It's like if you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a hockey mom **oops** I mean a pig!

In the picture above you can see how the rear drop bends inwards as a result of the rollover.

I think these Sugino cranks establish the era of the bike due to their simplicity and construction.  The star pattern in the crank bolts seems to be characteristic of the mid to late 1970s to 1980s.  My 1975 Raleigh has the star pattern bolts but the Peugot UO-8 is a three pattern.  After removing the standard parts that I figured would be useful to me I traded the frame and everything else attached to it to guy in North Central Connecticut for two seat posts.

Brake levers and brakes are really nice and from Dia Compe.  They will work nicely with the next Fixie Conversion road bike.

The real value here is the Nitto Stem and Bars.  The bars were mounted in what I would call three-speed mode but once you flip them you have have flared mustache bars!  A little flattened but are still really cool.  The Nitto 5 degree stem is a nice find, too.

While it's no Brooks, a sprung saddle such as this will complement the next conversion project.  Might even consider it for the Raleigh.

And here is she is, stripped naked!  I left the frame outside all week and every time I looked at it I kept thinking there has to be something that I can do with this.  I have an idea brewing but that will be described in another post.  What would you do with the frame at this point?

What am I gonna ride now?

Sold the Bianchi last night to an up and coming hipster that I know will treat her right.  Of course that means I need a new commuter and it looks like for the time being I am going back to the Fetish Fixation.  It makes sense, since it's really not getting the usage it deserves.  I am finding for my off road pleasures that two bikes is really enough.  So it seems that the Fixation is now the odd man out.

Below are three different configurations that I tried for commuting.  The first one is sporting the Rox Shox Jett that I took off the Dump Goose.  I have another cheapo 26er fork from one of the bikes that my friend Tom dropped off from the dump that I have been slowly cannibalizing although, I think the only thing I have been able to use from that bike were the axle nuts and the skewer from the front wheel.  It has a decent looking RST suspension fork on it that might be worth trying.  

This version is using the Qstick fork from the Qball.  The only draw back using this fork is that the steering tube is so short that I have to use my Avid SAAGO (Stiff As All Get Out) stem (that's the review from Bike Magazine, note the MSRP). It's funny, here is company renowed for brakes, introduces a new product, which is revolutionary in design and concept but in comparison to the competition which is a threadless stem riser, I think really didn't do enough market research in terms of what people are willing to pay for when it comes to this type of component.  

The MSRP from the Bike Mag review was $120, on MTBR, I saw $70, however, the threadless stem risers will run you around $20.   I don't know how well they marketed this product but from what I understand, it was discontinued shortly.  Don't get me wrong, it's great, super strong, and looks cool, too.  Too bad it went down the tubes due to bad marketing.

I think what I will do, is mirror what I did below.  For the time being, however, the only change I am going to make, so I can ride to work on Thursday is to keep everything the same in it's current 69er configuration and just run two 26er wheels.  I did, however, order a 16t TomiCog last night in order to continue my Direct Drive Fixation.  When that comes in, I am going to go back to the Ritchey flat bars, bar extenders, and the profile design riser stem, and keep the Surly 1x1 fork in place.  Probably go back to Cantis in the front, too.  I got them, might as well use them.  What might be cool to try are bullhorn bars - I really like them.

Below are my next two projects.  A 1975 Raleigh that I am gong to convert to a one brake fixedgear bike.  Question is, which brake to use, front or back?  I am thinking back because I think I can remove the braking components for a much cleaner look.  I am going to try the Surly Fixer on the rear FIR wheel, so all I need to get is a bull horn bar, a front 700c wheel, some rubber, tubes, a Seat and Seat post, pedals, and a brake cable.

Here is my next Commuter Fixed Gear.  My old Fuji Royale from college.  I bought it used in 1984 so I figure it's an early 1980s bike.  60 cm frame.  This bike will probably not get bull horns because I have aero brakes that I want to use on it.