Found a site in the UK called the londonfixiebike shop that has one stop shopping for all your fixie conversion needs. I found this on Backcountry.com's blog The Goat. Obviously, the author doesn't think outside the box and probably thinks there is big money in every Nigerian Scam Note.
London Fixed Bike makes a converter that attaches a fixed gear cog to a standard disc brake rotor mount. Bike Magic says you can use it to convert a front mountain bike hub into a rear wheel, but you’ll run into some serious spacing and chain line issues unless you also swap out the axel. Of course, the London Fixed Bike setup is flawed from the start because you’d have to be insane to want to ride a fixed gear off road. Downhills would be an absolute killer and I can’t imagine uphills would be much more fun. If you want to turn a mountain bike front hub into a rear to build a road wheel, the setup costs about $60 (plus axel).
Check out the responses to the blog post. They are entertaining. Since Boone seems to be off the air, it looks like TomiCog has a little competition, or perhaps it's the other way around.
And speaking of conversions, I started chatting with a guy on MTBR who built up his own fixie 69er and he has a really good how-to on converting hubs to fixed gear. Check out Tom Chow's article on the fixed gear gallery (if you haven't already) on how to do this.
Here is his rig when he first built it:
He's using a TomiCog 19t. I run a 20t but the way I am now, I think I could move down to a 19t or 18t both fixed and single speed.
Here is how the bike now looks. According to Tom, the rear wheel uses a Shimano front hub with the axle replaced with a 10mm rear bolt-on one, and a cog bolted to the ISO disc mount.
Along with the Friday Fix, I thought I would start another feature-ette called Thirsty Thursdays where I will try to bring to you some sort of liquid refreshment review. There were some guys on another site that wanted me to do this but they never came through on their promise to send me beer. But it doesn't have to be just beer, energy and sports drinks will be fair game, too.
Of course, I have reviewed some of my favorite BBC offerings in conjunction with a ride but I think I concentrate reviews here. Take for example my first in this series, Bud Light Lime. I started enjoying beer with lime from the time I started college at the University of Arizona back in the mid 80s. It's funny but my father used to bring back six-packs of Tecate and Dos Equis from business trips out west and would drink these with lime but I was underage back then and did drink beer - right.
Of course one of the most popular beers at the U of A, besides Coors Light, was Corona and it was there that I discovered squeezing in some line made it all the better. I guess for a while, besides what my fraternity was serving that weekend (Coors Light) when ever I was out it was Corona with Lime. Later down the road, I started putting lime in Miller MGD and Miller Light. I don't what it is, but the thought of lime in just about any other beer, except Corona or Chiuaha just never seemed appealing, but it worked for me in Miller Beer.
I don't know what it is, but nothing beats an ice cold Miller on a hot day! Other beers don't give me no relief from the heat than an ice cold Miller, and forget the micros. That's after shower beer. The only exception is Corona.
Recently, Miller came out with a beer called Chill, which is called a chelada-style of beer that has a hint of lime and salt. Of course I tried it because I like Miller and I like lime but I didn't like this. It didn't have that same sourness that you get with an actual lime. In fact, at times when I have Corona in the house but no limes, I will resort to lime juice.
I paid a visit to the local Packy to pick up a sick pack of BBC, actually 6 bottles of BBC, sure wish I could get growlers (64 oz bottles). Then I found this Bud Light offering with lime. Naturally, I had to try it because I love everything with lime in it and it is fantastic! Almost as good as Corona, only easier! Now I wont have rotten, moldy slices of lime at the bottom of my bottles when I get around to returning them.
This is the type of beer that you drink when it's ice cold and you are hot and sweaty! The lime makes it a thirst quencher. If you like Corona with lime, or like lime the way I do, then you are going to love this beer. I give this 5 out of 5 bottles of beer on the wall!
Dropped my Daughter (Katie) off at the bus this stop this morning. She wanted her picture taken holding my bike so there she is. One thing to note, I am ditching the trunk! It was fine if I were riding easy, dual track trails, but now that the Upper Gussy Trail is coming along and stuntry is getting more and more defined ... and I just can't keep off it, the trunk keeps falling off. So, I will just have to plan on riding with an extra tube in my camel.
Despite the trunk issues, after the hike for NTD, I decided to ride that section again - going up the same way. It's a much nicer climb, it's just the section along Al's trail with the two stream crossings that make this route painful. I cleaned the big climb on the Brody Road, so I am now 3 for 3 since the last time I choked at this point. One thing I happened to notice about our benching versus the benching on Al's Trail, is that on Al's it's really smooth, so I think that is something I will have to plan on in the future is re-grade the benching so it achieves that smooth singletrack feel.
Below is the map from today's ride. The track show is a 5.9 miles. So, if you parked at Silver City and wanted to recreate this ride, head down to the second entry point, which is around the corner from where the forest road meets Hanover Road. The second entry point doesn't make sense as to it's location. My guess is that this is the original point where the forest road met Hanover Road.
A few comments about the map. The return leg follows the forest road until you get to the top of the last climb and then it veers northward down the old Mulikin trail, which needs a lot of work now. The trail is nice but thicket is starting to choke the trail. The lower part of the Mulikin Trail is quite muddy and it looks like my efforts to create a bypass seem to be going unheeded. I rode through the bypassed section only to discover many tread patterns in the mud. So it looks like the other riders aren't getting the message, and it appears I might have to double the effort there. I think cutting back the growth might help.
I hit the new roller handsomely and I am cursing myself for not stopping to take some vids of hitting that as well because as you will see further down, I shot quite a few clips on the rest of the stuntry along the trail, including the new up and over that built during the last ride. 29ers are incredible in these situations - they just eat it up. Anything with a steep ascent in which you would expect a big jolt up if riding a bike with 26 inch wheels is just not there on 29 inch wheels.
Further down, I got some clips of riding the two armoring points, Hadrian's Wall and Via Roma. Again, the difference between riding the Iron Horse and the Qball here is quite different. The 'Horse with it's full suspension seems to bounce more which is largely due in part I think to the suspension reacting to the uneven terrain. On the otherhand, the Qball seems to glide more through the rocks.
At the Wet Spot which is much more technical and may need some changes due to some of the feedback I am getting from the horse community, the Qball again seems to float right through this section, where as the 'Horse seems to be more choppy.
I need to cut a new path for those riders heading north on the trail so that they can hit the Blue Blaze Roller from the other direction. I made some improvements so that now you can ride right up it and then take your pick of rolling down one line (the same line you would ride up if you were coming the other direction) or hucking other parts of it. I call this the Blue Blaze Roller because the at this very point the Upper Gussy crosses the Blue Blaze Trail.
After I was done with the Upper Gussy, I rode back on the Forest Road. There was a new tire track that I had noticed a few days ago. Maybe the State is planning on doing some logging. Rode the Brody Road to the Mulikin and stopped off and rode one of the two logs in the middle of the trail. My first time, but it not the log's. Looks like other people have been riding it as well. It was fun playing around on it but having only one gear makes it really challenging. Need to bring the 'Horse and do it right.
So, here are all the clips of me riding all the stunts and features. The map above shows you where they are and the sequence goes: New Up and Over, Hadrian's Wall, Via Roma (with a few different angles), the Wet Spot, Blue Blaze Roller, Wet Spot, Via Roma (again, from different angles), and finishes with Hadrian's wall. The music is from Lacuna Coil, which is an Italian Gothic, Heavy Metal Band, and the song is called the The Prophet Rules.
The profile for today's ride is really accurate, especially for a morning track.
Got out this morning at 7:00 AM and it was already starting to get unbearable. The sun was streaming through the trees and the mist was creating strands of light that gave riding through the woods a hazy effect. Did the Echo Valley Loop, wanted to do more but didn't think there was enough time.
The Upper Gussy is looking really good now. The benching from yesterday's work really defines a section of the trail that hasn't been getting much attention. Below is a shot of the 'Horse on a rock that we uncovered along the side of the trail that originally I thought would make a good huck but after playing around with it a little decided what it really needed was a good tranny.
Sometimes it's hard to find good flat rocks for a good tranny but I was lucky because there were quite a few that were pulled out from yesterday's work. Took some time to get them to fit right but eventually I was successful.
Another thing that finally got done yesterday was this log across the trail was opened up for the horses to pass through un-impeded and bikes if you are making the climb up. I turned the other section into an up-and-over.
In the spirit of the title of this post, here is some fitting music and a short clip of me riding various sections of the work we did yesterday.
OK, this time I am really selling the bike. I really don't want to but I need more room in the garage for the next bike project.
I replaced the handlebars and took it for a spin the other day and it's really a solid bike, just too small for me. I am not sure about the frame sizes, maybe it's the stem, but the Bianchi just feels bigger than the Cannondale. I hate to let it go but I don't think it's going to get the use it deserves.
I put it up on Craigslist this morning and not fifteen minutes later, I got a response! Unfortunately, whether or not he is legitimate, there is no way I am schlepping this into the city. I wrote back to him telling him the bike is in Connecticut. In fact, I went back and edited the ad to add a little more information on where the bike is and where it can be seen.
