So many bikes deserve a better fate than they got… e.g. Ludwig Van Dammit (Dammit’s 9th) deserved better than being turned into a parking space last year :\
I have a lovely old 1950s Holdsworth, with mostly original kit, which I keep at the back of the workshop. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had wide-eyed art-student-types ask me how much it would be to convert into an “awesome fixie”…
Sounds like a wonderful reason to keep a gun in the shop. One fixie-fixated art-student-type asking the (inevitable) wrong question, one bullet. The world becomes a better place.
Thanks – A great idea K’Tesh – so long as the object reflects the store’s karma etc? I have already upheld my lifetime mission …. ‘to learn something new every day’
Essentially consignment means that the consignee (the shop) doesn’t buy the goods, they are still owned by the consignor. The consignee seels on the other party’s behalf, and usually takes a cut of the sales price. If the goods don’t sell, they are returned. No stock to factor into accounting, no cash paid by the selling agent up front.
And no warranty from the store. Many stores won’t sell 2nd hand goods at all because they feel responsible for the quality and condition of things sold out of their store. So before you go asking someone to sell your 2nd hand things, keep that in mind.
Oh and BTW – I agree with the customer’s emotions – if they want a custom fixie then they should see a builder and pay for it!
On the other hand, I used to sell a lot of bikes at the charity shop that were probably bought for that exact purpose!
Many customers wanted us to sell frames etc but we had a policy of only selling complete bikes.
Our mission was to promote ‘green’ travel, not make money and all components were precious resources used to build complete bikes from the donations.
In the Richmond area, I can take a bike boom era 10-speed, completely tear it down, refurbish, and sell it for $125.00. Take the same bike, pull off all the components (except brakes, the customer can do that as I understand liability), tear down the rear wheel and rebuild with a flip-flip hub, refurbish and sell it for $250-300.
All for a bike that is less useful. Fortunately, I can still remember being a college student 40 years ago, and can easily understand the inherent trendy stupidity of the breed.
And most of my bikes go out as 10-speeds. Like Tencon, I’m into selling transportation, not trendy style.
I am dismayed to find that my fixie is “less useful” than my previous geared bikes. Here I am riding it 600 miles a month, up hill and down, to meetings and shops, through rain and heat and the traffic of Los Angeles, at nearly sixty years old, loving every mile…and I’ve been doing it all wrong! Heavens!
Maybe if it ever breaks down I’ll just get rid of it. Poor thing has 35,000 miles since I converted it, though, and hasn’t done anything but wear out tires and chains since then. I may be stuck with it.
I respectfully disagree. My fixie allows me to train more leg muscles than my other bikes which helps keep me in good backpacking shape. Calling a fixie less useful is like calling a hammer less useful than a screwdriver. Anyway, more people than hipsters ride fixies and for different reasons. I must confess I am having second thoughts about ripping the braze on’s off my old trek 660 for the new Tron themed glow in the dark paint job though. Still, have to do something about the rust though.
People use to always tell me I should turn my Davidson Impulse into a fixxie. I would always just look at them, and kindly inform them… no.
Then when I sold the bike on craiglist everyone wanted to just buy the frame to turn it into fixxie. Aswell would ask for just the headset and BB, the bike had all 600 that was clean. It just made my sad, I happly did find one young man who planed to truly use the bike for what it was ment for.
It’s okay to run a nice old frame as a fixed gear or single speed bike. But don’t ‘customise’ the frame! Leave it as it is, so you can either turn it back into a geared bike, or someone else can…
Please people do not commit frame mutilation, it will hurt the bike and hurt you. You can turn any frame into fixie, all what you need is an eccentric bottom bracket an eccentric hub. Phil Wood and White Industries make some great BB and hubs.
An eternal gear Hub ads weigth an bowden cable and a shifter to the bike. Some, maybe most people use a single speed to avoid this.
I must admit, I like my 42gear bike (for longer runs, commute and in winter) the same as my single speed (for short distances, less than 2 miles) and yes, my town is mostly flat like a pancake
Simple: I used to ride a sram dual drive, what makes 3 x 7 gears. To aviod the chain falling down the chainring, I mounted a front derailleur. Because I was to lazy to by a new one, my replacement chainring was an MTB 3x model. So after discovering ther is just one steep bridge on my way to work, I set the derailleur in funktion by mounting a ad. thumbshifter. The Big chainring, covered with tape works as chainguard. Okay, 3x7x3 would also be possible and easy, but I have no use for additional fast gears
I see the point for people training as athletes, but it always seemed to me that dumping the gears was rather like tossing the transmission on your car. Just a backwards trend in tech. It’s not like you must change the gears. But I’ve heard the conversations about the fixed gear and doing tricks that a coasting gear bike simply can’t do. ~shrug~ Gimme my 7 spd internally geared hub with roller brakes any day.
High wheel single-speed bikes gave way to single-speed safety bicycles, which led to single-speed bicycles with coaster brakes which in turn led to two-speed internal hubs, then three- and five-speed internal hubs, to eventually the derailleur system. Now we’re working our way backwards.
And would someone please explain definitively — does “fixie” refer to direct-drive single-speed (similar to track bikes, where as long as the wheels are turning so are the pedals), or is a single-speed with a coaster brake also lumped into the category?
As opus says below.
Also – IMHO a ‘fixie’ has a fixed-wheel . . . A rear sprocket without a ratchet/freewheel mechanism.
Hence the name: ‘Fixed Wheel’
Often the hub is a ‘flip’ type that has a Fixed wheel sprocket one side and a freewheel sprocket on the other.
So a fixie rider can stop and flip the wheel if there is a lot of steep downhill distance to be covered.
Fixies are great in town with few/no hilly bits. Freewheels reduce the risk of popping your knees elsewhere
Thankfully, the fixie-fad is dying here. I like track bikes. I hate fixies. Or rather, the people who tend to ride them. ie: hipsters or other perpetually smug people who think that riding fixed-gear makes them better/cooler than people who “need” gears.
On the plus side, I definitely sell a lot more tires to fixie dorks than normal cyclists. And I hear the sports medicine place gets a lot of knee injury cases from fixies, too.
Hey, I don’t know where you are getting your Kickstand fix, but I am getting mine at the Fixed Gear Gallery. An entire website dedicated to all things fixed. We are all riding bikes-isn’t that the point? I have a roadbike conversion to fixed gear. I left the downtube shifter bosses on as an homage to its life as a touring bike. Other than no gears and a set of custom wheels I had made, its pretty much untouched in the conversion. (Yes, I left the brakes on it). I can understand the uproar off taking a classic Bianchi or other frame with a pedegree name, then removing the bosses to convert it. some things should be respected. But dissing on fixed gear riders as a group is overlooking the fact that we all are riding. I have my opinions about the trendie, urban hipsters, but hey-they are riding! And for the most part with them, its one less car on the road. Cheers to all. Ride what you love.
Amen brother. Folks should just enjoy their wheels and be glad we all aren’t forced to ride the same bicycles because they happen to be the ultimate in bicycle evolution and it is ‘illogical’ to ride anything else. Heck, the folks in the cars look collectively at cyclists the same way. “Why are those backward folks using something that goes as slow as a bicycle instead of a car?”
So many bikes deserve a better fate than they got… e.g. Ludwig Van Dammit (Dammit’s 9th) deserved better than being turned into a parking space last year :\
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ufobike/5688953443/
Ouch – hope you’re OK!
I have a lovely old 1950s Holdsworth, with mostly original kit, which I keep at the back of the workshop. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had wide-eyed art-student-types ask me how much it would be to convert into an “awesome fixie”…
Sounds like a wonderful reason to keep a gun in the shop. One fixie-fixated art-student-type asking the (inevitable) wrong question, one bullet. The world becomes a better place.
highly disturbing…
“Err it’s just a bike. Here, have ten dollars and buy yourself a new one from Walmart”
Would somebody please be so kind as to explain what he means by ‘on consignment’ as I haven’t come across the phrase before.
Thanks
I have something I want to sell, you have a store. I bring my thing in, you sell it for me, and you get to keep a comission
Thanks – A great idea K’Tesh – so long as the object reflects the store’s karma etc?
I have already upheld my lifetime mission …. ‘to learn something new every day’
Essentially consignment means that the consignee (the shop) doesn’t buy the goods, they are still owned by the consignor. The consignee seels on the other party’s behalf, and usually takes a cut of the sales price. If the goods don’t sell, they are returned. No stock to factor into accounting, no cash paid by the selling agent up front.
And no warranty from the store. Many stores won’t sell 2nd hand goods at all because they feel responsible for the quality and condition of things sold out of their store. So before you go asking someone to sell your 2nd hand things, keep that in mind.
Oh and BTW – I agree with the customer’s emotions – if they want a custom fixie then they should see a builder and pay for it!
On the other hand, I used to sell a lot of bikes at the charity shop that were probably bought for that exact purpose!
Many customers wanted us to sell frames etc but we had a policy of only selling complete bikes.
Our mission was to promote ‘green’ travel, not make money and all components were precious resources used to build complete bikes from the donations.
In the Richmond area, I can take a bike boom era 10-speed, completely tear it down, refurbish, and sell it for $125.00. Take the same bike, pull off all the components (except brakes, the customer can do that as I understand liability), tear down the rear wheel and rebuild with a flip-flip hub, refurbish and sell it for $250-300.
All for a bike that is less useful. Fortunately, I can still remember being a college student 40 years ago, and can easily understand the inherent trendy stupidity of the breed.
And most of my bikes go out as 10-speeds. Like Tencon, I’m into selling transportation, not trendy style.
I am dismayed to find that my fixie is “less useful” than my previous geared bikes. Here I am riding it 600 miles a month, up hill and down, to meetings and shops, through rain and heat and the traffic of Los Angeles, at nearly sixty years old, loving every mile…and I’ve been doing it all wrong! Heavens!
Maybe if it ever breaks down I’ll just get rid of it. Poor thing has 35,000 miles since I converted it, though, and hasn’t done anything but wear out tires and chains since then. I may be stuck with it.
I respectfully disagree. My fixie allows me to train more leg muscles than my other bikes which helps keep me in good backpacking shape. Calling a fixie less useful is like calling a hammer less useful than a screwdriver. Anyway, more people than hipsters ride fixies and for different reasons. I must confess I am having second thoughts about ripping the braze on’s off my old trek 660 for the new Tron themed glow in the dark paint job though. Still, have to do something about the rust though.
I suspect that Rick Risemberg was being sarcastic in his comment above?
People use to always tell me I should turn my Davidson Impulse into a fixxie. I would always just look at them, and kindly inform them… no.
Then when I sold the bike on craiglist everyone wanted to just buy the frame to turn it into fixxie. Aswell would ask for just the headset and BB, the bike had all 600 that was clean. It just made my sad, I happly did find one young man who planed to truly use the bike for what it was ment for.
I have an 1986 Peugeot Galiibier, and people keep asking if I’m going to turn it into a fixe. Maybe bar end shifters, but not a fixie in Athens, GA.
It’s okay to run a nice old frame as a fixed gear or single speed bike. But don’t ‘customise’ the frame! Leave it as it is, so you can either turn it back into a geared bike, or someone else can…
Which is why my person fixie is entitled “No Dead Kittens”. (As in, “every time someone hacks a vintage frame, God kills a kitten.”)
+1 to what Crow River said.
Please people do not commit frame mutilation, it will hurt the bike and hurt you. You can turn any frame into fixie, all what you need is an eccentric bottom bracket an eccentric hub. Phil Wood and White Industries make some great BB and hubs.
Unfortunately the BB will need to be removed from the frame as the eccentric ones are larger. At least on my Tandem it is!
Why not go for an internally geared hub? You can get the fixie look and still have a more versatile machine.
An eternal gear Hub ads weigth an bowden cable and a shifter to the bike. Some, maybe most people use a single speed to avoid this.
I must admit, I like my 42gear bike (for longer runs, commute and in winter) the same as my single speed (for short distances, less than 2 miles) and yes, my town is mostly flat like a pancake
42 gear? Explain.
Simple: I used to ride a sram dual drive, what makes 3 x 7 gears. To aviod the chain falling down the chainring, I mounted a front derailleur. Because I was to lazy to by a new one, my replacement chainring was an MTB 3x model. So after discovering ther is just one steep bridge on my way to work, I set the derailleur in funktion by mounting a ad. thumbshifter. The Big chainring, covered with tape works as chainguard. Okay, 3x7x3 would also be possible and easy, but I have no use for additional fast gears
I see the point for people training as athletes, but it always seemed to me that dumping the gears was rather like tossing the transmission on your car. Just a backwards trend in tech. It’s not like you must change the gears. But I’ve heard the conversations about the fixed gear and doing tricks that a coasting gear bike simply can’t do. ~shrug~ Gimme my 7 spd internally geared hub with roller brakes any day.
I’m guessing that this bike had a racing history, and will now have a racing future.
High wheel single-speed bikes gave way to single-speed safety bicycles, which led to single-speed bicycles with coaster brakes which in turn led to two-speed internal hubs, then three- and five-speed internal hubs, to eventually the derailleur system. Now we’re working our way backwards.
And would someone please explain definitively — does “fixie” refer to direct-drive single-speed (similar to track bikes, where as long as the wheels are turning so are the pedals), or is a single-speed with a coaster brake also lumped into the category?
As opus says below.
Also – IMHO a ‘fixie’ has a fixed-wheel . . . A rear sprocket without a ratchet/freewheel mechanism.
Hence the name: ‘Fixed Wheel’
Often the hub is a ‘flip’ type that has a Fixed wheel sprocket one side and a freewheel sprocket on the other.
So a fixie rider can stop and flip the wheel if there is a lot of steep downhill distance to be covered.
Fixies are great in town with few/no hilly bits. Freewheels reduce the risk of popping your knees elsewhere
Fixies are track bikes used in the street, or old geared bikes converted to similar hubs.
Thankfully, the fixie-fad is dying here. I like track bikes. I hate fixies. Or rather, the people who tend to ride them. ie: hipsters or other perpetually smug people who think that riding fixed-gear makes them better/cooler than people who “need” gears.
On the plus side, I definitely sell a lot more tires to fixie dorks than normal cyclists. And I hear the sports medicine place gets a lot of knee injury cases from fixies, too.
Hey, I don’t know where you are getting your Kickstand fix, but I am getting mine at the Fixed Gear Gallery. An entire website dedicated to all things fixed. We are all riding bikes-isn’t that the point? I have a roadbike conversion to fixed gear. I left the downtube shifter bosses on as an homage to its life as a touring bike. Other than no gears and a set of custom wheels I had made, its pretty much untouched in the conversion. (Yes, I left the brakes on it). I can understand the uproar off taking a classic Bianchi or other frame with a pedegree name, then removing the bosses to convert it. some things should be respected. But dissing on fixed gear riders as a group is overlooking the fact that we all are riding. I have my opinions about the trendie, urban hipsters, but hey-they are riding! And for the most part with them, its one less car on the road. Cheers to all. Ride what you love.
Amen brother. Folks should just enjoy their wheels and be glad we all aren’t forced to ride the same bicycles because they happen to be the ultimate in bicycle evolution and it is ‘illogical’ to ride anything else. Heck, the folks in the cars look collectively at cyclists the same way. “Why are those backward folks using something that goes as slow as a bicycle instead of a car?”
I’m guessing a story, next chapter is : http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2012-06-12