Well, once my leg heals I figure I might invest in a fixie, my older brother is a fixie wiz so he will help me a lot too.
Anyone have any advice on frames that I should know?
Or just any advice in general?
Look for a frame that is designed to be a fixie. Also make sure that the frame has a higher bottombracket than is typical for a road bike. Many bikes being sold as fixies nowadays actually have a low bottom bracket just like a road bike frame. Essentially they are selling a road bike frame, adding a horizontal track dropout, and calling it a fixie frame.
You need a higher bottombracket with a fixie to avoid pedal strikes when you turn. You can compensate for a low bottombracket by using shorter cranks and pedals with greater cornering clearance.
A pedal strike on a fixie during a turn can cause you to crash. The pedal strike will cause the rear wheel to be lifted off the ground or to lose traction. The result of that will be a very quick crash.
Track bikes and proper fixie bikes have a higher bottombracket. The disadvantage of a higher bottombracket is slightly less stability (higher center of gravity) and a change in handling.
I’m on ebay and I’m looking at a frame (my brother will help me with the rest)
“Bottom bracket center height from the ground is about 27.6mm with 700cx26mm wheels/tires.”
how does that sound?
27.6mm from the ground!?! thats like an inch and a little bit! that cannot be right, or do i just not understand properly.
You can get away with a so-called ‘horizontal dropout’ road frame instead of an out-and-out track frame, genreally a cheaper route as there are plenty of old frames of this type knocking around. I’ve recently help a friend build an ultra sleek fixie in this way. We built two wheels, a freewheeling coaster brake wheel, and a solid fixed/fixed wheel. As both effectively offer rear braking he can run either setup with no rear brake. The fixie is fun, but the coaster is more useable, and still offers an intuitive braking system which gives good control. Neither of us has mastered riding backwards in circles yet.
Edit: yes i think that was meant to be 27.6 cm, which sounds like plenty. 170 cranks gives 10cm under the pedal, pedal is less than 10cm wide so you shud be able to lean over to 45° atleast before pedal striking, which is way more than you need.
I very much dislike the measurement of “bottom bracket height”. It’s a measurement that depends on the tire size and the particular tires. It’s a measurement that changes based on the tire size used and is not a measurement inherent in the geometry of the frame.
“Bottom bracket drop” is a much more useful number when comparing frames. It is a number that is part of the frame geometry. It doesn’t depend on external factors.
I’m sure there is a table out on the web somewhere that will allow you to convert the “bottom bracket height” number to a “bottom bracket drop” number based on a variety of standard tires. I’m too lazy to go search for such a list.
You should be able to find the bottom bracket drop from the manufacturers web site. Unfortunately some manufacturers only give bottom bracket height numbers for their frames. Those manufacturers are idiots.
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For a fixie I would want a bottom bracket drop of no more than 60mm. Unfortunately there are lots of fixie bikes being sold right now with a BB drop of 70mm. 70mm is what is typical for regular road racing frames. A fixie with a 70mm BB drop is just a converted road race frame and not a fixie specific frame.
Email the ebay seller and see if he knows the BB drop for the frame. Or look for the number from the frame manufacturer.
presumably the bottom bracket drop is defined as the distance of the centre of the BB below the centre of the rear wheel dropout?
Yes
I have a track geometry fixie for sale if you are looking for something in the 58cm range…
Got a price range?
I’m kind of on a budget.
Fixies are very fun, good luck on your build! A lot of the folks around here that build up fixies take the cheap route and just do a conversion. I built mine from my dad’s old Schwinn road bike, and after I broke the frame from doing too many wheelies I bought another old road bike frame off of someone for $15. I haven’t ever had any problems with pedal strikes, but I ride a 27" in front and a 700 in back with a 35mm tire. Maybe the added 7 or so mm in height helps?
Make sure you learn all of the fun tricks when you finish it, as a unicyclist you should be able to catch onto trackstands pretty quickly, then you can start doing totally silly and useless stunts on your bike. (like these!) Riding backwards is a must as well.
oh, and put a friggin brake on it!!!
I make a big deal about BB drop because it’s a safety matter. A bike being sold retail as a fixie should be designed with a “safe” BB drop.
You can compensate for a low BB by using shorter cranks. That’s what some manufacturers have opted to do rather than design a proper frame to begin with. If you use 160mm cranks instead of 170mm cranks you will fix pedal clearance problem. It’s not ideal though as you lose pedaling leverage.
Pedal strikes are mostly a problem on off-camber corners and on urban streets with bad pavement (where the pavement has ruts due to wear or the pavement melting in the summer heat). I’ve had minor pedal strikes in both of those situations. On a fixie you just gotta be careful and aware of those situations. I now ride with Eggbeater clipless pedals which have lots of cornering clearance. It would be difficult for me to get a pedal strike now.
I ride my fixie like a road bike. I don’t do tricks or skids. If I wanted to do tricks I’d have to get platform pedals and deal with cornering clearance issues for those types of pedals.
Some low price commercial fixies:
Schwinn Madison
Redline 925
Sun Bicycle Uno (it’s under the urban section)
Felt also makes a fixie, but the price is possibly more than you want to spend. Felt also specs slightly longer cranks than I would be comfortable with given their BB drop.
Specialized also makes urban fixies. The BB drop is about 69mm which is low for a fixie. I don’t recall what length cranks they spec. If they spec 160mm cranks it would work out. Price is about the same as the Felt.
You may be able to find a local dealer who will discount the Schwinn, Redline, or Sun. Performance Bike carries Schwinn and often have the bikes on sale. Redline and Sun can be ordered from bike catalogs by many dealers. The Sun Uno is in the J&B Importers catalog.
I got a Sun Uno for around $400. It’s last years model with drop style handlebars. The 2008 model has bullhorn style handlebars. The frame is HEAVY. The bike is no lightweight. But what do you expect for $400? The geometry is good and the frame will take abuse.
steel frame, track dropouts, keep good tension, and don’t get your pant leg caught in the chain, other than that, don’t die. and run a front brake for good measure.
Kilo TTs are a nice low end bike from bikesdirect
if you go for a higher end, the raleigh one way comes with a brooks saddle, which would make it a pretty decent deal.
Masi also makes some nice bikes.
probably the best deal out there on a good solid single speed is a salsa casseroll single, it’s a little heavier than most, but it’s one of the best non-custom single geared bikes out there. It has a road geometry, and if you’re a real rider, that’s something you’ll want ; )
I ride an aluminum langster (specialized) well. . . used to, I’m in the process of selling it for a new uni. I can tell you that if you commute, you’ll want a steel frame. Screw the weight, you can’t tell when you’re riding. Besides that, some people don’t like the “thick” look of an aluminum frame, or the sloping top tube. I personally don’t care that much, but it’s a thought.
I DO NOT suggest the customizable bikes, I have heard very bad reviews from them.
and above all else, check craigslist first, my bike new was 700, I’m selling it for half that, and adding tons of accessories, you can find some good deals out there.
ftfy
+1
omfg