i was at my grandmas today and found an old old 10 speed. with semi horizontal droppouts. and a funky 1 piece crank, i dont want to use it because it wieghs more than the whole bike, the pics posted are of the droppouts (are they acceptable)? the bottom bracet thing, (it has no threads but ball bearings and cups) the third is the crank (1 piece)
what are my options for buiding this into a fixie i was thinking suez (sp) hubs and i dont know what kind of crank would fit, maby the new raceface X-type, due to its new type of bottom bracket?
i dont know what to do, is this even worth bothering with? thanx for the imput

What you have got there is a frame with an "American" style bottom bracket. These are typical of most lower-end bmx bikes, cruisers, old Schwinn Varsities, etc.

The race face BB is not gonna work, its designed for conventional bottom bracket systems. The cheapest way to go with this would be to get a simple one-piece crank, such as what you would find on a cruiser bike, and use it as your single ring setup on the front. Only problem here is that 99% of the standard cheap one-piece cranks use 1/2" pedals. Which means you use the old ones, or some bmx flats. Most everything else under the sun uses a 9/16" pedal spindle.

Danscomp.com has some interesting bmx widgets that will work with your bike, namely the only 1-piece I know of that uses 9/16" pedals. I have these on a cruiser, but they weigh much more than your old cranks (Update: just checked and they don't have them anymore)

Due to the quality and incompatability of much of the frame, I would suggest using the old 27" wheels re-dished and threading an 1/8" track cog on the back with some loctite. This would give you a feel for fixed at least, without investing a lot of money (suzue wheelset, raceface cranks!?, etc.) into something that may not, IMHO, be worth it.

Due to the quality and incompatability of much of the frame, I would suggest using the old 27" wheels re-dished and threading an 1/8" track cog on the back with some loctite.

so how do i go about doing this i am not an experienced hub mechanic and not knowing how to do this would be a prolbem? i know to take the cassete body off, but how do i redish the wheel? ill check sheldon browns site for help,
thanx for the reply

Yeah, no problem.

Sheldon has all the info that you need to do the conversion. If you aren't confident in redishing the wheel, I think WheelSport would be a good shop to try. I know the guys at Spoke 'n Sport can do a good job also, but they will likely charge you too much.

I went to school in Cheney, and as far as I know there aren't any good shops for fixed stuff in the Spokane area.


Good luck.

Ditch anything with 27" or Schwinn sized wheels. That is the first problem. Tires will be a ***** to find. Then you have to have a rear hub with 126.5mm spacing between the dropouts. That bike is not 120mm or a 130mm. When you change a 27" wheel to a 700c you have brake issues. to find a 126.5mm hub your spending decent money for it.

As a shop manager for 3years, a fixed gear rider for two years, and a bike messenger for 1 I do not suggest that you loctite a cog to an older freewheel hub. I have seen people spin off a cog like that because the hub was not designed to be used as a fixed gear hub. If you ride like this you must have a brake, and that removes the whole fun of riding fixed.

Just save some cash and sell the old bike. There should be donnar bikes all over any major city. The does not even get into the issues you could have with your BB. Finding other cranks, chainrings, ugh.

Tie a rope to it and use it as a boat anchor.

It's a piece of trash. It's got Ashtabula cranks and stamped dropouts. Why bother? It's a $5 salvation-army thriftstore bike-send it there where it belongs.

Fixed4life, I'll echo everything you said, except for the part about 27"-wheeled frames. Swapping out the brakes for longer-reach calipers and going to 700C wheels gives a ton of tire / fender clearance, and 27" wheeled bikes tend to be cheaper for the same quality of bike.

There are still a few nice 27" tires out there, but they're gonna be a special-order item for most shops. Conti makes a 27" Gatorskin and Top Touring, and Panracer makes Paselas in 27". Ditto IRC Duros. I'd still switch to 700C, just to get the extra clearance.

WRT the original post, that bike's fodder for the Salvation Army, or your local bike co-op.

--Shannon

It's a piece of trash. It's got Ashtabula cranks and stamped dropouts. Why bother? It's a $5 salvation-army thriftstore bike-send it there where it belongs.

...is another man's treasure... give it a rest Dave!!

I built up a fixie a couple years ago using Nishiki frame that had stamped drops, etc. The point I think Dave was TRYING to make is the bike you have is a lower-level-bike. The key is knowing how much $$$$ to put into the project before it's not worth it anymore. I was able to use mostly spare parts I already had so the whole project (including a paint job) only cost $40-$50. Good Luck and have fun!!

JB

What you have got there is a frame with an "American" style bottom bracket...

The cheapest way to go with this would be to get a simple one-piece crank, such as what you would find on a cruiser bike, and use it as your single ring setup on the front. Only problem here is that 99% of the standard cheap one-piece cranks use 1/2" pedals. Which means you use the old ones, or some bmx flats. Most everything else under the sun uses a 9/16" pedal spindle.
I believe Big Cheese sells a 3-piece crank set with a 9/16 pedal spindle. If I remember correctly, it ain't as cheap a regular 1-piece, but it's not any more than a modern ccrankset from Shimano.

(A 3-piece crank is a variant 1-piece crank design. It uses the same BB as a normal 1-piece crank. Big Cheese is a BMX brand.)