The ridiculous pink fixie, part 2 - seatpost and front brake installation

So finally the frame came back, and after much searching and much patience (already honed by the November - January wait for the frame), all the parts were in, and I was ready to start building.

I'm going to try to make this as informative as possible (it may get rainmanian in some sections, and I'll include sourcing for parts as well, so if you already know how to work on bikes, you may be pretty bored. I'm including a parts list in here in case anybody wants to do something similar, so you can ballpark your budget beforehand. (Some parts are expensive, but buying parts you're not happy with and then replacing them with the parts you did want costs even more.)

I ended up spending a fair bit more than I had planned for what was intended, more or less, as a joke bike. (I spend some time working at the local bike co-op, so the member discount kept things from getting COMPLETELY out of hand). Luckily it turned out nice enough and is so pleasant to ride that it was worth it. I spent less than I would have on an entry-level fixie from one of the local bike shops, like a Specialized Langster / Giant Bowery / KHS Flite 100 (to name the ones that Wheel World sells, but a fair bit more than the fixed gear offerings at Bikes Direct .)

Protip 1. - If building up a fixed gear from an existing bike, start with as complete a bike as possible. The stupid nickel and dime items really add up, and mostly they're not anything to get excited about purchasing.

Protip 2. - If you just want a cheap fixie, you can build one pretty cheaply with a garage sale / craigslist 10 speed, a track rear wheel, and the right sized cog. If you get a 27" track wheel (they are available), you can keep the 27" wheelset if that's what the bike has, which lets you keep the existing brakes as well. You may need to buy some spacers / reposition the chainring on the crank to straighten the chainline out, but it's doable. (This is to do it safely. DO NOT just screw a track cog on to an old freewheel hub without a counter-threaded lockring, JB weld it in place, and hope for the best, that's just stupid.)

Protip 3. -You will also need tools or access to tools. If there's a bike co-op near you (L.A. has the Bicycle Kitchen, the Bike Oven, and the Bikerowave (where this was built), that really helps, otherwise, add room in your budget for purchasing tools. (Fixies are too easy to build to let the LBS wrenches have all the fun). Bike co-ops are awesome. If you volunteer, you get free stand time to build your bikes, and you'll meet fellow volunteers who consistently bring in really classy rides that they've modified to suit their tastes, that make you want to build something to suit your tastes as well. (Steve M. and Kwang P. set a very good example for me. Thanks guys.)

Seatpost

So let's begin. You start with the frame (1982 Schwinn Traveler, according to the original paint and the stamp on the dropout, designed for 27" wheels), the seatpost, the seat, and of course, the seatpost bolt (which is the first of those little things that wouldn't have to be purchased had you bought a complete bike).

If you've bought the frame without a seatpost, use a set of calipers to measure the inside diameter of the seat tube and/or google the make/model/year of your bike and see if one of the bike forums has already discussed it. (In this case, a 1982 Schwinn Traveler takes a 25.8mm seatpost). Do not just force a seatpost in, as you can sometimes get an oversized seatpost halfway in by brute force/hammering, and then the seatpost tube can begin to bulge and buckle, which is bad.

Put the seat on the seatpost, the seatpost bolt into the frame (if your bike has one, some have seatpost collars, lube the bejeezus out of the seatpost, insert it to a ballpark height, and tighten the seatpost bolt. Lots of lube makes it easier to insert the seatpost, but also adds something of a barrier to keep water from coming into the seatpost. (In the case of this bike, it originally came with a smaller seatpost and a shim to account for imperfections in manufacture, so some sanding/filing was also required, but gobs of lithium grease really helped).



Now you should put the bike on a stand (if you've got one) by clamping the seatpost (since the seatpost is both very substantial and cheap to replace, which cannot be said of any of the tubing on your frame).

Front Brake

There will be lots of links to Sheldon Brown's website in this part.

You need brakes on any bike. On a fixed gear, even though you can slow/stop with your legs, you need at least a front brake.

Why the front? Because.

Even on a fixed gear? Yes.

But I can stop as quickly by skidding. Unless the laws of physics work differently for you, no you can't. Plus, if your chain snaps (a not impossible occurrence), a brake is an infinitely preferable option to Ted Shredding it to a stop or colliding with something.

In this case, the bike was built for 27" (630mm) wheels, and I replaced them with more modern 700c (622mm) wheels. The difference in the tire radius is only 4mm, so some brakes would be able to adjust that much. Since I didn't have brakes, I measured the reach I'd need by putting a sample 700c rim in the fork and measuring from the middle of the brake bolt hole in the fork to the rim. I measured approximately 60mm, which is longer than most readily available brakes can reach.

If you're doing a conversion of a 27" frame using 700c wheels and want to run a brake, you have 4 main options:
1. Luck out and find that your existing brakes have a range of adjustment that covers the new wheels.
2. Buy a 700c fork and use that, accepting that it may affect the geometry of the whole frame slightly.
3. Rummage through the used parts bin at your local bike co-op until you find something that fits.
4. The Tektro R556 .

I went with Option 4. The Tektro R556 is pretty much THE standard for a new brake if you're converting a 27" frame to use 700c tires.



In order to install this front brake on a 27" fork, it's best to drill out the hole in the back of the fork with a 5/16" bit, because it matches up well with the recessed nut for the brake.



First put on your safety glasses:



Put the fork in a vise or hold it steady, then drill through the existing hole. (If the fork does not already have a hole, and it's the original fork, take a look at the bike and make sure it's not something that's worth more in its original condition.)



Sweep up the metal shavings, then install the brake by tightening down the recessed nut you've just made room for.



Looks pretty good.



So, now we've got a frame with a front brake and a seat.

Parts tally so far:
Frame - 25" 1982 Schwinn Traveler (25" = 63.5cm! No wonder it felt a little big once I got it together and rode it.)
Seatpost - Ultracycle 25.8mm silver
Seatpost Binder Bolt - generic
Saddle - Forte Softail
Brake - Tektro R556

We'll move on to installing the fork, headset, stem, and maybe more next time.

Have a good one.