100 MPH Fixie

   
He already hit 60 MPH on this bike in test runs. Brit framebuilder Tom Dohou plans on taking this fixie to 100 MPH this year. It features a Columbus Max steel frame with a 104 tooth chainring, 17 inches across. The handlebars are slammed down on the crown of the headtube, with drops so deep that the rider's hands are at the same level as the front tire. Note the disk brake up front. No skids on this whip.

So will this be the fastest speed on a bike? Not even close. You might be surprised at how
fast bicycles have gone in the past. And not talking about HPV recumbents - the ones that seem to require a beard and a rear view mirror to ride.

John Howard's Special Derny

Using motor pacing  like dernys in keirin racing, people have been riding in excess of 150MPH for over 20 years. John Howard hit 152 MPH in 1985 at Bonneville, using the rig pictured above. That record stood for over 10 years until Fred Rompelberg bettered it in 1997.

Fred Rompelberg's ride

Using a specially built Colnago frame featuring a timing gear that allowed him to generate as much power in one turn as 4 turns of a regular geared bike,  Fred hit 167MPH riding behind another fairing equipped dragster.

Fred's Special Derny

This kind of bicycle speed record got started back in 1899 when Charlie Murphy went 60MPH on a special 2 miles of railroad tracks with plywood sheets laid down over the cross ties. Charlie hit 60 behind a speeding train with special 11 foot sidewings constructed behind the last car. He hit 60, slammed into the train, then got caught and dragged into the car just before he ran out of track.

Beach Bum Alleycat Won by JCS Fixed Gear Rider

Beach Bum Alleycat - Great Day and a Great Race!

 

The First Annual Beach Bum Alleycat Race was a BIG success. Great field, everyone had a lot of fun, and a big thank you to The PATH Bike Shop for putting on the finish line party.

We are VERY proud of the winner, our shop mechanic Nomar Tavarez. He won by an impressive margin, battling through the first checkpoints with four other riders, and then winning in a breakaway after the last checkpoint. Like every true cycling champion, he suffered, and battled through adversity to get the win.

And he did it on a fixie, beating several riders with geared bikes.

Congratulations to Nomar, and to everyone that took part!

Beach Bum Alleycat Saturday March 9th

Saturday March 9th is the First Annual Beach Bum Alleycat Race. It's starts at Noon at 9th and Gulfway, next to the Hurricane restaurant on Pass-a-Grille Beach. Registration opens at 8AM, cost is $5.00, $3.00 if you have a beard. There will be nine checkpoints, you get a map to the next checkpoint at each point, AFTER you find the checkpoint. Big after race party with Prizes, product toss, and trick competition. Yup, we are one of the sponsors, and MIGHT JUST be involved in the race a little further, too. Our shop will be closed all day Saturday for the race.

For more information, go to the FACEBOOK page here...

Conversions - "Fixing" An Old Bicycle Frame

Euro City Frame Turned into Fixie Bar Bike

Being a fixed gear bicycle shop, we get a lot of people calling, or stopping by the shop, to ask about turning old bicycle frames into fixed gear. We just recently had a guy stop by with a really cool 80's frame with the Miami Vice inspired paint splatter color scheme, and we have probably turned about 3 or 4 dozen 60's to 80's SCHWINN frames into fixies over the past few years. Call it one of our specialties.

But not all frames can - or should - be "fixed". Here is a quickie guide to save you some time on whether or not to "fix" that old bicycle that's living in your garage or storage unit.

Track Dropouts - Best for Fixed Gear

Check out the dropouts - the section where the rear wheel fits in. The gold standard is going to be the "track" dropouts.. The wheel will slide in from the rear, allowing you to adjust the tension of the chain as you ride and it wears down. It's not just track bicycles that have horizontals. Plenty of older 3 speed internal hubs have this type of drop.

Some of the modern frames, particularly time trial bicycle frames, also have this type of drop. They make excellent "street" fixed gear bicycles, although not for the track, as the bottom bracket is going to be too low for any velodrome with a banked track. They could be OK for flat track racing, depending on crank length and the kind of pedal used.

This semi-horizontal will work for fixie conversion

Next up for conversion is the semi-horizontal or "horizontal", depending on what side of the "Pond" you are on. Prior to the 1990's, most of the road bicycles were manufactured with this type of drop. They make good to decent fixies, depending on the length of the drop.

Euro horizontal - Excellent for fixed gear conversion

 
Older bicycle frames made for racing - pre 1990's especially - will tend to have a longer drop. Particularly older ones, as once upon a time, before derailleurs, if you raced both track and road, you would use the same bicycle. After derailleurs came along, roadie frames still tended to be manufactured with a longer dropout, and these will work great as a fixie. There are some of these frames that can actually accept tugnuts, which is a plus for chain tensioning. Some of these even have frame set screws built in.

Modern Vertical Drop - this needs a special hub to "fix"

Last of all is the modern "vertical" drop, and this is going to be pretty much a "No", unless you want to go the route of eccentric hubs. The problem with using verticals is that it's  impossible to get the proper chain tension over time using regualr wheel hubs as you can't slide the hub as in horizontal or semi-horizontals.

But - there is a solution - at a price - which is to use the White Industries Eric's Eccentric ENO hub.

The Solution for Vertical Drops - the ENO Hub

 It's got an  elliptical axle that you rotate up and back in the dropouts. As the hub rotates back, the chain is pulled into tension. You'll have to use their proprietary splined cogs for this build. the ENO hub comes in 135, 130, and 126 spacing, so you can use these with mountain and road frames.  At about $200 US it's pricey, but if you have a high end road or mountain bike  that you want to "fix", then this might be the answer for you.

You'll need this special cog for the ENO - note the splines

  Be aware that you probably will want to change out your crankset and install a track model to get a proper chainline. Sugino 75, Sugino RD-2, or SRAM Omniums will work just fine. We used this once - no shit - on a TREK Madone conversion to fixed, and it worked just fine.

\And no, it wasn't for a certain roadie in Austin.

Best Fixed Gear Movie Yet?

It's Better Than You Would Think - Grab a Copy.

For our first install of "Stuff We Like" we are going to mention something we don't sell - DVD/Blue Ray movies - but if you are in to all things fixed, this is worth plunking down your hard earned bucks to get a copy and watch.

"Premium Rush" came out late last summer and wasn't in the theaters for a long run. That's too bad, 'cuz it's a lot better than your average fixed gear movie. After watching dozens of short to medium length videos of talking heads and people doing skid stops and riding up and down the road, we frankly weren't interested in watching another "Fixie Snoozefest" (think Fyxation). Let's be honest here - if you ride fixed, you already know how great and special it is.

So we were prepared for watching a lot of riding up and down the road and people mumbling about riding without brakes - but what a surprise! Since it involves fixed gear bicycles, we knew we would be interested. What we didn't expect is that it would be so much fun to watch. It has plenty of thrills, laughs and a plot that is more complex and interesting than expected. And it's really well made, well acted, and has some lights out fixed and freestyle riding that's actually part of the story and not just tacked on.

  Director David Koep knows his stuff - he wrote "Jurassic Park" for Stephen Spielberg and counts "Spiderman" as another screenplay. This one is just as well written and put together, and doesn't rely on CGI for a change. 96% of the action sequences were shot live, from a rather innovative camera setup on a robotic boom mounted to a van that followed the riders through New York City traffic.

Main character Wilee is played perfectly by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Tommy of "Third Rock from the Sun"), as are the other main characters Vanessa (Dania Ramirez), Manny (Wole Parks), and the psycho detective Bobby Monday(Michael Shannon). You get a backstory on what brought each of them the one fateful moment that opens the movie.  But what makes the movie for us is how the fixed gear riding fits into the story.

You see the flow of the riding from Wilee's standpoint, in terms of a ribbon of white that travels through each section that represents a choice of where to go to avoid getting hit, or hitting someone. This is the best representation we have ever seen of what goes through someone's head that is riding street fixed with no brakes.

Wilee rides a white fixie, without any identifying decals, uses a pursuit bar, and locks it up with a forged steel chain with a disc lock padlock. All of this fits in with what you do when you ride and deliver on city streets. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's stunt double, Red Bull sponsored Austin Horse, is the same size and works as a messenger in Manhattan, so the riding is believable, and isn't fake. Scenes were filmed in LIVE Manhattan traffic. Gordon-Levitt learned how to ride a fixie and do skid stops for the film, did some of his own riding, and got 31 stitches from one scene when he crashed through the back of a cab.

A cool moment from the film - Wilee makes the point to Vanessa early on that "you need to remove that brake before it kills you". She finds out, the hard way.  This had us all nodding our heads.

There are four different chase scenes involved, culminating in an incredible escape attempt from the NYPD Vehicle Impound. The impound scene is ridden by another Red Bull rider, trials expert Danny MacAskill.


This movie gets 5 "spokes". Interesting extras are a mini feature on how the bike scenes were filmed, and who was used to film the stunts. This one is worth adding to your collection

Happy Holidays from The Shop Staff!

Thanks to all of our customers and friends for making this a great first year back home in Florida. There definitely is no place like home!

Great New Fixed Gear Magazine

"I like to ride fixed gear. No brakes, cant stop. Don't want to, either."

 
Check out this great new Fixed Gear orientated magazine from Italy called CYKELN. In the words of the publishers, Niccolo and Claudio,  "CYKELN is not a magazine made by professionals, but a collaboration between the many scenes that were built around the world of two-wheelers: Riders, photographers, video makers, craftsmen, designers, amateurs, athletes and more."
  
It caught our eye right away when we saw an interview with Rudy Melo, one of the team riders for our first line of bicycles we ever carried, LEADER. The mag has terrific graphics - hey, it's from Italy, so you know it's going to look great - with photo layouts of fixie bikes and riders around the world (where do you get a t-shirt that says "I hate SUV riders!" - we want one!), as well as in depth interviews with
racers, riders, fixed gear bike shop owners, and more. Great mag, great project, something we need more of in the fixed gear world. If you ride a fixie, you'll recognize yourself in the photos of the riders on these pages.

Go grab a free copy at http://cykelnmag.altervista.org/. And tell Niccolo and Claudio what a great job they are doing while you are at it.