After months of trial and error, my fixed-gear commuter bike is
practiacally complete (although, at some point I need to finish
sanding old green paint off the fork).
The bike started as an interesting old Montgomery Ward 10-speed I
picked up at Goodwill for $20. It was made in Austria and decked out
with a mix of German, Italian, French and Japanese parts. I don't know
how old this bike is, but if I had to guess, I'd say it's from the
late '70s or early '80s.
Over the past couple of months, I stripped everything off the bike...
including most of the paint, which was a huge pain. I kept many of the
original parts including the frame, fork, drop bars, seat post,
headset and Weinmann center-pull brake calliper. I also spray painted
the frame.
New parts include wheel set with flip-flop hub, seat, crankset, bottom
bracket, pedals and brake lever and cable. I went bottom-of-the-line
on the new parts since I didn't really know what I was doing and
didn't know how I would take to fixed-gear riding.
Despite the inexpensive build, I must say I'm really pleased with how
the bike turned out. After I got it up and running it took a few
adjustments, but so far the ride has been pretty smooth. This morning
I made a work-commute trial run and it only took eight minutes. That's
less than the time it takes me to drive, park and walk a block to my
building.
And so far, I really like the stripped-down feel of the fixed-gear
bike. It's quiet, smooth and easy to maintain. I gave it a go without
the front brake, but at this point I'm much more comfortable with it.
It's quite a beating on my legs, but I'm sure with time and some
experimenting with gear ratios, it'll get easier.
I must give a shout out to the Service Department at
Bicycles, Inc. in
Fort Worth. They were extremely helpful (much more than the folks at
another popular shop in town) and even gave me a used brake lever for
free.
