Bike Page > My Bicycles > Fixed-Gear Road Bike Project

A combination of parts bin bloat and reading Sheldon Brown's pieces on fixed gear riding probably had a lot to do with this project getting underway. I came into a nice older Panasonic DX-5000 frame with horizontal dropouts, which seemed to be of decent dimensions, so I carefully stashed that away in the garage and amassed the needed bits.

Fixed Gear Road Bike Project
Panasonic DX-5000 - Sold

Evaluation and condition: The frame itself suffered from a bit of neglect and a stuck fixed bb cup. Other than some scratches and marks here and there, the frame cleaned up fairly well. It is a lugged frame with Tange tubing. The dimensions seemed decent, and it has a pump peg. There were also rear dropout adjusters, which at least at this point, I feel are a good thing.

The fixed cup resisted all attempts to dislodge it, despite the use of proper tools. So, I ended up taking it down to a high quality bench vice, setting the jaws of the vice firmly on the flats of the cup, and smoothly turning the frameset. After three or four attempts, the cup yielded, and we were on our way...

There's not really all that much to set up on a fixed - just grease up all the spinny bits and set them in place. Since I'd never ventured out on the roads in a "fixed" condition, I had decided to run both front and rear brakes. Of course, in my excitement to get it set up, I ran the front brake housing very tight on the first pass and had to redo the cabling and housing when I brought the handlebars up to the proper height.

The first real problem reared its ugly head as the project reached completion. All the bits were on, but when I strung the chain through the 42T chainring and the 14T cog, it became clear that the dimensions of the frame would make the chain too short - putting the axle at the absolute tip of the dropouts - or too long - so I couldn't quite get the tension I wanted with the axle all the way back in the dropouts. It did seem as though this might be solved by removing the dropout adjusters - even when they were backed all the way off, there was still about a quarter inch of unusable space due to the springs. I decided to try to keep them in place, for more precise adjustment of the rear wheel tension.

So...resource time... Sheldon's site had referenced another site - http://www.peak.org/~fixin - that had a calculator - FixMeUp! - that would suggest gearing that would be appropriate for different chainstay lengths.

So, mutter, mutter, grumble, grumble, if I was clever, I would've gone there before I bought a 14T cog...

...the 15T cog (and a set of track nuts) arrived in a few days, again ably and efficiently sent from Harris Cyclery. This time it was a Dura-Ace. When I went to thread it onto the Suzue hub, it went on about a half turn and then seemed to stop. Hmmm, time for a bigger hammer. Luckily, I've been around enough good mechanics to learn not force something if you are unsure. As it was, Captain Bike calmly explained that I could also try it on the freewheel side (big "Duh" - yu-da-thunk-ida-knowed-that, but never figured it until he mentioned it.) I did. It worked, though a touch roughly. So, with that confidence, I bulged up my manly muscles and threaded it right onto the fixed side of the hub.

Added a link set back to the chain, twisted the dropout adjusters for maximum depth and pulled everything into place, only to think, "You know, that still hasn't quite got the chain tension I'm looking for." That of course led to the removal of the adjusters, as that extra 1/4" meant the difference between sloppy and just right...

I could smell the finish line, and backed out the adjusters, got the extra nudge backwards and checked the tension at various points in the rotation. (Extra credit math problem - if you are running a 42T chainring, a 15T cog and have a chain of 94 links, how many turns of the cranks does it take to get everything back to exactly where it was when you began?) It worked, and I headed up the dark neighborhood streets under a crisp full moon, feet strapped directly to pedals driving the wheel...

Click here to see the Parts List in a separate window.

Somehow, I keep ending up with white bicycles...Actually, this frame had a white to silver fade which I grew to appreciate. Chromed chainstay adds to the effect.	Fully functional (actually, at the time of this photo - having just returned from a ~3 hour jaunt on a beautiful sunny March day). As you can see, I've wimped out and put brakes on both front and rear. After a few rides, it seems that the rear is superfluous on level ground, but not a particularly bad thing to have on the business side of the downhills here.	Currently running a 42 x 15T setup with 165 mm cranks. Using a 115 mm BB spindle set up an excellent chainline with the chainring on the outside of the spider.
Update: 03/05 Speedblend tires seem to nicely set off the white to silver metallic fade paint job. The seatpost was swapped for one with a little more setback, I put on a slightly longer Cinelli stem and found a chromed Silca frame pump. I've also submitted this bike photo to Fixed Gear Gallery. It is now posted here.	Fixed Gear Gallery Bicycle #1729
Update: 03/06 - This Bicycle has been sold Wit the purchase of the Quickbeam and subsequent setting up with a fixed gear cog on one side of the hub, this bicycle became a bit redundant. It was also just slightly small, and even with the setback seatpost and slightly long stem, I would get stiff on longer rides. But, I found a fellow who was very excited to use it as his first fixed, and appreciated the speedblends as well. Allez Panasonic!
Some calculations which get my attention while riding fixed gear bicycles.
Other thoughts have occurred while riding the fixed... Gear-inches is actually a valuable tool for figuring speeds, cadence, distance. I have been coasting much more frequently than I realized. My cornering skills have been developed with the assumption that I can stop pedaling at any time. Don't worry, the bike will remind you to pedal. Before riding a fixed-gear, I could only theoretically conceive of "back-pressure" on the pedal. "Don't complicate a simple system"

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This page's Last Update: July 14, 2006

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