Fixed Gear Conversion
I have wanted a fixed gear bicycle for awhile now; something a bit more slim and maneuverable than my Rat Fink. To my delight my lovely wife bought me an old 70’s Batavus Monte Carlo for my birthday. A really heavy steal frame bike that was fitted instead of welded together. The Batavus functioned as a bicycle but I couldn’t help myself, I had to break the whole thing down and try my best to turn it into a fixed gear.
When breaking it down I removed everything except for the bottom bracket and cranks. I could tell that was going to be a pain and didn’t really want to mess with it. After doing a bit of research, I found out that my rear triangle was wider than the standard 110mm and my front fork was only 90mm, which is 10mm narrower than modern bikes. I brought the frame around to a couple local shops to price out parts and get advice. One shop told me that I would have to “cold set”, or bend, my frame in order to get correct width for the rear hub. All the shops were very concerned about the bottom bracket. There is this odd, notch/key thing that no one had seen before, and all the mechanics were called over to debate whether or not the threads in the bottom bracket were English, French, Italian or Swiss. The total of all the new parts and labor to bend the frame would cost came to around $600, and that is with me doing all of the assembly work. I asked the mechanic if he thought it was worth it and he said “no”. I asked if it was not worth my time or money, and he said “both”. I knew I could build this into a great bike for much less than $600 and I wanted to do all the work on it myself. That was the point. So I carried on.
I ordered a set of wheels with Formula hubs and Mavic rims, a Surly trac ring, a lock ring, a new chain and new tires and tubes. I figured all I needed to do was replace the wheels and chain, and I could use everything else that came on the bike. It took some time, but everything went together without a hitch. The hardest part pulling the fork apart 10mm in order to get the new front wheel in. Because I left the original crank and chain rings on I had 3 choices of gear ratios to use. I chose the middle one figuring that if I didn’t like that ration I could either go up or down. Once it was all together (minus the front break, but who needs breaks right) it was time to take it for a test spin.
I took it to a large empty parking lot and started peddling. Nothing fell apart so I started going faster and faster until I was flying across the lot. Then the realization kicks in that I can’t stop peddling and this thing has no breaks. I pulled my feet off the peddles as they spun wildly beneath me and planted my sneakers on the ground trying to slow myself before I reached the edge of the lot, and certain death. I had never ridden a fixed gear before, and thought I new what to expect. But riding this kind of bike is really a whole different experience. I reattached the front break and rode it to and from work for a week. I started getting more comfortable on it; more sure of myself in turns and more confident in traffic.
After a week of riding, I was sure that the bike was stable and rode well. The only thing left to finish the project was to make it look nice. I dismantled the whole thing again and broke out the sand paper. I sanded the the whole frame the best I could and brought it over to a friends garage to do the painting. I chose flat black with yellow fittings. After the color was on I put a few coats of matte clear coat. Hopefully that will protect the paint from all the street signs, trees and bike racks that this will be locked to.
Total I put $370 into the bike. So that plus the $120 that the bike cost is $490. That’s $110 less than what the shop estimated. And for me, the time and the money was well worth it.
This was the second bike I have rebuilt and I hope to do more. Maybe one every year. I had a great time building it and I hope to have even more fun riding it.
P.S. If you see this bike around town, please don’t steal it. Thanks.
