Day 17:: Downtown Fort Collins, CO

Day 17:: Another Great Pic

Day 17:: First Ride & Pic

Today was my first "real" ride. I rode into old town Fort Collins to take a couple more pictures and wow - was it a sweet ride! You really do feel a unique connection to the bike that words just cannot explain. This bike build has totally exceeded my expectations and I hope that you get the opportunity build and/or experience riding a fixed-gear bike. You just gotta' give it a try and stop coasting through life.

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Day 16:: Fixed Pics

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Day 16:: Fixed!

Well, the bike is totally finished and took me a few hours each day for 16 days. The last steps were to put on the back tire, install both wheels, calculate length and modify/install the chain and then put on the pedals. 

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Day 15:: Custom Crankset & New Handle Bars

I went and purchased a new set of handle bars since the old ones were too short. These straight bars were 15 bucks at Performance and are strong and durable. I also picked up the grips for 5 bucks while I was there.

Check out this great shot of the final crankset build! I am so happy with the results of my custom crankset. This mod cost me absolutely nothing and it looks better than the original crankset. 

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Day 14:: Custom Crankset

So, tonight I spent about 2 hours building a customized crankset. I took the original set apart and found that the middle chainring was in the best shape so I cleaned it up and it is now like it was new from the factory. The teeth are nice and deep and are barely worn - that's exactly what you want for a fixie! 

The crank and the front chainring were all one piece so I took a dremel tool and used a cutting blade to cut the chainring off of the crank. I now have a crank arm with 5 points where the middle chainring can be mounted. I purchased some single-speed chainring bolts but when I went to put them on I found that the hole size is different from the 5/16" standard. I built a jig like the one in the picture above, put the old bolts up through the bottom and then cut them off with the dremel. This worked like a charm and saved me the $8 that I paid for the new chainring bolts. 

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