Fixie Fixing

Many years ago I got this old 70's vintage U.K. built Raleigh Gran Prix. It was a donation/trade to the old shop where I worked. My boss saw that it was pretty much stock and in N.O.S. condition. So, he offered it to me and I think he thought I would restore it. 

Well, I saw no reason to have a ten speed bicycle with plastic Simplex components. I'd never ride it that way, and it would be a waste of my time to restore a relatively inexpensive, pedestrian road bike like a Raleigh Gran Prix. But there was something this bicycle was perfect for.

Back in those same early days at this same shop, we would build one, maybe two, bicycles from used parts as 'winter hacks' and we would almost always sell them at some point. Now, this was far before any 'smart trainer devices' were popular and just before the big uptick in spin cycling took off. It was at the tail end of the era where dedicated cyclists who wanted to (a) continue cycling all year long, or (b) were needing real-conditions training rode a fixed gear bike in the off-season. 

We would take a suitable, old road bike, preferably with a spin-on free wheel hub, and convert it to a 'rat-rod fixie'. This was pretty easily done, if you had the right skills to tackle the job along with some 'insider knowledge'. 

First, you needed to convert the old rear wheel. That included centering the hub on the axle by using a correct amount and size of axle spacers. Then you had to re-dish the wheel by using the spokes and nipples to pull the rim to the new center of the wheel. Then, you needed a track cog with a bottom bracket lock ring. Once everything was threaded on and tightened within an inch of its life, you peened the lock ring in place, hoping against hope that whomever got the bike wasn't too hard of a back-pressure type of rider. 

The same crank you had was re-purposed by using the inner ring of the double as your drive ring. Shorten the chain, and- oh! I forgot to mention... This only works on a horizontal drop out frame. Anyway, you shorten the chain and tension it. Using a stout, usually steel Shimano quick release, you clamped the wheel super-tight and that's the major part done. 

Of course, all the derailleurs, shifters, and cables and housings for that get binned. I usually recommended that you keep the brake levers, and on any of these I ever built, that's what was done. Anyway, that was that. You had a 'rat-rod fixie' and the perfect, cheap, decent Winter hack bike for snow, ice, and poor conditions riding. 

Ice? Yes, and snow too. There is something about using a fixed gear bike that works a trick for ice and snow. You could get a skinny studded tire, but I've known fixed gear cyclists who could ride through deep snow and ice maybe even better than a fat biker could. 

So, back to my Gran Prix. I got the thing home and almost immediately stripped it down and converted it to a rat-rod fixie. The first day I rode it to work, my boss, who was into saving everything old, was visibly disappointed. But that wasn't the end of it. 

I got some - at that time- brand new tires from the company that is now named Donnelly, (then named Clement), and one set was a bit narrower and barely worked on the rat-rod fixed Raleigh. So, I took that set up out and did some gravel grinding with it. When the old boss learned of that, well.....That was sacrilegious! Ha! 

After that the Raleigh became my short errand bike. I'd run payments to the courthouse for taxes and licenses down with that bike. I'd deliver letters to the post office on that bike, but the best use of it turned out to be as my after-school, kids pick-up bike. 

I loved it because I could go into the school and just prop the bike against the wall outside of the door. I figured if anyone decided to grab it, they would end up in a heap about ten feet later when they intuitively tried to coast. Besides, this bike looked ratty. It was the perfect bike to not worry about. 

Well, then the kids graduated to secondary schools, rode the bus, or were taken to school further away by car, and the old Raleigh sat in the garage for several years. Then I started looking for drop bar levers and the ones I needed were on that Raleigh. So I stole them off that bike and of course, it was unrideable after that. 

So, there it is- the Rat-Rod Fixed Gear Raleigh.

Well, with more time on my hands due to some whacked out weather in the Mid-West this weekend, I decided in my mind that I had everything I needed to resurrect that old Raleigh from ignominy out there in that broken down old garage. I had a set of levers, I had some old, used bar tape. I had cables and housings. Plus, I had an old set of Planet Bike Freddy Fenders that weren't doing me any good anymore. 

So, I combined all of that, a little time, and some bits and pieces to get this rig out of the garage and back into rotation. I need another single speed like I need another hole in my head, but this is a fixed gear set up, so there is that. But whatever... It's ready and I'm going to find excuses to ride it.