Breakdown: The Repair

Last week I had my crank arm come loose on me. This was on the fixed gear set up I am using on my Twin Six Standard Rando v2. You can go back and read my post about this occurrence HERE in case you missed this. 

Since those plastic pre-load bolts are scarce in my world, I had to order a new one and I got it in on Tuesday of this past week. I also somehow misplaced my Park tool "wing-nut looking" installation tool for this special bolt. So, I ordered a new tool, but this time I got a Unior tool for the install of the plastic pre-load bolt which cost a lot less than the Park Tool one. 

While I was at it I also bought two of those excellent Lezyne side-loader cages I've purchased and used before. I'll likely do a separate post on water bottle cages soon, and I'll hold off on my comments on the Lezyne cages until I post that article here. 

Ordering a plastic pre-load bolt for a Shimano crank was not as easy as I thought it could have been. I ordered from Jenson USA, and their descriptions were sorely lacking for such a part. Without my background in bicycle repair, I may have missed a choice which - as it turned out - worked for me. I can easily imagine an average rider being very disappointed in the information, or lack thereof, for such parts. 

But Jenson has a huge inventory and who cares about a part that costs a couple of bucks? Well....you cannot run a Shimano two-piece crank set without that stupid plastic bolt, so it is kind of imperative for there to be clear information for consumers. That's my take. 

Making sure the bolts are torqued properly.

Installation is pretty straightforward. I did put a thread locking compound on the plastic threads of the pre-load bolt this time, just for a little extra insurance. We will see how this goes. 

Then I torqued the pinch bolts, using an alternating tightening pattern, to 14nm. It is important to note here that HollowTech crank arms are very intolerant to loosening or tightening one bolt all at once. That is a recipe for crank failure as the uneven loading will crack the arm. It is best practice to alternate when tightening or loosening these bolts, or with other similar set ups such as stems and some other components which use pinch bolt clamping force to stay attached. 

So far, so good. I rode the bike for a good half an hour to test the parts and see if anything loosened up. Next I'll do several short rides, test everything again, and only then will I be satisfied this is good to go. 

Which brings me to another point. Testing. Shop mechanics generally do not get to test a repair, and long term, multi-situation testing? Forget about it! So, most retail bicycle mechanics have to do their repairs not only quickly, but without any real assurance the repair will hold up, in some cases. 

Obviously most mundane repairs are not part of this discussion, but there are some things which only will be proven out, or diagnosed, with time and trials. Consumers are not very tolerant of this, but the reality is that if you want a very secure and trustworthy repair, you have to pay in time and in money. 

Don't blame your mechanic if you are in a hurry, or won't pay him/her what they are worth. 

Breakdown

Happy Valentines Day. This post is about a breakdown, not a break-up. Just so we are clear. It also is not about the Tom Petty song by the same name. Although that is a great tune. Anyway.....

 I've been trying to do some local training rides on the fixed gear Twin Six Standard Rando v2. (From now on called the Fixed Gravel Bus, or FGB for short) I figure slower, steady fixed rides to help build a base of fitness is a good place to start on top of my walking and some other minor isometric type body weight things I do in the house, (when I'm not injured, that is!)

Anyway, this post isn't about training. This is about what happened to the FGB the other day while training. I was out on my usual graveyard loop which is nearly always carless and quiet when I felt something odd in the left crank or pedal. 

 I pulled over thinking maybe I had a pedal coming out only to find that my crank arm was loose! The little preload screw was missing too. Dang it! 

So, I grabbed my tool kit and tried to shove the crank arm on the spindle best I could, then I tightened the pinch bolts on the crank arm down, and hoped it would get me home. 

It did!

Now I had a problem to solve and I am thinking about this style of crank as well. First, I assumed the little preload screw, in this case a metal one I picked up from N.Y. Roll somewhere along the line, was gone. I didn't even bother trying to find it. I just went into my stash of parts and found one off an Ultegra crank set and tried it out on the 105 crank.

 Hmm.... No go. Seems as though there are different lengths to these screws/preload bits. I think the one from the Ultegra crank is too long. I need to find a shorter one. I dug around in my crank stash to see if I could find this screw. (Or is it a bolt? Whatever....) I did find one which was shorter but it had a smaller diameter for the threaded portion. Oh..... So there are three different preload bolt types. Nice! (Part ordered and on the way)

But perhaps more importantly, I wonder if a two piece pinch-bolt style crank even a good idea on a fixed gear bike? I'm beginning to have doubts about the ability of this design to hold up to the rigors of fixed gear riding. This might require a move to a threaded, square taper crank/bottom bracket set up which I have full confidence in as far as holding up to this sort of fixed gear set up.  

Stay tuned... 

Project Fixed Gravel Bus

The key to it all. (Image by A. Andonopoulos.)

 I have hinted at this all throughout December and now it is time to share what I've been up to over the past four or five weeks. I will also add the weather was mostly not conducive to being outdoors throughout this period, so it was a good thing to have this to do during the dive into deep Winter weather we experienced. 

Just a quick recap for those new to this story: I had a Twin Six Standard Rando v2 set up geared since around 2022, and for a year or two before that, as a single speed. When tires for gravel started to plump out to the 47mm - 50mm widths I was finding the Twin Six to be lacking as it barely handles a 44mm wide tire. So, I dreamt of retiring the T-6 and ended up replacing the T-6 with my Singular Cycles Peregrine Mk4 last September. 

Meanwhile, I had become enamored of riding fixed gear again via my road bike standard Shogun 1000, a 1980's vintage road bike, which has very limited tire clearances. My thoughts began to swirl - What would a fatter tire fixie be like? Then it hit me.....

Build the T-6 as a fixed gear bike, and move the Shogun down the road. So, this is what I have done. This now brings you up to speed on my journey up to the point where this project started.  

The first order of business was to build wheels. 

Thanks to Ari Andonopoulos and Jay Barre, I have this sweet Paul Components fixed WORD through axle hub. It is great Paul Components does this part, because it is not only high-quality stuff, but it is about the only game in town for fixed, through axle, and disc brake all in the same hub. Wacky one-speed rear device indeed!

To build the wheel set I needed rims. Fortunately I had a set of Velocity USA Blunt SS rims just chillin' in my shop. They were waiting for such a time as this! I also needed a front hub. I had used the old original front wheel in the Noble Bikes GX5 before in the Standard Rando, but this wheel was a mismatch from the standpoint of the rim. So, I broke the wheel down and harvested the front Stan;s Neo hub for this project.

Topped off with hand-cut DT Swiss spokes from Ari in the rear, and Wheelsmith spokes for the front, and this set of wheels was ready to go. Of course, I used my "signature wheel set" spoke scheme where I use half black, half silver spokes and nipples. The black spokes on one side get silver nipples and the silver spokes on the other side get black nipples.  

The wheel builds were fairly straight forward and besides one spoke, I had no real issues. Then it came to drive train parts. I had two screw-on fixed gear cogs to choose from. One was an All City 17T but is an 1 1/8th pitch. I also have a Dura Ace, vintage 3/32nds pitch cog in a 16T.  Both are black anodized steel. Not sure how they do that, but they are definitely black and definitely steel! 

I went the all-3/32nds route and so I have the Dura Ace part on the hub. For a crank set I came up with a 172.5mm Shimano 105 triple, Hollowgram crank set and I dismounted the three rings and replaced the middle one with a 39T steel ring from some old road crank set. It is a Shimano ring though. 

This meant I had to modify my Wheels Manufacturing Eccentric insert for a PF-30 shell. The left side bearing has that old, pre-DU(M)B spindle which had a 24mm drive side diameter and stepped down non drive side bearing. I knocked the SRAM specific bearing out, grabbed a Shimano outboard bearing sealed bearing cartridge, a plastic bushing, (top-hat) from same bottom bracket, modified the plastic bit, and used this. It worked perfectly. 

With a new SRAM PC 853 chain it now is locked-in and ready to roll. All I needed now were controls, brakes, and cabling. The handle bar is an old favorite, the Kitchen Sink Bar from Redshift Sports. I also used the same Redshift Sports ShockStop stem I had on the T-6 before I broke it up. A Shimano PRO seat post topped with a WTB Silverado saddle gifted to me recently by MG was the seating arrangement. (Thanks MG!!!) Then old Tektro levers in black were mounted as well. All I needed were cables, housings, and brake calipers. 

With everything but the calipers, tape, and cabling. 

 So, with the year closing out I was on the hunt for some brake calipers. It was the only thing I didn't have yet to make this a complete bicycle. Of course, I needed flat mount brakes, but they also needed to be mechanically operated. This leaves you with precious few options. 

You could do the bougie route. Paul Components Klampers or Growtac brakes (Velo Orange sells them), but we're talking hundreds of dollars for two brake calipers. Then you have the next step down in TRP Spyre brakes. Far less money for sure, but no big drop-off in performance. TRP/Tektro has a lower end version of the Spyre, which is slightly less money. Then you get into the sub-100 dollar per caliper brakes which of the lot, only Shimano is a brand I would trust. 

I hemmed and hawed about what to do. I was texting with Ari a few days before Christmas and he pointed out the half price offer on TRP Spyre calipers from an online store. I ended up ordering those as it put the per-caliper price under $65.00. 

Two days before Christmas. No calipers, but I just couldn't resist a test ride!

 I had strung the cables, but no wires, by a couple of days ahead of Christmas. It was pretty nice out for late December, and I had time, so I decided to go out for a short, brakeless ride. This would be on totally flat terrain and maybe for a few blocks and back, but I wanted to get a read on how this gearing was going to work out for me. I knew it was a little steeper than I had my Shogun set up with. 

I think it will be fine for most flattish terrain, but hills will be interesting! I'll just have to see how it goes over the course of Spring and determine what to do after that. 

 I think if Winter is going away, and for good, (fingers crossed), I will set up a different set of tires, But the 45NRTH Gravdal studded tires will grip ice and snow well. In case Winter comes back again, (more than likely), I'll keep them on. So we will see about tubeless tires at some point. Fenders may appear here in either case. I've got metal Planet Bike fenders or a brand new set of plastic Giant Revolt fenders too. We'll see how things fit to decide there. 

Finished Saturday evening 12/27/25

 Twin Six Standard Rando v2 (2020) in Saffron 

• Size: 59cm
• Frame: Steel (Twin Six never really says what, if anything, is special about their tube set) 
• Fork: Carbon T-6 (Again, no details but it does have internal routing for the front brake cable, Three-Pack mounts, and a 12mm through axle.) 
• Wheels: Hand-built using Velocity USA Blunt SS rims (28 spoke hole drilling), Mix of Wheelsmith (front) and DT Swiss spokes. Spokes in each wheel are all black on one side  with silver nipples, and all silver on the other side of the wheel with black nipples. Three cross lacing. (Guitar Ted Special Wheel build) Hubs are Paul Components WORD Fixed Disc (rear) and Stan's Neo (Front) 
• Track Cog: Vintage NOS black Dura Ace, 16T x 3/32nds.
• Chain: SRAM PC-853
• Chain Ring: Steel 39T Shimano of unknown vintage. (Likely 7 speed) 
• Crank Arms: Shimano 105 10 speed Triple modified for single speed use. 172.5mm length.
• Bottom Bracket: Modified Wheels Manufacturing Eccentric for PF-30 shell. 
• Seat Post: Shimano PRO
• Saddle: WTB Silverado
• Head Set: Enduro MaxHit stainless steel.
• Stem; Redshift Sports ShockStop Pro
• Handle Bars: Redshift Sports Kitchen Sink (46cm)
• Bar Tape: Ergon AllRoad
• Levers: Tektro short pull
• Brakes: TRP Spyre/Shimano rotors/Jagwire Pro housings.
• Pedals Fyxation Mesa MP's
• Tires: 45NRTH Gravdal, fully studded, with tubes. 
• Frame Pump: 1990's vintage Blackburn 

I'll have a ride report up once I can get out with this bike for a decently long ride. Indications are the stiffer T-6 frame will be a big benefit toward making the fixed drive train work its best. Gearing? Yeah..... I don't know yet! 

Stay tuned...  

A Quick Catching Up Post

Paul Components WORD Fixed Disc hub

 Hey! I wanted to sneak in here amongst all the end-of-year madness going on this blog to give you readers an update on a project and a couple of other things going on around Guitar Ted Headquarters. 

First, I have decided to turn my old Twin Six Standard Rando v2 into a fixed gear bicycle, as I told a week ago or so in the last FN&V. The process has begun already with the main ingredient being a Paul Components WORD Fixed Disc rear hub. 

Oh, and it is a through-axle hub as well. A true "unicorn" in the bicycle component world. I am not aware of any other choices in something along these lines. Good thing it is a high-quality, reliable component! 

The rear hub is built up already on a Velocity USA Blunt SS rim. The front wheel will be a Stans hub with the same Velocity USA Blunt SS rim. What is fun about the fixed hub is it will be interchangeable with  the Honeman Flyer, so I can set up either bike fixed or free. 

The corresponding move here will be the elimination of the Shogun 100 from the stable. It will likely go back to the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective as a donation. At this point, I need to start whittling down the fleet, not add to it. 

I'll have more on this bike after the New Year.

This snow is almost gone now with the warmer weather!

The 4Runner got a new end gate. When Jacob bought the vehicle I kind of let him be in charge of questions and looking everything over. So, it wasn't until afterward, when he lifted the end gate one day, that I heard a weird noise from inside the end gate and looked up to see a big hole in the bottom of the end gate where moisture had rusted through from the inside. 

I figured at some point Jacob would have to decide  to have this repaired, but then he died and when I got the vehicle the repair fell to be my responsibility. So, anyway, it has been done and now the vehicle is in excellent shape. 

Ironically the end gate was so rusted, and the rest of the vehicle wasn't, that the body shop guys were puzzled. Even the rear speakers had rusty voice coils and were inoperable. So, I got new rear speakers as well. But now it is all good to go, so I've got a vehicle now I can rely on.  

Besides those things I have just been doing a little bit of fat biking, dodging ice patches, and going to work at the Collective where I am catching up on closing up the books for 2025. Mid-January will mark my fourth year working there! 

Okay, there is a quick update. Expect the next update after the New Year once all the end-of-year stuff is out of the way. 

Thank you for reading Guitar ted Productions! 

Bikes Of 2025: Shogun Fixed Gear

 It's another end-of-year period on the blog. You know what that means? Yep! Another round of my bikes I used in 2025. This round-up will not include some of the bikes I did not use this year much, or at all. I focus only on the bikes that played a big role in my riding during this year.  As always, any changes or future plans for any bike I feature will also be detailed. I hope that you enjoy this year's round-up.

 Last year I found a Shogun road bike from the 1980's which had been donated to the Cedar Valley Bicycle collective. I looked it over and determined it would be a great fixed gear bicycle candidate. As it turned out, I was correct. I bought the bike, stripped it down, and re-fitted it with new wheels and handle bar/stem. The old crank I used but I did remove one ring. 

I used a cheap, Bell department store 1 1/8th pitch chain and I used some Fyxation Mesa pedals. The Brooks saddle was on the bike when it came in, by the way. So was the water bottle cage. I did use one of the original caliper brakes but the front one was not able to clear the 30mm Panaracer Pasela tire, so I went with one brake actuated by a single Velo Orange lever. 

I also added the awesome and highly recommended Velo Orange Burrito Supreme handle bar bag.  I also added on a sweet sounding brass bell. 

I got to where I would find excuses to ride this bike. I did all of my main commuting in warmer weather on the Shogun. It used to be I liked fixed gear in smaller doses, but this bicycle really turned me on to wanting to ride fixed gear more and more. 

So much so I was wishing the Shogun had clearances for wider tires to ride out on the gravel. This led me on a few internet seeking sessions and after a chat with my good friend Ari, I have decided on a course of action to satisfy an itch. 

All of which to say that the Shogun will, most likely, be scuttled to make way for a special project which will bring a bicycle I already have back to life again and become my fixed gear gravel cruiser. (Plus still be a very capable urban commuter!) 

I think this may be the last you see of the ol' Shogun. While it did not last for long with me it did spur a love for fixed gear riding which has led to something new and better. (I hope!) Stay tuned....
 

Friday News And Views (Monster Year-End Edition)

Image from Innova Super Gravel webpage.

 Call It "Gravel™" And It Will Sell:

What happens when you take an XC racing chassis, slap a drop bar on it, and call it a "gravel bike"? Well, apparently you sell bicycles. That is what it looks like judging from a few bicycle brands out there now who are trying to figure out how to "innovate" the gravel bike into something the marketing departments hope you will see as a "must have bike". 

The recently released Trek Checkout, and a few other bicycles like this Innova Super Gravel (shown here) seem to have a very striking resemblance to 29"er XC racing bikes from five to ten years ago. 

I wrote up a comparison of the Trek Checkout with an old Gary Fisher XC Trail bike back at the end of September. If you missed the comparison, it may be enlightening to go back and read the article as it will shed some light on what it is that is going on here with these supposed "category defining" gravel bikes. 

I think this is happening due to a few things. One - Road bikes are encroaching on territory formerly covered by the gravel category. Many road bikes can now fit 35mm road tires, which were "gravel tire" widths in the 2010's. Some road bikes in the "road endurance/all-road" category fit even wider tires. No one wants to call these "gravel bikes", even though for a lot of people out there, this is all they would ever need to ride any road they come across. 

Two - "Gravel" is not everywhere. Many places have back roads, pavement, or dirt roads, but many "paths" cross over to single track/MTB type riding. Wider tires, more aggressive trail geometry, and suspension fit this terrain better. The marketing for the Innova Super Gravel shows it on rocky paths and more MTB/XC type terrain. Actual crushed rock roads (gravel) are no where to be seen.  Perhaps this reflects what seems more enticing to ride and this new style of 'Gravel Bike", which is really just XC MTB with drop bars, is what will motivate folks to pop the credit card number in for a charge. 

Three: "Adventure" was removed from XC MTB bikes when racing-focused products took over and gravity oriented machines became the guise entry level MTB bikes took on, if only in form. Part of this swing toward drop bar MTB is labeled as "adventure biking" because MTB has abandoned this adventure off-road category for years. Bike packing was, and is, a partial beneficiary to this as well. However; the lighter, more svelte "gravel bike" with a suspended front end seems to be filling this void where once the mainstay of MTB was residing. News about the 2026 Focus Atlas adventure bike brings to mind the original Fargo, a bicycle who's tagline was "Adventure by Bike" and which created this drop-bar, MTB based adventure category nearly 20 years ago now. 

All these things are being drenched in "gravel" because this is the magic word which conveys a sense of thrill, adventure, and does not carry the pretenses of road cycling or MTB racing/mountain riding. Even though much of what is being put out there as "new", "category defining" and "adventure" is derivative and old news. 

For more on this, see my take on another bike in this vein below....... 

Guitar Ted Podcast To Take Winter Break:

N.Y. Roll and I recorded the final episode of the Guitar Ted Podcast for this season recently. We will be taking our annual Holiday break and recharging the batteries for another season of the show being planned now. 

2025 was a year of growth, according to our end-of-year stats we received recently from a couple of our podcast platforms. We thank you for listening - if you did - over the past year. I have a review of the year on the podcast which will post the last week of this month, so do look for that. 

Season 4 (!!) will start in January with......well, I don't know just yet! We will come up with something, I am sure. We have received a few great suggestions for the podcast and future episodes, and if you would like to voice your opinions on the direction of the show, please do by leaving a comment here or by email @g.ted.productions@gmail.com. 

Image by A. Andonopoulos

Fixing The Bus

What is my friend Ari holding in his hand here? Well.....it is what I am going to "fix the Bus with." 

Yep! The old Twin Six Standard Rando, or what I called "The Gravel Bus", due to its yellow and black paint scheme, is going to become my new fixed gear bicycle. 

Since I stripped the bike down and used its parts to build up my new Singular Cycles Peregrine Mk4, I thought I was just going to sell this frame and fork off. However; I ended up contemplating how I could make a fatter tire fixed gear bicycle. Something akin to the Shogun, but with beefier tires which I could ride on gravel with. This led me to the Paul WORD Fixed Disc Hub and the possibility of converting the Gravel Bus to direct drive.  

Oh....and in case you are not familiar: Fixed gear means you have a cog on a hub which is locked together. You cannot coast. Every inch the wheel travels the cranks are spinning. It is how all bicycles once were in the late 19th Century. Track bikes are still this way. Just thought I'd throw this out there in case you were new to the concept. 

By the way, single speed free wheel bikes are NOT like fixed gear bikes.They are completely different animals. If you have never ridden fixed gear, you should try it out. It really is amazing and you'd get why it is so different straight away. I love riding this way, and so this new build will be getting used quite a bit,, I think. Stay tuned for more on this bike soon. 

Virtual Turkey Burn Ride Recap:

All the reports are in and published. This year we had ten reports and all from the USA. Most everyone had an issue with the big storm which rolled into the country just in time to affect rides for the challenge.

However; I was encouraged greatly because despite the fact many of the challenge takers did not log the mileage to reach a century, either metric or standard, they reported anyway and shared their rides here. I think this is perhaps even more inspiring, since these folks went out in the face of adversity to ride anyway. 

Feedback from the riders was positive and it looks as though many want to participate in this again next year. Whether you reported or not, if you took inspiration from this challenge and rode, ran, swam, or walked outdoors after Thanksgiving, I appreciate this very much. This is the entire motivation for me - To get folks outdoors and trying to stretch themselves a bit physically instead of sitting around, being sucked into the marketing machine, or whatever. Thanks everyone! We'll plan on doing this again next year then!

 

Image courtesy of Knolly Bikes

Knolly Bikes Releases Updated Cache "Gravel" Bike:

The new Cache drop bar bike in titanium is now available from Knolly Bikes, a predominantly mountain cycling oriented company.  

Their geometry isn't anything crazy with a 70.5° head tube angle, 75mm of bottom bracket drop, and 422mm chain stays. But with many companies going wider on tires, you might expect an increase in maximum tire size over the outgoing Cache, and you'd be correct. Now with clearance for a 29" X 2.3" front and a 29" x 2.1" rear tire (1X and 2X), and suspension fork compatibility, ("gravel travel" suspension only), 

Comments: Okay, I don't really care about big tires or not on gravel rides, you can decide on this idea for yourself. However; at the point where companies are going now with 29"er tires, I have to make a demarcation. 

For myself, and going forward, any "gravel bike" with suspension correction and wider than 2.1" rear tire clearance is technically a mountain bike with drop bars. I mean, call a spade a spade.  Personally, I would rather say a bike like the Cache is a "bad Fargo take", or a poor Cutthroat in the case of carbon frames, but this maybe just me being grumpy today. 

Legends Of Gravel (L.O.G. Ride) Update:

I have a few more details to share concerning the April 17th-18th Legends Of Gravel Ride event. Once again - I am not in charge of this ride. So, if you've got beef with anything concerning the ride, I am not the person to bother with those complaints. Just so we are clear.... 

I am being feted at this event, for further clarity, and I was asked to share this information here, since many of you readers of Guitar Ted Productions just might be interested in this subject. 

Finally, the information I was asked to share: An event site is now live and will be updated with specifics on how you can participate in this event if you want to do so. The site is on Facebook, full disclosure, and I know some of you don't travel in the 'metasphere', which is understandable. Have a friend keep tabs on things then. Don't ask me! 

Here is the link. 

Comments: There is a plan for a group lodging opportunity which would cost $100.00/night to stay which includes meals. The ride itself, if that is all you need, is going to be $50.00/person. This is to help defray costs and gets you an event t-shirt. I know, I thought the ride was free at the onset, but I was wrong, and again - I am not one of the organizers. Any event details, costs, or times are subject to change by the organizers. Be aware! 

I think there is a groundswell of interest in this thing, so if you are at all interested it probably would behoove you to pay attention to that Facebook event page. My part in this is to get there and show up ready to ride a couple of days. That is all I am going to do. So, from this point onward I may mention this event in passing, but do not expect timely updates from me. 

From Singular Cycles' social media

The 32 Watch: Singular Cycles Proto

Recently Singular Cycles posted an Instagram story/reel which showed the bike to the left here with the comment: "It's surprisingly normal looking." Reading into it, I assumed this meant "surprisingly normal" because it was a 32"er. I "liked" the post and Sam Alison replied back in a pm confirming my suspicions. I will stop right there. 

Comments: Sooooo...... One would assume this might just be an actual thing, coming from Singular, who are not in the position to just randomly see if something is going to work or not. It would be reasonable to assume this is in an effort to confirm suspicions the idea is marketable.  

I have to thank my brother, MG, for capturing this image. You know, Insta stories go dark after 24hrs. So, here is the evidence which was provided, but only for a short period of time, preserved now for your consideration. What do you think? Would you be interested in something like this? (I have no horse in this race, by the way.)

I think it bears watching. I would be a lot more interested in a drop bar, gravel crusher, but that is just me. I'd want to see wider spaced hubs than 29"ers have. Thinking out loud, I'd want 150mm front and rear spaced. I would think with the longer chain stays this wouldn't be an issue with cranks and it would build a way stronger wheel. The front matching would allow front to rear wheel swaps. You might want this if a cassette failed, or a derailleur failed, and your front, (actually a rear standard) set up with a single speed cog could swap in as a bail-out. Weird? Maybe, but why not? The stronger wheels would be worth the effort with such a big diameter rim. 

And I don't give a rip about telescopic front suspension forks, so there!  

Programming Note: There are two Friday's left in the year. Usually industry news tails off for the holidays, so unless there are compelling reasons to report news or opinions I will likely post end-of-year articles on the following December Fridays. The FN&V will return the first week of January, 2026. 

Have an awesome weekend! Get out and ride those bicycles! 

Well, It Looks Like THIS Is Going To Happen!

It will probably end up looking a lot like this.

 I have loved fixed gear riding ever since I first tried it out many years ago. However, I did not ever really have a dedicated fixed gear bike worth a hoot. That is, until a couple of years ago when I built up the Shogun I found at the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective. 

Since I was able to build that bike up with a 'proper' fixed gear rear hub, I have ridden the Shogun consistently ever since. So much so that I was wishing for a fixed gear bike with bigger tires. 

I had such bikes fixed in the past. My Karate Monkey has been set up fixed gear a couple of times. The old Surly 1X1 I had was fixed gear most every Winter I rode the bike. Both bikes had proper wide tires in the 2.2" to 2.5" wide range. 

The Shogun has 28's on it and this is as wide a tire as I can squeeze into the frame and fork. In fact, the front tire is mere millimeters from rubbing the underside of the fork crown. Leaves get stuck under there all the time now, it is so close. 

I've dreamt of fat tires and fixed gears long enough now that I have finally found a solution. It sure looks like this is about to happen too, so I figured I may as well share it with all of you here. My old Standard Rando v2 is going to become my fixed gear sled in the near future. 

The Shogun will get donated, well most of it, to the Collective. So, it will be one bike in - one out. That is important to me. I do not need more bikes than I have already.  

Image courtesy of Paul Components

The key to it all will be the Paul Components Fixed Disc WORD rear hub. I was recently chatting with my friend Ari and was telling him my idea. He quickly pointed out this hub for its through-axle compatibility, which I was surprised by. Obviously, the Standard Rando v2 uses a 142mm through axle standard, and the hub here does also. Perfect!

I have two Velocity Blunt SS rims, brand new, sitting in the shop. Those will be laced up with an appropriate front hub and the wheels will be sussed. 

I have a black, 175mm TruVative single ring crank set which should work perfectly with my Wheels Manufacturing eccentric bottom bracket insert, which I used with my T-6 Standard Rando. I'll probably move the Whisky Parts Co. carbon mustache bars over from the Shogun. I may start out with only a front brake since I don't think I have a pair of mechanical flat mount brakes at the moment. 

A chain. seat post, saddle, and flat pedals. Boom! Done. Oh! And I will use some tires I already have. Probably some WTB Raddlers. So, what do you think? A fixed gear bike with a penchant for gravel travel? It all sounds good to me. 

Bikes Of 2024: Shogun 1000 Fixie

 It's another late December here on the blog. You know what that means? Yep! Another round of my bikes I used in 2024. This round-up will not include some of the bikes I did not use this year much, or at all. I focus only on the bikes that played a big role in my riding during this year.  As always, any changes or future plans for any bike I feature will also be detailed. I hope that you enjoy this year's round-up. 

Ever since I retired and scrapped out my old Raleigh "Rat Rod" fixed gear bike, and gave away my old Surly 1X1, which could be run fixed, I have missed having a fixed gear bike around. There is just something about riding fixed gear that appeals to me. 

So, I had been on the lookout for the right road bike donation to come through at the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective so I could score a bike with geometry better suited to my kind of riding. I really do not like modern day fixed gear geometry. Too high, too steep, and way too short. I wanted a frame with a decent bottom bracket drop, not too steep in the head angle, and the fit had to be very good for me to consider it. 

Along came this Shogun 1000, a 1980's era survivor road bike which was in excellent condition. Trouble is that the Collective cannot hardly give away a road bike. Well, in fact, we can't give these away. No one wants one. 

So, the fate of this bike was the scrap heap or.... I bought it for $40.00, bought a set of fixed gear wheels at the Collective and then went on to put it all together as you see it here. Since the original crank set supported a ring I could use, it stayed, and the bottom bracket was a good one, so it stayed as well. The head set was already an excellent Shimano 600 with the fluted jamb nut/adjuster nut, which I happen to have the wrenches for, and that stayed as well. 

It took me a bit to dial in the saddle angle and handle bar, a carbon Winston Bar from Whisky Parts Co., and then it was darn near perfect. I just need to get some cork grips. 

I love riding this bike! It has 30mm tires on it, but they barely fit, and I wish for poofier rubber. So, this isn't the be-all, end-all fixed gear rig for me. But it does do very well for what it is now.

They Come In Threes: An Update

About a week or so ago now I wrote about three problems I had that came up all about the same time. Now all three problems have been addressed with at least temporary solutions. I thought I would share this update with you all to bring you up to speed here at Guitar Ted Headquarters.

First up is the State Bicycle Co. Monster Fork v2. If you read the latest review update on this you already know that I was able to determine that a flipped brake mount solved the issue. So, that's been ridden and a review update/final word will be forthcoming. 

Just a quick note in case you missed it: I am still having an issue with the I-9 hub coming out of this fork, but a HED wheel goes in and out like a champ. I'll test more wheels I have here to see if anything else hangs up like the I-9 hub does.

The Shogun's bell is back on. I managed to get it on the stem and keep the bell working. It took a bit of a shim to keep the edge of the brass bell off the lock nut for the head set. A short piece of rubber strip did the trick and I was able to get the bell's edge to clear by a few millimeters or so. 

Speaking of shims - I had to shim the brake lever as well. Turns out that is how Velo Orange wants you to do things. There were aluminum shims of two different thicknesses in the box. Thankfully I had not thrown away the box!

 Now the Tamland Two got a different fix than I was thinking it would. The DT Swiss hub/Roval rim rear wheel had been coming apart. So, I had intended on going back to the Irwin Cycles Carbon Aon 35 wheels but somewhere along the line I had misplaced one of the quick release end caps. So, after trying to contact Irwin and getting no reply, I decided to try another avenue. 

I had a wheel set I had built quite some time ago now that I had never used. Actually, it was a different wheel set before I rebuilt it. Here's the long story...

I had gotten payment for an advertisement on my old 29"er site, I think it was, in the form of a wheelset for a tubular tire set up. The thought being that there might be a tubular gravel tire coming out. The tire never materialized, so instead of having a brand new wheel set I'd never use, I blew it apart and rebuilt the wheels using a set of Bontrager RXL Scandium aluminum rims. While the rims were lightweight, and tubeless ready, they were rim brake rims. But at least now I had a wheel set I could use for......something. 

Well, that something is the Tamland. I only have the rear set up now, but at least the bike is rideable. 

More soon.....Oh! And have a safe Halloween, if you observe that tonight.

They Come In Threes

At least one thing went right...

Ever hear of that old saying that "bad things come in threes"? Well, I have to wonder after this past week if the saying is true. I had a pretty unlucky string of road blocks which has stacked things up in the old Lab at Guitar Ted Headquarters. 

The first check came while dealing with the State Bicycle Co. Monster Fork review. I had ridden it enough in one offset setting that it was time to go to the other choice. Well, the first thing I ran into was that the wheel did not want to come out of the fork without a bit of dead blow hammer influence. Not good. Then I figured out that the offset change was not accounted for by the designers of the fork with a corresponding change in brake position. No go.

So, that is in limbo now until I hear back from my contact at State Bicycle Co. to see what they want me to do from this point. Is it just my fork (doubtful) or is it a flaw in the basic design (I'm betting on this one)? We will see......hopefully. At this point I don't know why it is the way it is, I just know it is. UPDATE 10/22/24: After contacting my person at the marketing company they relayed from State that the brake mount must be flipped to make it work and that seems to have solved that issue. Look for my update on this review on Thursday, October 24th.

Next up I decided to try the Irwin Cycles Aeon 35 carbon wheels in the Raleigh again, since I figured out that it was the worn drive train which was the problem, not the wheels. Also, I had to swap wheels due to those Roval wheels having spoke issues. Should have been a "no big deal" swap, since I had those Irwin wheels in the bike at one time. However, since I thought it was the free hub body going bad at first, I removed the Irwin wheels. Then I had taken that rear wheel apart to inspect it. In the process I must have mislaid the drive side quick release end cap and now I cannot find it. 

Email sent to Irwin on Friday. Until I hear back from them, that will be in limbo as well..... 

A screw loose here....

Then on Saturday I was riding my new-to-me fixed gear bike and the screw holding on the brass bell to the handle bar fell out. Next thing you know I was making a fancy catch of the bell before it was jettisoned to the pavement. 

This wasn't that big of a deal, but after the first two things it was something that pushed me to the end of my rope. I just took everything to the Lab, parked the bike, set the bell in the handlebar bag, and grabbed my Honeman Flyer for a mind-cleansing ride around the neighborhood. 

Hey! I just put some new fuchsia bar tape on the HF. Looks great and feels good. At least something went right with bicycles recently! 

Oh yeah, and Thursday was spent fixing my front porch steps until I ran six screws short of being able to finish and I had no time to go get more. That got finished up on Friday. So frustration was a bit of a theme of late here. I am hopeful this changes soon. 

Stay tuned for updates.

Friday News And Views

Image courtesy of Lapierre Bicycles.

 A "Fixed" FN&V!

Lapierre Debuts New Crosshill CF Gravel Bike:

Seen at last weekend's Gravel World Championships in Belgium, Lapierre's new gravel bike has stirred up some interest due to its design, specifically around the seat tube/seat stays area of its carbon fiber frame. 

The seat tube and seat stays are decoupled, with the seat stays making connection with the top tube just ahead of the seat tube. This is not a novel idea, but it is unusual looking, to be sure. Obviously the goal here is to provide more comfort to the rider with the longer seat stays and independent seat tube providing flex over small bumps and vibrations. 

Lapierre calls their seat tube design concept "Tubular Endurance" and the seat stays "Flexstays". Lapierre claims that at 40kph this design concept reduces vibrations by 12% over a traditional frame design. 

Image courtesy of Lapierre Bicycles

The Crosshill CF is designed to accept a 40mm gravel suspension fork and up to 45mm 700c tires. The geometry is said to be quite different from the current trends, (more on that in my comments), and several parameters of the geometry vary across the size range. 

The Crosshill CF comes in seven models with variants having 2X and 1X drive trains, both in mechanical and electronic groups. Prices range from approximately $3,075.00 to $7,685.00 USD (prices converted from Euros at the time of the press release) These bikes are also UCI approved, (If that matters to you, then there you go!)

Comments: Lapierre says this bike has a shorter top tube per size than you might be used to. (Note: As of this writing, Lapierre did not have the Crosshill CF on their site, so the following opinions are mine and the numbers came off their press release) I found the sizing to be strange with what would be my normal choice, a Large, being slightly small at a 52cm seat tube, a 601mm stack, and a 57cm top tube. The next size up, the XL, has a 55cm seat tube, 620mm stack, and a 58.5cm top tube. This leaves me in an in between state and I'd likely go for the XL, if I was dead set on the Crosshill CF. 

Other numbers weren't too inspired. "Normal", perhaps? The head angle is listed for my size at 71.5° and the bottom bracket has a 70mm drop. Kind of 2015-ish numbers there. So, with the all-internal routing, including the handle bar and stem, and along with the weird geometry, this doesn't strike me as a great option, but that's my opinion. 

Additionally, this effort has comfort/compliance built into the rear with no regard, (unless you get a front telescopic fork) for the front end vibration reduction. I rode a bike from a now defunct company that had a design much like this one that made a similar mistake. Again, this was like ten years ago. 

So, with this bike being strikingly different from "normal" designs, it may seem like an innovation, but in my opinion, this design is a bit dated. 

Ritchey Design Releases Limited Edition Garden City Fixed Gear Frameset:

A "true" track bike in design, (nothing like my 1930's inspired Honeman Flyer!), the Ritchey "Garden City" frame set is a fixed gear design with a bit of versatility mixed in. 

The bike is steel, of course, with the Ritchey standard 1 1/8th steer tube and steel fork to match. Typically steep geometry and high bottom bracket allow for super quick handling and the ability to lean into corners without clipping a pedal. 

The "versatility" comes in the form of two bottle cage mounts. Most "true" track frames don't have any bottle mounts. The frame and fork are rated for 30mm tires so you won't have to run skinny tires on this one if you don't want to. (Yes, a Surly Steamroller can take a bigger tire. ) The Garden City could be your "never die" commuter, a training bike, or your first try at fixed gear. The frame set is $1,199,00USD and is available now. Check it out on Ritchey's site HERE.

Update On The Shogun Fixed Gear Bike:

The "No Coast" experiment is off to a great start with a major change now to the handlebar set up. I mentioned in my last update on this bike that I was probably going to put a mustache bar on the bike to alleviate my distaste for classic drop bar geometry. Plus the brake hoods of those old Shimano 600 levers were like trying to hold a knife edge compared to modern day hoods and levers. 

Well, I just so happen to have a Whisky Winston Bar, a carbon fiber mustache style bar that can take road or MTB standard controls. That went on via a stem insert that allowed me to use a threadless stem. That in turn allowed me to utilize the Winston Bar with its 31.8mm clamp diameter for a stem interface. 

This has simply transformed this bike from something I was tolerating to being a fun bicycle. I may flip the Winston to its "riser" position verses what I have now in its "drop" position, but besides that, this is a winning combination. The brake lever is a Velo Orange Grand Cru lever which I have a pair of, but am only using the one here due to clearance issues on the fork which preclude my use of two brake calipers. The bag is also from Velo Orange and is the Burrito Supreme bag. I added an old Blackburn frame pump, a Lezyne light set, and boom! A fixed gear commuter! 

I've used it a few times now for commutes and for just bombing around the neighborhood because it is a ton of fun. I recommend everyone at least try a fixed gear bike once. If you are a cyclist, you owe it to yourself to have this experience. It is unlike riding anything else. Just remember: no coasting! 

Gravel Grinder News

News On Life Time's Grand Prix & SBT GRVL:

Next year's dates are starting to get announced now and first up we have news from Life Time Fitness concerning next year's Grand Prix. 

Life Time is tweaking their event schedule by turning the opener at Sea Otter into a gravel event which previously was one of three MTB events. To counter that Life Time has added a "Little Sugar" MTB event in Northwestern Arkansas as a compliment to the required Big Sugar gravel event which rounds out the season. The series will be a best five of six events to determine a Men's and Women's overall winner. 

The series is also cutting back on the field roster limit by 10 riders, reducing the field from a maximum of 35 allowed in 2024 to 25 in 2025. It was noted that this season Life Time only saw approximately 25 women and 30 men take multiple starts in the series so far, so this reduction may be a reflection of a lack of demand for spots in the series. 

SBT GRVL, the embattled event held in Routt County, Colorado, has made some major changes to comply with Routt County Commissioner's recommendations and demands stemming from complaints from the ranching community there. This coming year the event will move out of its traditional August date to a two-day June affair on June 28th and 29th. The first date will see a non-competitive "fondo" event for up to 1,800 riders. The following day a competitive event with a field limitation of 750 riders will be held on a 37-mile gravel circuit with a rolling enclosure for both Elite (3 laps) and Amateur riders (2 laps) South of Hayden, Colorado. The dates were moved to avoid overlapping with Routt County haying season. 

Comments: I've noted small fields in Pro level events the last two years in the USA and seeing a reduction in the roster limit for Grand Prix events is no surprise then. It will be interesting to see if SBT GRVL has anywhere near 750 elite athletes showing up. The June date also is an interesting choice coming only approximately three weeks after Unbound and during peak Sun period for a high elevation event. 

What all this portends will be watched as the cycling industry, rightly or wrongly, bases its "barometer" of how things are going off of Pro racing and because gravel is the hot category now, that is where the focus is. 

Have a great weekend! Ride those bikes and peep some leaves!

No-Coast: First Ride Update

The new Shogun 1000 fixed gear bike has been ridden now. I have some thoughts on this bike and I will get to those in a bit here. First I wanted to cover my initial set up of the bike. Much of the basics were shared in Thursday's post which you can see HERE. But I did add a couple of things which I wanted to talk about. 

I needed to add some repair gear, just in case, so I decided on the Velo Orange Burrito Supreme handlebar bag. That worked great as I utilized the stock headset mounted reflector as a sort of decaleur. Then I found one of my frame pumps that fit and I was set with the repair stuff. I pumped the tires to slightly above 40psi and off I went. 

My first impression is that old school hoods and levers are really skinny! I'm not sure those levers will last long here. More substantive levers have a much more ergonomic feel and make you want to ride. Then there is the traditional bend handle bar with zero flare. Ach! I really don't like that. My mind was immediately looking for a Midge Bar to appear on the front of this bike! So, I may be doing some switching up on stem/handle bar/lever combos in the near future. I know this may mess with the classic look, but I have to want to ride this bike and these current components are not lending themselves to this goal.

The fork must have a pretty short offset as I have to back my foot up on the pedal to prevent toe overlap. Not a really big deal there, but it is annoying. I suppose I could find some shorter cranks or a fork with more offset. 

The Brooks Professional is what I expected. Nice and comfortable! When it breaks in to my anatomy it should feel awesome. I may have to tip the peak up more on it, but it is darn close to where it needs to be right now. 

The brake pads are original to the bike with embossed "Shimano" logo on the aluminum brake block holders. I hate to get rid of them but in typical Shimano fashion, the pads are like bricks and there is zero modulation due to that. With only one working brake, I may need to compromise there. 

I haven't ridden far on tires this skinny in a long, long time, so that was a bit of an eye-opener. I will say that 40psi is about the maximum I'd pump these 700 X 32mm Pasela tires up to because I still could feel every sidewalk crack I rode over at that pressure. 

I picked up right where I had left off with fixed gear riding. However; I went pretty slow and steady on this bike to get acquainted with everything which was going on with it. The wheel base is short, so I had the back end come up when I dropped into a grassy field. A longer wheel base would have helped to keep the bike planted there. The skinny tires were barely hanging in there on the descent down the dike, which I took at an angle. I could hear the tires cutting the grass in places when my weight pressed the tires down into the brown grasses. The term "pizza cutter" came to mind. 

The bumpy grass field exposed the short wheel base in the form of a pretty rough ride. I was happy to get off that bit, but the bike did handle it just fine, considering what I had to work with. The 39T X 20T gearing, close to 2 to 1, was about right for this bike, I think. I could climb and start from a stop without feeling like I was going to pop a knee cap or something. 

I finished off the ride by cruising some alleys and back streets. Then I headed back to the house to consider my ride and what I might want to do from this point. 

My first order of business will be to address the handle bar and stem. I think if I can get a slightly longer stem and maybe add a stem with a bit more height,(this current stem is set to maximum height already), maybe that might work. I also have a stem insert with which I could then utilize any threadless style stem I choose which opens up a lot of handle bar choices. That may take away from the classic look, but make the bike feel much better. 

But after some time on the bike on other short commutes since this first ride I came upon an idea which I am pretty sold on. A mustache bar! I'll try to source one soon. I think that would really be ideal on this bike. 

If all that went well enough and I grew to like this bike a lot, then I might look for shorter cranks to alleviate the toe overlap. As it stands, if I scoot my foot back so my toes barely overhang the fronts of the pedals I am okay. But I'd rather not ride with my feet so far back on the pedals if I can have that option. I'm not too worried about this as the bike will not be ridden longer distances at this point. 

So this is where I am at with the bike so far. I think it has potential, but I do wish it had fatter tires, a longer wheel base, and a bit higher stack height. If something else comes along that fits this bill, well, we'd see what might happen then. But for now? I think this might just work out okay for a while.

No-Coast: A New Experiment Begins

The next fixed gear bike trial starts now.

 Last May I wrote about making my Black Mountain Cycles Monstercross (Orange Crush) a fixed gear bike. I ended up binning that idea, but the dream of having another fixed gear bike did not go away. 

In fact, when I went to Chicago in August to visit Ari I mentioned that I was still wanting a fixed gear bike to ride. Since then, I've been keeping my eyes peeled for a good deal on a road frame that would make a good fixed gear candidate. 

It had to have horizontal drop outs for obvious reasons. You have to be able to tension that chain properly! I also wanted an older, steel bike which would more than likely have room for bigger tires. Any racing bike from about 1990 on would probably have room for 25mm tires at best. That's too skinny for me! 

Of course, the frame had to fit me. That meant a 58cm bike, but something close that was good might be workable. I wanted a road bike due to the less crazy geometry which modern day track bikes have. I prefer a lower bottom bracket , slacker angles, a longer wheel base, and the classic looks of a steel road bike. So, a track bike was out. Well.....unless it was a really old one! But that was not likely to be affordable for me. That was the final part - the bike had to be insanely affordable. I already have too many bicycles, so adding another one had to make sense somehow. Spending any amount would be too much, but over a hundred? Out of the question. 

So, one day we got a donation at the collective. An old road bike, nearly complete, and little used by the looks of it. 1980's vintage, most likely judging by the Shimano 600 component group. It looked like it might fit. The seat tube measured 60cm, a hair too big, but the top tube measured out at 55cm!? Who does that? Well, Shogun did, apparently. Anyway, I decided to get the bike since we would have scrapped it out anyway. It is too old and outdated to get anyone's interest, and we can hardly give away a road bike at the Collective. 

I had converted another fixed gear bike earlier in the year to a coaster, and the wheel set I had saved for such a project. Since this Shogun 1000 was an older road bike, the rear spacing was 126mm and I only had to add a couple of threaded spacers to each side of the 120mm spaced fixed gear wheel to accommodate the Shogun. 

The wheel has a flip-flop, fixed/fixed hub, which has two differently sized cogs one tooth off from each other. I set the bike up using the larger of the two cogs so when I go to the smaller cog it will make the wheel base a tad longer. But I doubt I'll swap it around at this point. I may change that to a slightly bigger cog for an even lower ratio, but we will see. That's waaaay down the road yet! 

I removed the two derailleurs, the shifters, and derailleur cables. I mounted the wheels, which have Panaracer Pasela 700 X 32mm tires on them, and aired up the tires to 40psi. The wheels spun! There was clearance, but not much! However; after a short ride. I was hearing some tire scraping something giving me that tell-tale high pitched whine. I stopped and looked, but could see nothing. Then I figured it out. The act of riding compressed the wheel enough that the tire was kissing the bottom of the front brake. 

With no front brake there is plenty of clearance for the 32mm tire.

So, I had to remove the front brake and I was able to leave the rear brake which has plenty of clearance. So, one brake should be fine. 

The bike appeared to be little used so the components left, like the bottom bracket and headset, appear to be fine. Also, as stated, these are all Shimano components and are well made being from the 600 group. Yes - this is the group with the fluted head set lock nut. I happen to have the wrench for it too! 

I can barely stand over the frame, but with its short top tube it seems a little cramped. I may have to look for a slightly longer stem. It has about a 90mm or 100mm at most on there. I doubt I'll find a seat post with more offset since it is a 26.6mm diameter.

You can see where the tire was rubbing the front brake

So, due to that the cockpit seems a bit cramped and maybe a tad too low and forward. That's common with many road bikes of this era. The Shogun is less that than some I've tried, and the slightly lower bottom bracket than some bikes I've tried helps here. 

I took the stock Shimano 600 pedals off and screwed in some flats. I removed the front brake and wire, the stock chain, (replaced with a cheapo Bell single speed 1 1/8th pitch chain. Gold in color though!) and I removed the outer 53T ring on the crankset. Otherwise the bike is stock. 

The Brooks Professional with big copper rivets was on it and in excellent condition. I left that on, naturally. I've ridden it all of a mile, so it will take some time to break it in. 

Okay, so that's the build and the story behind the bike. Now what? Well, I have to ride it some all over town to see what I might want changed, if anything, and whether or not this will work. I liked my old Raleigh Grand Prix fixed gear bike a lot, but I had a really sketchy rear wheel, a somewhat suspect front wheel, and it was flexy! I eventually scrapped that bike at the Collective a couple years ago, I think. This Shogun 1000 is Tange "2" double butted CroMo, so it stands to reason that it should be a bit stouter frame than the Raleigh had. 

The finish on the bike looks excellent for a bike that is likely 41 years old. (Based on the Shimano 600 components) The lugs are well executed and the head tube is painted in a complimentary color. The decals are not clear-coated, and it is also likely this was wet-painted and not powder coated. I barely wiped the frame off just to knock off a layer of dust and it looks magnificent. It should polish up well. 

But all that is a moot point if, like the Gravel Mutt v3 from last year, it doesn't fit or ride well. So, I have a plan to cruise the local bike paths and see what I think. If it is a failure I'm not out much money or time. In fact, the Brooks saddle makes it worth while right there. But if it does work out?  I'll have a fun fixed gear bike to run errands on, commute with, and just bomb around on anytime I need a fixed gear, well.....fix! 

Stay tuned....