My New Vintage-Style Fixed Gear

 I just finished building this up, a few minutes ago, and took it for a test ride around the block.  Yesterday, I painted it, and pretty much put it together.  Today, I cabled the brakes and installed tubes in the tires.

It started life as a red 1988 or '89 red RockHopper, that I built up into one of my favorite fixed gear commuter bikes, a couple of years ago.  Then, I modified the frame, and painted it Army Green and turned it into a 26" flip-flop fixie-singlespeed  for Brad.

He, in turn, artificially aged it to resemble a "barn find".  Then, after acquiring a couple more bikes, Brad decided that he had too many, and the "barn find" came back to me.

It's been back for quite a while, now.  A couple of weeks ago, I pulled it out of the storage shed and put it in the shop building, and waited for inspiration.  Yesterday, I felt the need to build up a bike.

I really like the look and concept of the Pashley Guvnor, but $1400 for a singlespeed bike seems a bit steep to me.  So, I decided to go with 700c wheels and white tires to emulate the feel of the Brit Bike.

I used a 700c cross fork that I had lying about, so that the cantilever brakes would line up with the rim.

For a rear brake, I had to drill the bridge (these old RockHoppers had a threaded insert on the bottom of the bridge, rather than a hole through the tube) and then installed a Superbe caliper which was in the parts stash.

The handlebars are inverted Huffy 3-speed bars (Wald Tourist Bars), with the grips that Brad made for it.

I used my extra pair of 29er wheels, with a bolt-on Tomi Cog.  This gives me the option of running the bike as a singlespeed, with the addition of a cog on the freehub side, and I'm hoping the rims will hold up better than some have for me.  It's currently geared 45/18, which seems to work for me.

Now, I have to decide if I want to put a rack and fenders on it, and commute with it, or just use it as a "fun bike" (for which I already have the Orange Peugeot).  Decisions...decisions...

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