6G Celicas Forums

Not to bring this back from the dead but have any of you guys converted a bike to a fixed gear? I've been wanting to try a fixie for a while now but can't afford some of these nice new bikes, but could easily find an old road bike to make my winter project.

I've got an old schwinn crosscut converted, and it cost me well over what my Windsor was. The biggest problem is the rear dropout. fixed gears are generally track frames that have horizontal drop outs. this allows you to pull the wheel back to tighten the chain. with older road bikes they have vertical dropouts, because tension isn't kept at the cassette gears, but at the chain guide that hangs off of the frame. they have conversion kits, but they arent very effective.

i only spent 300 dollars on my brand new Windsor (list is 795) and you can get the same deal at www.bikesdirect.com

my schwinn conversion cost me somewhere in the range of 400-500. most of that was the wheelset and a new flip flop hub.

To bring this back from the dead, I've converted a few bikes recently. Like Matt said, the main cost is a new wheelset. I found nice wheelsets (Velocity Deep-V and Weinmann DP-18 rims laced to Formula hubs) on eBay for $140-180 and got a really nice Dura-Ace/Velocity wheelset locally for $130. The rest of the parts were sourced used from eBay or local bike shops for cheap.

Here are a couple of my conversions.





Matt, you have pictures of your conversion?

Somewhere. Presently it's in pieces in my garage, but i'll see if I can find some photos. If not I'll try to put it back together this weekend. Weather has been crappy and the tires on my Windsor don't like inclimate weather, so I haven't been riding much.

Sweet...have you modded the Windsor much since you got it?

Cheap mods if you will.

Dimenson bars
Dimension stem
Fizik bar tape


once it's not so crappy outside I am looking to put on some Gatorskin tires and a Suguino messenger crank. With the potential for moving to Seattle this summer I'll probably invest in a Tektro front brake setup.

i've been riding brakeless fixed for about 2 years.

some time ago i posted some pictures of my beat-up late-70's motobecane conversion in one of the "other rides" threads. i recently threw the wheels (electric blue deep-v's on surly track hubs, built by yours truly) and some other parts on an old raleigh supercourse frame that i got off craigslist.

if i don't go broke trying to fix my stupid celica, i'm probably going to buy a steamroller soon...since riding a suicide fork and 30 year old brazed frames gives me the heebie jeebies.