Bought a used carbon fork off some guy on Craigslist thinking it'd save weight on my fixed gear build but the steerer tube was 10mm too short and now it's just sitting in my closet, anyone else ever buy parts without measuring first?
Bought a no-name chain whip off Amazon for my first cog swap and it bent like butter, had to wait a week for a proper Park Tool one - anyone else learn this lesson the hard way?
I was cruising down 3rd Ave near the Saturday Market and started noticing a trend. Out of maybe 15 bikes I saw, 8 were fixed gear builds and none of them had a front brake. One guy was skidding into a crosswalk with traffic coming. Another kid almost ate it on a wet manhole cover. I run a front brake on my build because I like having teeth. Has anyone else noticed more people ditching brakes around their city lately?
Was climbing a mild hill last week and suddenly my pedals spun free with no resistance. The cog had worked itself loose because I didn't torque it down enough after a wheel swap. Threaded it back on with a chain whip and lockring tool, anyone else had this happen with a new build?
Slid sideways through an intersection on my old knobbies, swapped to some cheap 28mm slicks for $25, and now I actually trust my bike when the streets get wet so has anyone else had that moment where a simple swap made you feel like a liar?
Saw this cheap chain whip on Amazon with decent reviews and figured it'd save me a few bucks. First cassette swap went fine, but when I tried to break loose a tight lockring on my buddy's track hub, the handle just bent in half. The metal was super thin and the pin holding it together popped right out. Anyone else have luck with the Park Tool chain whip or should I just stick to making my own from an old chain?
I swear every other bike I see at our Tuesday night alleycat in Austin has crank arms that look like they got attacked with an impact gun. I stripped a bolt on my old Sugino 75 crank because I cranked it down like I was torquing lug nuts on a fire truck. Use a 5mm hex key with just your fingers, no cheater bar, and you'll save yourself a headache. Anyone else notice folks going way too hard on hardware?
I used to run basic nylon toe straps on my stock pedals for about 3 years. Got tired of cinching them down every ride, especially in stop-and-go traffic around downtown Austin. Finally swapped to some used Shimano PD-M520s I found for $30 at a co-op. Has anyone else made this switch and regretted losing the ability to wear regular shoes?
Some old head at the Velodrome in Denver stopped me mid lap and said my chain was so loose it was gonna skip and throw me over the bars. He showed me how to check it by pressing down on the top run... should only move about half an inch. I had like 2 inches of play before. Tightened it up right there and my pedaling felt way more solid on the next ride. Has anyone else gotten roasted by a random fixie veteran and actually learned something?
I’ve been riding my fixed gear for about a year now and always thought the chain had to be super tight with almost no slack. Last week at the bike co-op in Portland a guy named Dave grabbed my rear wheel and was like 'dude, you’re gonna wreck your hub bearings with that tension.' He showed me how much play it should actually have, like half an inch up and down. Has anyone else been cranking their chain too tight thinking it was safer?
I built up an old 80s Panasonic frame with a cheap leader fixed hub and some random bars I had lying around. This morning I crossed 100 miles on the odometer without even noticing until I stopped for coffee. How many miles did your current build take before it felt broken in?
I rode bullhorns for 5 years because I thought drops were too road bike-ish, but 3 rides in now and I actually feel way more in control sprinting through stoplights. Anyone else take forever to try a basic setup change like that?
I was there last week dropping off an old wheel and he pointed to a beat up frame on the rack and said that's the weak spot on cheap steel frames, has anyone here actually had that happen to their build?
Overheard a guy at my local shop in Austin telling a new rider to just skid more to save brake pads. Bro, I skid maybe 3 times a day and my back wheel wore out in like 2 months. Who else thinks that advice ruins your tire way faster than it saves anything?
I spent two months fighting chain skip on my daily rider. Kept tweaking the dropouts, tried different chain lengths, nothing stuck. Finally a guy at the co-op told me to just run a half link instead. Picked one up for like 6 bucks. Now my wheel sits dead center in the frame and I haven't had a single skip in three weeks. Anyone else deal with this headache or am I the only one who overcomplicated it?
I was riding a flip-flop hub for like 6 months just to see if I'd miss the freewheel. Man, it was always loosening up on me no matter how much I tightened it. Last week I swapped to a proper fixed cog with a lockring tool I borrowed from a buddy in Chicago. The difference is NIGHT and DAY, my chainline is dead straight and I haven't had to touch it since. Has anyone else ditched the flip-flop setup and never looked back?