Rat Rod said he would like to try building a "fixie" sometime, so I bought him a cheap road bike the other day to use for his build.
I was thinking about Multipass' article about building a fixie and Multipass mentioned that you needed a "track" cog to replace the rear freewheel cog set on the bike - and that the track cog was the highest priced part of his project - costing more than the bike itself.
I haven't taken apart a rear freewheel cog set so I have no idea how they work or how they come apart, but it seems to me that some part has to be fixed to the rear axle and the cog set has to rotate around that part and catch in one direction but freewheel in the other.
So it seems like you should be able to find where those two parts come together and tack weld them or something so that it can no longer freewheel - making it "fixed".
If you could do that, then you could just use the freewheel cog set that was already on the bike and pick whichever cog you wanted to use to get the gearing how you wanted it - or to end up with the proper chain alignment - and you would then be good to go.
So maybe one of you experienced bike guys who's had tons of freewheel cog sets apart could say whether that is doable or not. If so, it would make for a super cheap "fixie" and save the trouble of buying a track cog.
I was thinking about Multipass' article about building a fixie and Multipass mentioned that you needed a "track" cog to replace the rear freewheel cog set on the bike - and that the track cog was the highest priced part of his project - costing more than the bike itself.
I haven't taken apart a rear freewheel cog set so I have no idea how they work or how they come apart, but it seems to me that some part has to be fixed to the rear axle and the cog set has to rotate around that part and catch in one direction but freewheel in the other.
So it seems like you should be able to find where those two parts come together and tack weld them or something so that it can no longer freewheel - making it "fixed".
If you could do that, then you could just use the freewheel cog set that was already on the bike and pick whichever cog you wanted to use to get the gearing how you wanted it - or to end up with the proper chain alignment - and you would then be good to go.
So maybe one of you experienced bike guys who's had tons of freewheel cog sets apart could say whether that is doable or not. If so, it would make for a super cheap "fixie" and save the trouble of buying a track cog.
The bike I used was $10 at a garage sale, making it the cheapest part of my fixie build LOL. Just about everything I've put on the bike since then has cost as much, or more than the original bike. My cheapo Canadian Tire replacement chain cost more than the original bike :roll: 
