Single Speed Road Bikes

[Xavier]

The Road Bike has quite a few advantages. It's light, and the narrow tires roll very easily. The riding position can be aggressive with drop bars, or upright with North road type bars. A Road Bike's problem is it's complicated.

I can see the allure of a fixie's simplicity, but frankly, my knees can't take the abuse from skidding a fix. Not to mention it's sometimes great to just coast. Putting a front brake on a fixie just complicates the bike to me.

So, I tried a different approach.

I laced a coaster brake into the rear wheel, put a single speed chainwheel on with a 1/8 inch chain, and got rid of all the cables and complexity. It worked so well I built three. Here they are.

Raleigh Grand Prix

Armstrong

Raleigh Super Sport

The result was a quick, easily rideable bike that was about as complex as a spoon.

 

[Xavier]

Here are some of the little touches that we all enjoy................

 

[duct-tape]

nice details. what crank is that?

 

[Xavier]

It's a cottered crank off a Rudge three speed. The hand represents the red hand of the Irish Gaels of Ulster.

 

[Boardtrack fan]

Cool bikes! I'm rethinking the fixie thing as well. I find myself sore in places I didn't know could get sore, only for me it was my hips. Maybe I'm just to old for this sort of thing! I converted one of my bikes to a single speed with a front brake for now.

 

[sensor]

great job on the reflector bracket :mrgreen:

 

[ZAMN]

Love the shellaced cork grips... thinking about doing that to my current bike build as well. Are they comfortable like that? And is that an old spoon or something attached to the reflector :shock: ! Thats kinda cool!

 

[Xavier]

Yes, the reflector bracket is an old silver spoon. I liked the contrast between the rough bike and the refined spoon.

The cork grips are marginally more comfortable than the Hunt-Wilde rubber type grips. They are nothing to brag about, just a different style. For comfort I would go with leather covered foam.

 

[TheFlyingDingo]

Yes, the reflector bracket is an old silver spoon. I liked the contrast between the rough bike and the refined spoon.

The cork grips are marginally more comfortable than the Hunt-Wilde rubber type grips. They are nothing to brag about, just a different style. For comfort I would go with leather covered foam.

i really liked the silver spoon thing
who came up with that?

 

[Xavier]

i really liked the silver spoon thing
who came up with that?

I did. I just got tired of the brass strips I was using for reflector brackets. The Armstrong needed something more.

 

[OUTLAW]

great bikes. nice job on all.

Outlaw :mrgreen:

 

[BLASTER]

The hand represents the red hand of the Irish Gaels of Ulster.

KOOL!
I love it.
I may have to steal your spoon idea one day.
Clever. 8)

 

[user 135]

Cool bikes. Makes alot of sense. I have seen those posted before at ratemybicycle

 

[Bunbury]

Nice work! I had a similar Armstrong three-speed as a kid, and I recently helped a friend restore this one.

 

[armandgil]

Great minds think alike! :lol: I had the same but smaller Raleigh Grand Prix and wanted to go fixed but I tore my left ACL last year and didn't think it would be such a good idea. I used 26" wheels though. Nice bikes!