I am assuming that panasonic is not yours… cuz if it was, youd already have that brake… And that you’ve probably done some planning on this.
I would think touring SS on a conversion or something a lil more comfortable would work out a lot better than touring on a track bike. Then again I’ve never done it. I’d also worry about a lot of other upgrades, like a saddle that won’t murder your taint, how to carry shit considering you probably don’t have a way to mount a rack. the seatpost mounted ones arent very sturdy… and carrying a load on your back for very many miles will get painful fast.
How do you figure I’m going to hate this trip? I’m not on any kind of time schedule, I can do 100 miles a day or I can do 10 miles a day. I’ll probably spend a lot of time in each city I pass through to check it out and rest up. I am going to have two different sized cogs for uphills and descents, and pack extremely minimalist. I’ve been preparing for this trip for a while now, and even still, yes I might hate it and decide to get a geared bike after the first day. I’ve been talking to the guy who did this: Tour by fixed-gear bicycle and he hasn’t mentioned once how doing it fixed is retarded.
[quote=aeroboobs]I am assuming that panasonic is not yours… cuz if it was, youd already have that brake… And that you’ve probably done some planning on this.
I would think touring SS on a conversion or something a lil more comfortable would work out a lot better than touring on a track bike. Then again I’ve never done it. I’d also worry about a lot of other upgrades, like a saddle that won’t murder your taint, how to carry shit considering you probably don’t have a way to mount a rack. the seatpost mounted ones arent very sturdy… and carrying a load on your back for very many miles will get painful fast.
Are you going alone? camping at night?[/quote]
Yeah I’ve been thinking about all that stuff for months now. I will have a way to mount a rack with P-clips, and don’t plan on carrying anything on my back. I’ll have two panniers and a handlebar bag. I also will be sure to get a saddle that won’t murder my taint. I’ve been constantly getting advice from the guy who I linked in my last post, I’m pretty sure I’ll be covered in terms of equipment. Also, yeah I’m going alone, but a few friends might join me on certain legs of the trip. And yeah I will have a tent to camp each night.
[quote=kowloon]you COULD row a boat across the Pacific, theoretically
you COULD eat an entire car
you COULD ride a track bike from Van to SD
but all three things are stupid and you will be miserable.
use the right tool for the job.
motorboat, jar of dicks, touring bike (or at least something with gears, or at least a bike that can coast)[/quote]
Yeah well I also could fly or bus to san diego, but i’d rather bike. And I could also get a bike that coasts, but I’d rather do it fixed. I didn’t start this thread to ask whether or not I should do it fixed.
[quote=jeffecation][quote=kowloon]you COULD row a boat across the Pacific, theoretically
you COULD eat an entire car
you COULD ride a track bike from Van to SD
but all three things are stupid and you will be miserable.
use the right tool for the job.
motorboat, jar of dicks, touring bike (or at least something with gears, or at least a bike that can coast)[/quote]
Yeah well I also could fly or bus to san diego, but i’d rather bike. And I could also get a bike that coasts, but I’d rather do it fixed. I didn’t start this thread to ask whether or not I should do it fixed.[/quote]
Wow. Well, I’d tell you to enjoy your trip, but that is pretty much an impossibility.
The short answer is that you started a thread on your first post. Nobody knows who you are or really gives a fuck why you started this thread. We do know that you’re a random dude on the Internet wanting to tour from Vancouver to San Diego on a fixed-gear bike. The chances of a random asshole from the Internet being able to pull that off are pretty fucking small. If you’re as well equipped as you claim, you really shouldn’t need an answer from us, nor should you really trust anyone but yourself when you’re about to embark on a 1400 mile bike trip. Perhaps you should do a little testing beforehand.
Harden the fuck up, do it, or don’t, then tell us about it afterwards.
[quote=barba]Go for it, but have a bail out plan ready. My guess is you are going to want it.
You are going to need a really small gear to make those hills with any weight on the bike, so be prepared for the downhills to be almost as painful as going up. I am not at all clear on how a track frame will handle with much weight on it. My guess is that it is going to be squirrely as hell. Make sure you take a longish loaded test ride before you do it for real.[/quote]
I’m going to have a fixed/fixed hub with a small gear on one side and a larger gear on the other. my dropouts are long enough to flip my wheel around without having to adjust the chain length, so that’s not something I’m too worried about. And I don’t plan on having much weight at all, but yeah I’ll be doing plenty of test rides.
WTF? Why do people believe this shit? If you need a brake and you’re scared of drilling your fork, maybe you have the wrong fork/bike for the job.
Touring fixed/SS with slack angles, a brooks, and clearance for fatties sounds fine to me. Manly even. Touring on a track bike seems a bit silly. 23s, bumpy roads, unpaved roads, really?
WTF? Why do people believe this shit? If you need a brake and you’re scared of drilling your fork, maybe you have the wrong fork/bike for the job.
[/quote]
I guess I am just assuming it’s something decent and vintage…seems ashame to drill the original fork…not that you can’t do it. If its nothing special drill away.
WTF? Why do people believe this shit? If you need a brake and you’re scared of drilling your fork, maybe you have the wrong fork/bike for the job.
[/quote]
I guess I am just assuming it’s something decent and vintage…seems ashame to drill the original fork…not that you can’t do it. If its nothing special drill away.[/quote]
If it’s a decent fork, why would you hesitate to drill it for a brake… if you need a brake? If it’s so special you don’t want to drill it, then maybe it’s not the right frame/fork for the job. That’s my point. Function over form, and all that. I realized that doesn’t get much traction 'round here though.
Why drill the fork when you can buy a clamp-on brake kit for $45 which will work equally well? In my case, the clamp on brake insures then I don’t devalue my classic track bike, nor do I potentially damage the thin crown on the track bike which was never intended to take the stresses of a brake. It alsos eliminate the margin of error when drilling
As for the “right tool for the job,” this is my race bike, and my only fixed-gear bike. I do winter training on it, and then the brake comes off in June and I go back to the velodrome. All of this is irrelevant though, because it’s my bike and I’ll ride it however the fuck I want.