Kabuki le10 - roadie to fixie

[Ryan-F]

Hey hey,

Got myself a knackered kabuki road bike, the sticker that remains says le10. To be honest I got it because it was dirt cheap and had a sweet badge haha. Perfect reasons to make it into a fixed gear.

[Ryan-F]

Need advice on a few things..

Crank and wheels? New stuff but nothing super expensive

Should I give it a new headset? If so how do I get the right one?

Is the loose bearing bottom bracket correct? The bearing cups seem odd how they're the same either side.

Best/easiest ways of stripping the paint back? Paint stripper, sand or soda blast?

[minhyy]

Cool head badge indeed

my recommended fastest upgrade path:

1. cartridge bottom bracket and compatible crankset

2. flip flop wheelset. your frame's rear spacing should be 120mm, the same as fixie wheels

3. unsure if your front fork takes nutted or recessed brakes, so find suitable front brake. or not

4. replace the headset with a cheap $20 one with actual adjustable races

5. chain and cogs. 17 or 19t for even tire wear if skidding

6. foot retention. probably don't skimp out on this. bmx platforms and big strap / track pedals with toeclips and straps or your favourite clipless system

[slidetaker]

Love the badge, but worry about the paint later.
I suggest buying good parts and just bolt them on and see how it rides. This let you upgrade to at least a Cro-Mo frame later, easily and cheaply.

Hi-Ten rides like a tank. Personally, I won't spend any time or money on them.

[HLC]

You should not spend a cent on this really. You will spend a decent amount of coin and realise that old road bikes do not make great fixies.

If you are really keen on doing some wrenching, buy yourself a brand new Cell fixie for about $200 or whatever they go for now. Swap all the parts on to this, and see how it rides. Then you when you decide that you don't like it, you can swap all the parts back onto the cell frame and enjoy!

[Ryan-F]

Cool head badge indeed

my recommended fastest upgrade path:

1. cartridge bottom bracket and compatible crankset

2. flip flop wheelset. your frame's rear spacing should be 120mm, the same as fixie wheels

3. unsure if your front fork takes nutted or recessed brakes, so find suitable front brake. or not

4. replace the headset with a cheap $20 one with actual adjustable races

5. chain and cogs. 17 or 19t for even tire wear if skidding

6. foot retention. probably don't skimp out on this. bmx platforms and big strap / track pedals with toeclips and straps or your favourite clipless system

Hey minhyy thanks heaps for the help!
Will the markings on my old bb bearings give me the info needed to get a cartridge to fit?
I've got some wheels i'm eyeing off i'll put in a link to them soon.
I think I will tidy up the old set of front brakes and see how they go, possibly get good enough at skidding to go without.. if I have the guts.
What are adjustable races on the headset? Ive found a set on ebay for $15, but I still need to confirm that the thread and size will suit.
When I buy a rear wheel off the internet will they give me a choice of cog or is their a standard one?
I'm thinking of getting a set of motopedals these german flat pedals, they seem to be pretty unique

[Ryan-F]

Love the badge, but worry about the paint later.
I suggest buying good parts and just bolt them on and see how it rides. This let you upgrade to at least a Cro-Mo frame later, easily and cheaply.

Hi-Ten rides like a tank. Personally, I won't spend any time or money on them.

Cheers for the advice slidetaker!
I'll put a link to the bits and pieces i've found so far. What older bike brands have cro-mo frames? A cro-mo will definitely be my next and more serious build the frame at the moment seems to be pretty light.. how much heavier would a hi-ten be to cro-mo? And is it purely the extra weight of the bike that makes them ride like a tank?

[Ryan-F]

You should not spend a cent on this really. You will spend a decent amount of coin and realise that old road bikes do not make great fixies.

If you are really keen on doing some wrenching, buy yourself a brand new Cell fixie for about $200 or whatever they go for now. Swap all the parts on to this, and see how it rides. Then you when you decide that you don't like it, you can swap all the parts back onto the cell frame and enjoy!

hey hlc
Not one cent? Bit harsh haha. Is it just the extra weight factor that doesn't make them any good? My thinking is if everything is new apart from the frame, bars and seat post.. how could it be bad?
I scored a cell type fixie for $25 a last year and have been riding my local velodrome. Seems to be a good bike, have nothing to compare it to but it rides well.
I've always preferred older bikes to new..just knowing they've lasted as long as they already have, the style and I prefer quill handlebar stems. This bike will be for cruising about not racing or anything too serious. Mostly just being able to build it myself

[Ryan-F]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1-Threaded-F ... SwzJ5XVkpG

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Sugino-Track ... SwtJZXV84e

http://www.brownjersey.com.au/shop/products/show/id/161

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/700c-Fixie-S ... SwqBJXV9ps

http://www.motobicycles.com/artikeldeta ... -blue.html

[Mulger bill]

Yeah, about those pedals...
If you're gonna ride fixed you'll need foot retention of some kind, don't look like they can manage it

[Ryan-F]

Yeah, about those pedals...
If you're gonna ride fixed you'll need foot retention of some kind, don't look like they can manage it

There's an option of straps if you check em out a lil futher. Haven't needed straps on my other fixed gear either tho to be honest. Is it just so you you can pull the pedal up for more go?

[minhyy]

Well, my advice is applied assuming you want to stick with that particular.. like the others I agree with them that it's not a particularly good bike by any stretch of the imagination, it's essentially the equivalent of a bike you'd get from Kmart or Big W etc

The bottom bracket will usually either be English or Italian threaded, more likely the former. If you measure the width of the BB shell, 68mm will generally suggest its an English threaded one.

Find a headset that looks like this


You have to look into the right cup size for the headset and crown race diameter etc etc.. probably more trouble than it's worth for this bike if the current headset seems usable enough.

We have advised against too much $ input into this bike as Hi-Ten road bikes do not exhibit particularly enjoyable ride characteristics due to their weight and geometry, and if you were going to put a deep-dish rear wheel with a propeller style front wheel, you will have a bike tipping at least 12kg and that will make your fixed gear experience dreadful.

Cogs are usually sold separately to wheels, but some lower-end wheels may come with a 16t cog and freewheel attached. Cogs and chainrings as you know adjust your gearing.

This is a bike I used to own that has a pretty similar frame to yours, as it is made of Hi-ten and weighed heaps:



It was a fun bike, sure, but it was holding me back at every hill and every pedal stroke was a battle.

Looking at the items you've linked - if you are prepared to spend that sort of money on arguably superfluous parts, I would suggest buying the Cell fixie like HLC suggested or even looking for a vintage track bike with the correct geometry for riding fixed.

here's my street fixie as an example - it's an early 80s Australian built frame made of Reynolds 531 tubing (pretty much the gold standard of CroMo tubing, fancier varieties do exist of course) and built up with a mix of NJS (Japanese track certification) and street-friendly parts. It ran me for about $400 by the time I was done repainting and sourcing some of the parts. Your money would be better spent doing something similar



Definitely use good foot retention as it helps you control the bike so much better. You don't want to be barrelling down a hill at 60km/h and hit a speed bump with your feet off the pedals (as an extreme example). It also helps you have more efficient pedalling rather than only getting speed through the down push. Also, better skids.

hope that helps /2c

[slidetaker]

Love the badge, but worry about the paint later.
I suggest buying good parts and just bolt.....y on them.

Cheers for the advice slidetaker!
I'll put a link to the bits and pieces i've found so far. What older bike brands have cro-mo frames? A cro-mo will definitely be my next and more serious build the frame at the moment seems to be pretty light.. how much heavier would a hi-ten be to cro-mo? And is it purely the extra weight of the bike that makes them ride like a tank?

Hi-Ten is a weaker steel. Tubes need to be thicker to yield the same strength as another Cro-mo bike. Thick tubes reduce flexibility and the amount of “give” you would experience from Cro-mo bike. They are considerably heavier. I once measured a Hi-Ten 52cm frame the same weight as a 58cm Cro-mo bike.

Couple of kg of bike weight is irrelevant if you are feeling great and just cruising around, but if you are a commuter, who is feeling tired at the end of the day and wanting to get home fast, you will be glad to ride a lighter bike.

Your bike parts look groovy. Just giving you another angle, with a total sum of around $300 of parts, you can go to fleabay now and buy a second hand steel bike. The bike will be higher quality, faster, lighter, more comfortable, more adjustable with higher resale value than the kabuki with the parts.

[elfoam]

Hi mate I wouldn't have any concerns about it being hi ten steel. The truth is the majority of 80s road bikes that were "chromoly" were at least partly hi ten tubing. Also you never know how good the steel is by a sticker. Some hi ten frames are better than some cromoly frames etc as far as weight goes let alone how they ride. The most recent fixieI built (actually it's single speed with hub brake) is a Malvern star, its not cromoly but standard hi ten and not only that it's almost got roadster geometry. It's even got steel wheels.. heavy tyres and a steel head stem . But you know what? it rides great, you wouldn't know it weighs 12 kilos. That bike cost me exactly 20 dollars to build including buying the bike for 10 dollars and a donor ladys bike for 5 dollars :p. I reccomend you find a donor bike for parts and see how it rides, if it rides good then get better parts. If it rides bad change frames until it rides good and then get better parts . I would consider converting a Reynolds steel frame as a fixie a big waste of a race frame when the cruiser style bikes make much better single speeds.