First Fixie

[elfoam]

I enjoyed reading this thread, you've inspired me to post up my first fixie which oddly enough is also a Standish..!

[mitchj]

Cheers elfoam! Just had a look at your Standish - cool! Sounds like brakes wouldn't go astray...! My fixie has changed a bit - I just added a pic of it to the "Post your fixie pics" thread.

[elfoam]

How do you find those wheels?. I've been tempted by these deep fixie wheels so many times but the weight?. I haven't riden on an aero wheel, I've always been trying to use as light a tyre and wheel as possible. The new frame is a Standish also right? not just the badge?. I actually picked up a ladies Standish "3 Star" at the local tip shop the other day for $5, 1983 ish. All original, even has the Standish bell. It has these strange freewheeling cranks/bottom bracket and a fixed 5? Speed hub on the back. The bottom bracket makes the most amazing sound, much like a high end Shimano fishing real.. Very distinctive. Because the rear cog is always moving it can shift gears while you are rolling along not pedalling. The frame itself has a nice ring to the steel, its seemed tubing so technically nothing special but still has a note suggesting its nice and tight. Im pretty interested in the Standish bikes now. It seems like my fixie was originally one of this model. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mens-Vintage ... Sw5dNWmJTz" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; . That wont ever sell at that price but good to see how it would have been. It would have been stripped bare for the 600 gear and the frame sold off.

[elfoam]

Also this Standish Mixte has been on ebay a while now, it's quite cute http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Vintage-Stan ... SwLzdWSbgs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mitchj]

G'day elfoam; I don't tend to worry too much about weight, the bike weighs 10.5kg so I'm happy with that. I could've got lighter wheels, but these were only $50 ( 1/2 price from Reid) & I recon they're great!
Yep, another Standish frame. I stripped all the paint from the badge & stuck it back on.
I bought an old mixte a while ago that had the Shimano Front Freewheel System on it - I'd never seen one before. If you go to pages100/101 in the "You Beauty..." thread, in the "Retro Biking" section, there's some info on it there.
Not sure why, but I like mixte's - I've got 3 of them. I want to make one a single speed with a coaster brake one day, but that's another project for another day!
I also have a Standish 600EX with Arabesque running gear that I rescued from a junk pile & fixed up - beautiful bike. More on that & the mixte in my blog if your interested.

[dodgiebros]

Have you shortened the axle, bent the stays in and dished the wheel to suit?

[mitchj]

G'day dodgiebros; yeah mate, on the white frame I did need to bend the stays in a bit.
The original wheel I used was an old 10 speed one so I needed to re-dish it to get the rim centred. I think I used a shorter axle too, cant quite remember....
I did have to grind out the fork drop-outs on both bikes a bit when I put the Reid wheels on though - the front axel is the same diameter as the rear axel - wouldn't fit!

[elfoam]

hey mitch, I went and read your blog. Very entertaining, you had me hook for however long it took to read it all. I think you have more functional bikes that I have, I tend to ride a different one everyday where I can but I do favour the green Madison for some reason it's just the nicest one to ride so far. I have a pretty extensive garden myself, can't grow a veggie to save myself but have a lot of fruit trees.

[mitchj]

Cheers mate, glad you like it!
I like having a few bikes to choose from. At the moment I'm using my black shopping bike as my work bike - comfortable, easy to ride.
Nothing better than eating fruit from your own back yard!

[elfoam]

I bought two of the Reid flip flop fixie wheelsets during the sale. Front wheels are 1400grams on the smacker. Rears are 1750g!. Extraordinary lol. But in other news they are very very stiff for a cheap wheel, or any alloy wheel, they are wide, deep and I guess quite aero too and in the end thats pretty important. Best thing is they allow you to easily build a fixie. This afternoon I built a fixie mixte cyclocross with one set. I also managed to get a few Brev front wheels from pushies for 19$ each, highly bothered I didnt know about the clearance while they still had rears. I figured Id just rebuild one with a rear hub, untill I saw it was a sealed bearing velocity hub worth 80$:/. Great rim too straight as a lazer, Worlds better wheel than the Reid wheel but wasnt technically a cheap wheel just got them cheap. They weigh 1200g for the record. Anyway happy with the Reids too, least I have matching pairs. The mixte rides great I think.. At least it seemed so on my 100 metre test during pouring rain after I got the chain on. Steers how I want a bike to steer, that's 90% of the important stuff.