Madness I know
A fixed gear bike is one where the rear cog has no freewheel. You have one gear and you can not coast - while the wheels are turning, so are the cranks
A track bike is such a beast, but in this case my Europa has been built as a road bike. And here she is:
Look mum, only one gear
For this conversion, all I've done is remove all the 'geary bits', spun off the old cassette (well, destroyed the rotten thing, it didn't want to come loose under normal provocation), screwed on a track cog (3/32 dura ace - you can't use the 1/8 cogs usually fitted on track bikes here), shortened the chain and away I went.
Total cost - $35.
I was lucky. It's not unusual to have to redish the rear wheel to get the chain line right. In my case though, all I needed to do was add a 1/16" spacer to get a perfect chain line.
Pity really, I was looking forward to redishing the wheel 
No locking ring added - a road hub doesn't have provision for a reverse thread locking ring (like a track hub) and there aren't enough threads on the hub for a same thread locking ring. So I'm living without one but, despite what the Americans will tell you, local mechanics and a local rider of such a weapon don't believe I'll have a problem, particularly seeing I'll be using brakes rather than relying on my legs to slow down.
But what's it like to ride?
I've done 8km on her - the first ride - and man is it an intense workout. Completely different to riding a geared bike and just as different to riding a track bike around a velodrome (which I have done).
Firstly, you can not coast, at any time, for any reason. This becomes obvious when you first try to take off and find the pedal is at the bottom of the stroke - you can't just back pedal to bring the pedal around to a good starting position so, lift the bike by the seat, turn the wheel and then set off. Easy. But now you've got to get the other foot into the toe clip, a toe clip that is constantly moving. You can't just coast, tap it with your toe and slide your foot in. Mucho funo. I do need to buy some clipless pedals for her, mine are in use on other bikes, but that'll be just as much fun.
Okay, slowing down, can't coast again, not a problem, but when was the last time you pedalled INTO a roundabout full of traffic?
The trade off is though, once I've learned the skills, I'll have far greater bike control than you can have with a freewheel bike.
Then there are the hills. If it gets steep, you just have to mash away at them pedals. Coming up the last hill towards home, I was so stuffed that all I wanted was to rest but couldn't - to get that rest, I had to stand and sprint, then use the momentum to give me a couple of strokes rest.
And going down hills. Man I must have hit some fun revs - recorded max of 40km/hr - I've still to work out what my cadence was but I can assure you, I wasn't trying to go fast but my legs had no choice.
8 km with no rest, just constant effort. I was stuffed. Far harder than pushing hard on a geared bike over the same course for the same distance (it's one of my standard 'test' routes) - for the first time in months I was coughing phlegm.
So there she is, the old green girl starts her new career.
Richard
