Bikes for Cheap! Chapter 1. Fixed Gears R 4 poosies!

The cheapest and fastest bike to build for under $300 is a fixed gear. Of course you can go to Ebay or Bikesdirect.com and get a Windsor "The Hour" track bike for about $300, so if you don't want the fun of building one yourself, this may be the way to go. The components and frame are nothing special, but it'll get you around.

Yawn.

So if you decide to build your own, the first thing you need to find is a frame. This can actually be one of the cheapest parts of your build, if you do some legwork. Check Craigslist and the local DI for the cheapest finds. I've found bikes for $12-$15. The Bike Collective ( http://www.slcbikecollective.org ) is also a great place to find older road bikes, though they are in pretty high demand and go quickly. The Bike Collective is also, of course, the best place to go to find the parts and help you will need. Another option is Ebay, you can find decent old frames for pretty cheap, but there is always a $50-$75 shipping fee tacked on. If you're going a little more upmarket, you can get a track frame from Leader or Fetish on Ebay for $150-$200, or a NYC bike track frame for about that much. If you're looking to stay low-budget though, an old road frame is your best bet.
Things to look for:

*Three-piece crank. (one with removable crankarms) A bike with one-piece cranks (think BMX type) is usually not worth dealing with.

*Horizontal dropouts

This is very important, because it will allow you to move the wheel back and properly tension the chain. Most older road bikes have this style, but there are some that don't.

*700CC wheels. These are the standard road and track size, but there are a lot of bikes out there with 27" wheels. Look at the tire, it will give you a measurement like 700x28. If you do find a good bike with 27" wheels, it can still be used with 700CC wheels, but finding a brake will be more difficult.

*Decent fork- Forks are hard to find, make sure the one you are getting is straight, without much rust.

*Seatpost- Finding the right size seatpost can be a hassle too, try to find one with a good seatpost and bring some allen wrenches and an adjustable wrench to test the binder bolt on the seat tube. If you loosen the bolt and the seatpost won't move, it means that the post has probably seized in the frame, which can be nearly impossible to fix.

Don't worry about the wheels, you'll be replacing those anyway. Handlebars, pedals and seat preferences are very different, you might be able to use what it came with, but you'll probably end up upgrading these things.

Now that you've got your frame, the fun can begin. The first thing to do is to strip the frame down completely, the only exceptions being the bottom bracket and the headset IF they feel smooth and not gritty or clunky when you move them. I won't go into details about doing this, if you need help just go to the Bike Collective on Tuesday or Thursday nights and you'll find all the help and tools you need, you can volunteer your time in trade or pay $25 for a year membership. Pretty sweet deal.
You can also go to Sheldon Brown's website, http://www.sheldonbrown.com and find more information than you will ever use.

Now that you have everything stripped down, you should be left with just a bare frame and fork.


The first thing to do now is decide if you want to paint it or not. I'll assume you don't, since that would take another few pages. Now you need to obtain new wheels. At the Bike Collective, they have track wheels for $100 with a cog and lockring installed. This is the best deal you'll find anywhere. You can also find some reasonably priced at bicyclewheels.com, starting at about $110 without the cog and lockring.

You will now probably find that the spacing of your rear triangle is different than the wheel spacing. if the difference is slight, just throw the wheels on and tighen them down. Steel is flexible. If there is a significant difference, you may have to bend the frame. Ask for help on this one, it can be a little tricky and never try it with an aluminum frame.

They have tires and tubes at the Bike Collective, or you can always find cheap tires at bikenashbar.com, or performancebike.com etc.

Now that you've got the wheels, you need to figure out the crank. If you have a good crankset, you can just remove the chainrings and bolt on a 1/8" style chainring. These are a little harder to come by, but you'll need one to work with the track cog. You can also buy a 3-32" cog that will work with standard road chains and chainrings, it's a little cheaper that way but 1/8" is ideal for fixed gear bikes.

You will need a front brake, unless you plan on colliding with motor vehicles, pedestrians and traffic signs. The easiest and cheapes thing to do is to use the original front brake. You'll just need a new cable, and maybe some pads. You can use your original brake lever, or a cantilever brake lever from an old mountain bike.

Assuming you san still use your original stem and seatpost, you've just got to throw on a handlebar, seat, pedals and grips and you're good to go.


Here's a sample breakdown of prices;

Frame and fork- $50
Wheels- $100
Tires and Tubes- $30
Bar- $5
Brake parts-$10
Chain-$5
Grips-$10
Seat-$30
Chainring-$20-$30

Total-$270

This number might be higher or lower depending on which components you get, but it's a pretty good estimate.

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