Beynon's First Build

>> Wednesday, 6 May 2009

'This is my first fixie build and a return to cycling after a number of years out of the saddle. Have bulit BMXs as a younger man and ridden a hard tail MTB for several years.

The frame was bought from ebay after about 2 months of searching for a fairly decent frame at reasonable money. After some research i believe it is from a Raleigh Pursuit 12 speed from the early 80's. Its a reynolds 501 frame, not the best but good enough! I stripped the bike to its bare frame, used 'green' Nitromors to strip the frame of its paint and removed the majority of the protruding metal work with a grinder then filled the resulting nasty bits with a smooth car body filler.

The frame was rubbed down with Scotchbrite pads before given 2 coats of Plasticote grey primer. After drying the frame was wet flatted then given 3 coats of Plasticote gloss black, then given 2 coats of Plasticote gloss protector.

Components:
- A new SRAM GXP30 track crank (Bought from Schmoos, Swansea)
- Chain is a Charge Mash item in black (Wiggle)
- Cog is a 17 tooth item bought from Schmoos (the only one they had in stock!),
- Wheels (Charge) were bought from Sion (originally sourced from the London Fixed Gear forum-cheers Sion) cos he couldnt afford them at the time that i was looking for alternatives.(green wasnt my first choice but i do luv em now!)
- Shimano Exage front brake with Dia Compe cable and Dia Compe Tech 99 straight brake lever (gay or not, its staying for the time being!) (Bought from Velosolo)
- SR Laprade 27.2mm Fluted Seatpost (Velosolo) with Charge spoon cromo rail saddle in black (Wiggle)
- Tyres are Vittoria Rubino 700c x 24, standard black (Wiggle)
- Current gear ratio 48 x 17 (17 skid patches)
- Drop bars (Charge bar tape in black) and current stem are from Sions pug.

Soon to add new quill stem and maybe new bars....oh and maybe a chrome finish head set. Then the process starts all over again with a new paint job, new
wheels.......:)'


fixed gear build components swansea wales
80's Raleigh Frame

fixed gear build components swansea wales
The all important Reynolds 501 sticker

fixed gear build components swansea wales
Nitromors doing all the hard work

fixed gear build components swansea wales
Plasticote black

fixed gear build components swansea wales
Sram s300 GXP cranks, charge wheel

fixed gear build components swansea wales
All done

fixed gear build components swansea wales
With a 747!

fixed gear build components swansea wales
First lesson learned!

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Sion's First Build

fixed gear build parts swansea wales
54cm Peugeot road

fixed gear build parts swansea wales
Nitromors Attack!

Photobucket
Socks, sandals, nitromors, perfect

fixed gear build parts swansea wales
This stuff is awesome

fixed gear build parts swansea wales
Beynon being a real man's man

fixed gear build parts swansea wales
Sion on spray duty

fixed gear build parts swansea wales
You know a good paint job when it glows

fixed gear build parts swansea wales
Velocity Deep V

fixed gear build parts swansea wales
The "can't wait to build it up" shot

fixed gear build parts swansea wales
Magic invisible chain

fixed gear build parts swansea wales
Completed, looks great!

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Metal!

>> Sunday, 3 May 2009

Had a good "trick session" on Saturday with Ric, Ev and JT. Everyone was trying the both legs on one side of the frame skids with not much steez. There were some leg over the bar skids from the other dudes but I'm still not happy about the slam I took on one the other week. I failed terribly at Keo spins, how the fluck do they work??? I've even frame by framed some on video but instead of the wheel coming off the ground all that happens is that my arse comes off the saddle, they are haaaaard!

Ev managed to snap a toe clip after going through all the effort of finding one of the nut, bolt and washer combos that held it together, luckily there was a handy metal recycling facility close at hand. Then later on I realised that I'd snapped one of the serrated spacer / nut things on my System Ex rear hub, quite a common problem apparently, I've replaced it with a track nut for now which is way wider but does the job.

broken metal toe clip fixie fixed gear swansea wales

broken metal toe clip fixie fixed gear

formula iro hub spacer nut snapped broken

formula iro hub spacer nut snapped broken

formula iro hub spacer nut snapped broken

Anyone up for some bike polo? Get in touch.

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Sweet Stunts down in SA1

>> Tuesday, 28 April 2009

Me and Evs blowing up the spot earlier today, booyaa! The Norwegian church really is the ultimate spot for fixie dudes in and around the Swansea area, ha!


Sweet Stunts on Fixies, Yo! from FixedGearWales on Vimeo.

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Sun Worksop Frame

>> Monday, 27 April 2009

I've been on the lookout for a 19" frame for a while cause my 21" is a tad too long for me. I've been scouring the paper and every week I've been calling into Re-Cycle in the hope that something will have been donated but no cigar. Until today. Turns out there has been a 19" frame there the whole time underneath a bunch of other frames, it's a Sun Worksop which as far as I can find was gobbled up by Raleigh, from Wikipedia: "In 1960, Tube Investments acquired Raleigh and merged the British Cycle Corporation with Raleigh to form TI-Raleigh which had 75% of the UK market. TI-Raleigh then acquired Carlton Cycles in Worksop, England, at the time one of the largest semi-custom lightweight makers in the U.K. Raleigh brands acquired and marketed were Phillips Cycles and Hercules Cycle, Rudge, BSA, and Sun, however these were cheaper machines in The TI-Raleigh range. Production was switched to Nottingham, however the Sun branded bicycles were made in the Carlton factory at Worksop, England."

It's nothing special but at least it will fit me and it's certainly better than the Apollo Challenger frame I'm using currently. Check it out:

sun worksop frame re-cycle swansea frame
It's pretty rusty but nothing a bit of sandpaper won't fix

sun worksop frame re-cycle swansea frame
Pretty cool headbadge

sun worksop frame re-cycle swansea frame
"Sweet lugs"

sun worksop frame re-cycle swansea frame
Pretty weird?

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Best Find Ever: Charity Shop Fixie

Today the unthinkable happened, Aled from Slam on the Breaks was walking past the back door of a charity shop, glanced in and to his amazement he spotted a golden fixie and a Raleigh converted to a dirty singlespeed! He picked up the pair for TWELVE QUID which not only makes me sick to the stomach but also to my socks. It's a bit (way) too big for him but he's gonna give the fixie a bash and he donated the other to Re-Cycle. So, Aled, welcome to the bestest gang in the world.

aled simmons slam on the breaks chairty shop fixed gear

aled simmons slam on the breaks chairty shop fixed gear

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Fixies Suck! (Upcoming DVD Releases)

>> Saturday, 25 April 2009

I just found this on Facebook. November 21st last year I remember watching the Council of Doom trailer that Ev posted and genuinely thinking that it was the crappiest, most 'gay' thing I'd ever seen.

council of doom dvd buy uk

But according to this picture just 13 days later I had bought myself a fixed back wheel, God knows how that happened but I'm pretty chuffed that it did :-)

mach 1 omega fixed gear wheel schmoos swansea

On a separate note Council of Doom, Macaframa and Bootleg Sessions 3 should all be available very very soon, yeeha!

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