When I was a teenager and before I could afford a ten speed, I rode an old green Raleigh 3 speed that I stripped down and put ten speed wheels on with the chain in the center of the 5 speed sprocket. Removing the brakes, shifters, heavy wheels and all the bits made it rally sporty. Aluminum wheels made it the nicest bike I had ever owned. It had no breaks so I would wedge the back of my boot between the rear tire and the seat tube. I had excellent (in my mind) braking. The guy at the boot store wanted to know how I wore the U-shaped channel in the heel of my boot. I rode that bike everywhere and never gave it a second thought. It had a Brooks saddle.
I currently have an Ibis Scorcher which is by far the best fixed gear bike I have ever owned. Once in a while I consider selling it but then I ride it and remember just how great it works for me. It currently sports 38mm Rene Herse knobbies. I think it’s close to as good as it can be. It looks like it would fit a 44mm tire in the rear but not the front. I prefer fixed to SS and flip flop wheel has never been flipped beyond checking the chain length. Roberta, if you’re curious about such bikes, build one. I would advise getting something that fits at least a 32mm tire, fatter if possible. Only you can decide if it works for. It’s a little like asking someone who rides a motorcycle why they ride one. A dog hanging his head out the window of a truck understands why. Ray On Sunday, April 25, 2021 at 12:55:45 PM UTC-7 philipr...@gmail.com wrote: > My winter bike when I was racing was an 80's Team Technium, not quite as > ugly as they were blue with white lugs bag then. Still looked like a trip > to the plumbing department though! > > On Sunday, April 25, 2021 at 2:41:45 PM UTC-5 Patrick Moore wrote: > >> One of my favorite fixed gear beaters, back circa 2003-2005-6, was an >> early Raleigh Technium sports tourer for about $25 from Goodwill, with >> narrow gauge aluminum tubes stuck into ugly plumbing pipe lugs (lugs were >> painted black to emphasize their blockiness against the red tubes). Long >> wheelbase; heavy -- heavier than many steel bikes I have owned; noodly. I >> shod it with white Vittoria clinchers that were wide for the time at about >> 32 mm, installed a Tubus Fly rack and a ~17 t cog on the freewheel hub, and >> use it as a commuter for a couple of years until I decided it was stupid to >> have that 2003 Curt Goodrich hanging on the wall gathering dust while I did >> most of my riding, commuting across town, on a beater. Dave Porter >> converted the 2003 to horizontals and remove the shifting brazed-on bits. >> >> But the Raleigh also served as a baby chariot puller (I had a 2-seater, >> for child and groceries), and we had some fun times battling NM headwinds >> on the Rio Grande bike path to and from old town. I wish I still had that >> Raleigh; it was a plush ride indeed, even if not exactly spritely (it >> probably could have taken 38s at a pinch). >> >> The Raleigh handled rear loads well with the stiff Fly; recall carrying >> about 20 lb of library books -- stack 2' high -- on the left side only to >> drop off at the mid-point library during a commute to work. >> >> On Sun, Apr 25, 2021 at 12:34 PM Philip Barrett <philipr...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >>> Well this conversation got the juices going so I picked this up at a >>> local swap meet yesterday for $40. Bike was semi-complete (some pretty >>> junky parts but BB, HS & brakes were good) & came with 2 wheelsets, I >>> forgot to take a "before" picture before I stripped it though. Plan is for >>> a single speed conversion using the rear wheel that has the Shimano hub and >>> a convertor/spacer set. Need to find some commuter tires (white sidewalls >>> ya think?) but I have nearly the rest I need to complete including a rather >>> nice vintage Suigino crank. >>> >>> [image: PXL_20210425_170817317.jpg] >>> >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com. >>> >> To view this discussion on the web visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/0d707ab6-ab49-4dbd-8f5b-54a5da19c150n%40googlegroups.com >>> >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/0d707ab6-ab49-4dbd-8f5b-54a5da19c150n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> >> >> >> -- >> >> ----------------------------------------------------------------------- >> Patrick Moore >> Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum >> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/430facd0-1293-4fd1-8cb7-a7bcb3b9fc4cn%40googlegroups.com.
