Kalukis wrote:
> Now that I have my fixed gear -- a Bianchi Pista (for all
> of 20 hours), a couple of questions.
>
> 1. How do you get the rear wheel off? Do they all have
> master links?
You don't break the chain for wheel removal, just loosen the
axle nuts, slide the wheel forward, and derail the chain
from the chainring. This will give you enough slack to slide
the axle back and out of the fork ends.
Unfortunately, most fixed-specific frames have these old-
fashioned rear-opening fork ends instead of the more modern
"drop out" type where the opening is forward.
The rear opening design makes wheel changes slower and
messier, for no functional advantage--it's just an atavistic
styling exercise.
> 2. I hear people talking about have two different gears -
> on on each side of the wheel. Sure enough, my bike does
> appear to have both sides threaded for a fixed gear 2a.
> What is needed to put a new gear on the other side - a
> cog and a lock ring?
You can thread a fixed sproket or a single speed freewheel
onto the opposite side of the hub, but that side doesn't
have the smaller left hand threads for a lock ring.
Since there's no provision for a lock ring on the other
side, it shouldn't be relied upon for stopping--the sprocket
might unscrew at the worst possible time.
See:
http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed-
conversion.html#freewheelhub for details and techniques for
dealing with this.
Unfortunately the Pista isn't set up for a rear brake, so I
really can't recommend using the opposite side of the hub.
If you do, use the side with the lockring for the lower
gear, because that's the one that's more liable to unscrew.
> 2b. What about chain length? I suppose that the
> vertical drop outs are long enough for some different
> in gear diameter, but how much room for different
> gears do you practically have? I've got a 16 cog on
> the gear right now and I'd like to put a lower gear
> (ie, more teeth) on the other side.
The Bianchi Pista doesn't have vertical drop outs, it has
rear-opening horizontal fork ends. See:
http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_d.html#dropout
There's plenty of adjustment room. For each tooth added
or subtracted to either sprocket, the axle only moves
1/8" (3 mm)
I've gots of lots of other fixed-gear info at:
http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed
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