FGG # 7222

Check it: FGG #7222

Fixed gear drivetrain

Fixed gear drivetrain, originally uploaded by brunoj.

My blue Raleigh is now sporting a fixed drivetrain. I upped the cog size as well so on the fixed side I’ve got 18 teeth and on the free side I’ve got 17 teeth. It’s amazing what a difference a single tooth makes. Riding fixed a a bit crazy and definitely addictive. Besides ultimate control of the drivetrain I think the best part of riding fixed is the absolute silence. The *only* thing I hear riding down the road is rubber on asphalt. My trackstand sucks, but somehow this is unimportant to me (maybe because I suck at it). The only thing I haven’t gotten the hang of yet is being able to un-weight the wheels (when going over lips or curbs for instance). It’s difficult for me to do without keeping my feet in the same place.

Anyway, the cog is an 18t Surly track cog along with a Dura Ace lockring. The Surly flip flop hub is really nice; highly recommended. The next set of wheels I get will be handbuilt though. The machine built wheels I’ve got now are already out of true after around 300 miles. The bike shop trued them up for me though, so its no problem. If they’re out of true again after the next 300 miles, I’ll be upset.

More bandwidth experiments

Update to this post. Another common internet activity and the bandwidth it consumes:

• Watching Star Wars in a terminal
  ~ $ telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl
  Ave. 2.85 KB/sec