Fixie Commuter #2

Dennis,
Once again I must thank you for all of the up keep you do on Fixed
Gear Gallery. This is my second submission, although this is my third
fixed gear bicycle! My first submission, #5355, was sold to another
happy owner in late 2007 when a career change took me away from the
ability to bicycle commute. My second fixed gear, an EAI Brass
Knuckle, is used for track racing at The Superdrome and is currently
sitting in the garage awaiting the start of the 2009 racing season.
Having recently changed jobs once again, I found myself with a
wonderful opportunity to commute to work by bicycle! I started out
looking to build up a Salsa Casserole or Soma Delancy, but then I
found this excellent gem at one of the many LBSs.



This is Fuso #1020, a 53 cm creation of the wonderfully talented Dave
Moulton! I had seen the bike hanging in the used section for about a
month before I bothered looking it up online. Thanks to Wikipedia and
Mr. Moulton's own website I learned that this is from 1987, and is a
30th Anniversary model. One ride had me in love, and I knew I needed
to pick it up with the intention of a fixed gear conversion. The paint
scheme is beautiful and something of an oddity compared to most
current designs. The ride is classic steel, and feels wonderful on the
road. This frame is so well constructed, it makes my carbon road bike
seem almost unnecessary. I commuted for several months on the original
equipment, late 80's Dura-Ace, before the cone bearings in the rear
wheel made gliding nearly impossible and I decided to strip the bike
the second week of January and completed the ground-up rebuild and
conversion in a couple of hours.



I'm turning a 42 x 16, which I have found to be perfect for commuting,
spin training and still provides me with excellent speed. I stuck with
the Dura-Ace cranks and liquid smooth bottom bracket, and a Mavic
Aksium wheel I had picked up to replace the original -whose cone
bearings had bought the farm a month earlier. The rear wheel, an XRP
creation, comes off my Brass Knuckle after two season of track racing.
The Sella Italia seat, Campy Daytona front brake and Profile bar tape
are off of a retired Pinarello Galileo, while the Chorus carbon seat
post and hoods were salvaged off of a Fausto Coppi Neuron that was
destroyed when I was hit head-on by a motorist in June 2008. My
commute is 12 miles each way on typical, traffic congested Dallas
roads so the Delta rack and Novara bag are great for carrying a change
of clothes, lunch and any extra gear I'll need. For visibility I have
installed a pair of Planet Bike Beamer headlights plus three tail
lights, all set to blink in different, random ways. I had been running
two tail lights, but after nearly being hit my another motorist a few
days after my birthday, I decided to slap on a third. She was too busy
writing an email on her phone to look up the road, and I'm only
writing this today because her Lexus SUV was equipped with ABS.



Thanks again for all the inspiration, a day after completing this
build I was already thinking about my next project!