Conference noted::bicycle

    
    If the crank is a one-piece, sometimes called an "Ashtabula" crank,
    you'll have to replace it with an equivalent Ashtabula unit. They
    use an oversize bottom bracket which is not compatible with other
    cottered or cotterless cranks.
    
    CdH
    

    If it is a one piece "ashtabula" crank there is (was) a conversion
    kit to allow use of a cotterless crank set. I used to own a Schwinn
    and at one time had considered this option. The name of the
    manufacturer and where you can get this unit are long forgotten
    however. Best bet is to ask a reputable bike shop or browse through
    some of the bike mail order catalogues. Maybe writing a letter to
    "Bicycling" magazine would help.

    Try George Gamache in Fitchburg.  He probably has one somewhere
    in the store.  It helps if you take the parts in.
    
    paul

    I recently got a 3 piece conversion kit from Gamache's. All it is
    is the crank axle with screw on bearing cones. It comes with cups
    to fit the large bottom bracket size on a 1 piece crank, and you
    should buy new bearings. Of course you would have to get the crank
    arms and chainrings separately. I put mine on an old Ross frame
    and the conversion worked fine. At the time George told me that
    he had a few in stock, if not Schwinn makes the thing and it's still
    in their catalog.
    
    TPV

    Thanks for the info so far.....I was out this past weekend with
    a new club and noticed one of the riders was using an old frame
    with a single gear.  He had a hard time getting up the big hills
    and a hard time getting down also because he said that he couldn't
    freewheel.  Wondering why anyone would do this tweeked my curiousity
    and he informed me that this technique really helps to improve your
    SPINNING technique.  Is anyone else familiar with this type of
    conversion?  It seems like a natural application for my old Schwinn.
    Also, if I follow this conversion route what kind of rear axel will
    I need?   
    		Jerry    

    re .5	Be careful about assumptions that fixed gear riders
    have problems with hills, it ain't necessarily sooooo....
    There are certainly great training benefits to be had from going
    around "on one", the most obvious is the spinning.  Less obvious is
    the fact that you are hardly ever in an "optimum" i.e. most efficient
    gear for riding, so you get to do it with muscle on the up hills
    and with spinning speed on the flats and down hills.  The net result
    is that you are getting a better work out by working through a somewhat
    less efficient machine.  If you ride around with other folks and
    do about the same distance in the same time you'll get fitter and
    stronger faster, it becomes routine to ride up a particular hill
    in your 42x17 while everyone else is clanging around trying to find
    a 23, you can usually lose 'em on the shifts, and it destroys their
    morale too.  There is something I can't describe about the fact
    that you never stop peddaling, anyway the bottom line (for me) is
    that its less tiring than freewheeling on the downhills and then
    starting to pedal again.  There's an exercise physiologist somewhere
    that can explain this, I'm sure.
    
    	Reg
    
	(Oh, I saw somewhere that 100Km on a fixed is equal in work
    out value to 100Miles on a 10/12 speed,  Eddie B's book, maybe ?)
    

    re .6	It's rumored that Reg had a fixed gear on his baby carriage
    -- which was probably called a perambulator or pram.
    
    couldn't resist,
    ed

    A couple of days ago I was riding around Belmont at
    a reasonable training pace on my road bike.  After a traffic
    light, I passed this guy on a fixed-gear Paramont.  There was
    a long flat ahead of us, followed by a good-sized hill.  
    
    At the end of the flat, I was way ahead of the guy.  I assumed
    that I had seen the last of him.  All of the sudden, about a
    hundred yards up the grade, he pedals by, without even breathing
    hard.  It was demoralizing.  
    
    Of course, soon afterwards, we reached the hilltop.  As we looked
    down the long grade ahead, he turned to me and said, "Have a
    nice ride."  I guess he noticed the 53-tooth chainwheel on my
    bike...
    
    Anyway, the moral of the story is:  fixed gear bikes can be
    GREAT on hills.  When you're only pushing 17 pounds, and you're
    not fretting over your shift levers, and you haven't just pumped
    up the lactic acid in your thighs by trying to hit 40 on the
    flat, you've gonna fly up those hills.
    
    
    MATT

    re .8	I'll wait for you at the top, if you'll wait for me
    at the bottom, eh ?
    
    	Reg
    

Hmm, I'm gettin' fired up now to go put my fixed gear bike back together 
- I rode it to work for several years and had a great time. You can get
single-gear freewheels for a standard hub, but it ain't the same. You 
really need the fixed gear to get the benefits.

Other advantages - GREAT rain bikes. No derailleur/freewheels/shift 
levers to grit up on you. Also, braking improves for the rear wheel, 
since you aren't necessarily relying on slick brake blocks.

Also can be a theft deterrent - heard the story of a woman in Washington
who witnessed a kid jump on her fixed gear bike and split, she yelled at
him, and he turned to look and stopped pedalling. So it's over the
handlebars time. She walked over, took her bike back and told the kid
something like "My bike doesn't like to be stolen". (Moral - be careful
when you start learning to ride these things). 

Your best bet is to get a rear track hub and build a track wheel. You 
can use a standard hub and a lockring (directions hidden in an old note 
in this conf). Get a track cog (they come in two pitches - if you want 
to use your current cranks, get the smaller pitch) and you're gone.....

circlecirclecirclecirclecirclecirclecirclecirclecirclecirclecirclecirclecircle

                                                   ken

    re .10	Just a nit, I think you mean two widths; 3/32 and 1/8.
    Unless you're confessing your age by talking about block chains,
    in which case you're right, two different pitches.  Oh, there is/was
    a Japanese pitch that I think never caught on outside of Japan,
    I think it was 10 mm, anyway you're not likely to come across it
    when asking for track sprockets (err, cogs) here (U.S.).
    
    	If/when the weather clears up around here I wouldn't mind leading
    a "no freewheelers allowed" ride.  Its so much nicer when everyone
    in the group slows down the same amount to lean the bikes over in
    the turns.  Freewheelers just don't understand us (^:-).  All stop
    at the red light together and practice track stands, back up five feet
    for a chat with someone, still strapped in..., yes methinks its
    time for a fix.
    
	Reg
    

    Ok......I'm convinced, track bike it is.  I especially like the
    part about taking it to work in the rain and not having to fret
    if it gets stolen if I leave it overnight.  Problem:  I've never
    used a spoke wrench let alone built a wheel.  Can I buy a complete
    rear wheel or does someone out there have an old serviceable one
    laying around that they would be willing to part with for a reasonable
    price?  Same thing goes for a new set of cranks, since I'll probably
    be able to use the old style and a single sprocket right?
    							Jerry

>    part about taking it to work in the rain and not having to fret
>    if it gets stolen if I leave it overnight.  Problem:  I've never

Didn't mean to imply they couldn't get stolen, just that they a tough to ride 
off with if you aren't used to a fixed gear.. use a lock!

>    Can I buy a complete rear wheel ...

takes a bit of looking. One of the west coast m-o places (palo alto or 
bikecology?) used to sell single rear track hubs (you had to produce a
signed note from your psychiatrist :-) ). Then anyone who can build you a wheel
can put it together. My rear is the track hub, with clincher rim, 3X pattern.
Front is the standard QR hub that came with the bike.

>   Same thing goes for a new set of cranks, since I'll probably
>    be able to use the old style and a single sprocket right?

I'm using the same ol' road cranks I've had since day 1. No need to get new
ones, except it's a bit weird to see a "track bike" with 2 front chainrings...
the only crucial part of the conversion is the rear wheel and cog.

                                                     ken

    
    	Whoa, lets not get too carried away here !  A *REAL* track hub
    is gonna be (I think ?) 110mm lock nut to l.n.  If you're thinking
    of putting it in a "regular" road rear triangle there's a few mm
    to deal with here.  A more sane approach (from me ? ha) might be
    to get the Normandy hub that is threaded for a clutter on one side
    and a fixed on the other side.  That way if you find you absolutely
    can't stand it, well, you have a useable spare rear wheel.  By leaving
    the fixed sprocket on you can later impress people who ask about
    it ( Oh yes, its from when I used to [...insert impressive story
    here...] )
    
    	Reg
    

    
    Reg, ya beat me to it.
    
    You'll have to get a 120 or 126 mm rear axle and space out the locknuts
    in order to use the wheel in a road frame. 10-16 mm is way too much
    distance to try and force the stays into place.
    
    Campy sells spacers in small mm increments, they're cheap and accurate.
    Then you can say your bike has Campy on it 8^)
    
    CdH