I finally broke down and did some major upgrades to the old fixed gear I put together in college. I think the only original parts left are the handlebars and the brake lever. I’ve replaced everything else over the years.

Just last week, I replaced the wheels and the frame with those of a bike I just found on the side of the road with a sign that said “Free” on it. The thing was in near perfect condition, but had a weird seat on it and needed some tightening in some places and loosening in other places. The wheels are true and the frame isn’t rusted. Nearly every part on it was “Macho” branded. Looking that up, it looks like a bike you can buy fixed outright, if you want a pretty looking one and have the money for a pretty looking one. When I built mine originally, I didn’t. :/

Actually working on the bike was a lot of fun. I don’t have all the tools I need or the space to work on it in our apartment, so I had to take everything over to the bicycle resource center on campus (basically a do it yourself bike shop free to all). Ellie needed the car that day (we still only have one since I got in an accident) so I had to get creative on how I’d get the bike over to the resource center. I just ended up tying it to my old bike and riding across town (5ish miles). See for yourself.

Surprisingly, I didn’t have any issues and I didn’t get too many stares.

I wasn’t able to get all swapped over in that visit to the resource center but I did get most of it done. I got hung up on the cog on my rear wheel. It was too tight and the tools in the resource center couldn’t handle it. I ended up having to take it to a professional who was able to get it off the old wheel in a matter of 30 seconds.

I’m super happy with the new bike, even though I’m still getting used to the new feel of it and tweaking some settings here and there. It’s just as fast as my old one (kept the same gear ratio) but it just looks nicer. Someone might actually consider stealing this one!

Hope that doesn’t happen.