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Tuesday, October 20, 2015

#WhyAFixie Update & A Specialized Coat Rack



I got a flat tire on the fixie I made so I changed it. Unfortunately this set off an “Well, as long as I have (part name) off I might as well remove (another part name)" sequence of events I know many of you are familiar with. 

Two hours later I had replaced the frame of the fixie with a left-for-dead red and yellow frame that is a lot uglier than it looks and a crankset I pulled from another trashed Centurion.

And the tire was still flat.

However, this frame is a much better size for me - and noticeably lighter than the gargantuan one - so I’m not done with fixies just yet (and if you do use one please tell me on twitter why using the hashtag #WhyAFixie.)

What I AM done with are two old, steel Specialized frames, part of an old set of handlebars, and six brake levers. Happy to be in a workshop where I can design and weld things in peace, I built this. 


As you know I’ve done one before (that coat rack was seen during Stamford's Parking Day event in 2014) but I wanted to try something different with the legs - not only making the sturdier but putting more weight toward the bottom so it wouldn’t be tippy. In my defense the welds are ugly because I bought the wrong non-flamable gas mixture. 


Yesterday I tweeted the pic and tagged Specialized, which is based just south of San Jose in Morgan Hill. In the tweet I wondered openly if I should give it to them with my resume hanging off it. 

I’m not ruling that out, but as I want my latest creation out of the house soon I’ll disclose what I’ll do (or what I did) with it later this week. In the meantime, bike safely and remember to follow Good Karma Bikes on Facebook since they are going to need some serious volunteer help for their big move coming up. Thanks for reading and thanks for riding. 


2 comments:

  1. Looks like the hashtag hasn't gotten much attention on the Twitter. Have you come up with a good reason for fixie yet? I'm still quite perplexed on this one.

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    1. I have completely struck out. Completely. The best excuse I've heard from one guy is he likes being 'stealthy' when riding and another told me he likes to be 'one with the bike. (?) See my latest post for details!

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