help with conversion?

[unvanished]

hi everyone.
i was wondering if anyone would like to help me convert my bianchi ishiwara.
what i am lacking are tools to complete the job and extensive knowledge of converting from gears to fixed.
all the knowledge ive acquired has been from sheldon brown and sffixed.
mind you, i am very much still in the planning stage as i would still like to give my frame a new paint job. any suggestions on doing rattle can or a powder coat?
im just tryin to reach out to any riders in the area that are willing to help me out.
i live on mabury, right off of capitol by the way.
thanks guys.

[tinaballs]

you live by me... but i dont have any tools either... go into reeds ask for david.

[unvanished]

cool. thanks.
my friend ordered a pista bike from there and it was the worst service ever!
although i have been in there before and talked to kind people.
hopefully i could get this project complete before the end of break.

[thyna-mao]

I live close to Tina...maybe you can swing by sometime, I have tools OH and this is Thyna the guy...duh.

[unvanished]

great man! i'd really appreciate that.
i think ill have to take my bike into reeds
and have a chat with david.
its a bummer because my lock rings been loose.
and i have no tools soo its just been on ice,
since summer last year? anyways,
i guess ill shoot you guys an email in a couple weeks.
i still have lots to learn and find out what i can do with
this bianchi frame. thanks again guys and gals!!

_jp

[reckon]

if your choices are powdercoat or rattlecan, DEFINITELY GO W/ THE POWDERCOAT.

I know of a great powdercoater in santa clara; BR&F SPRAY, on aldo,...they'll blast and powdercoat a bicycle frame (MANY, MANY colors) for about $75 and fast: drop off on monday, pick up on friday service.

rattlecan paintjobs can look awesome, but the paint that you get here in the SF bay area, is so watered down and pollutant free (great for the earth, bad for paint) it'll only last a few weeks even with the most gentle treatment.


I used ot run my own custom painting buisness, and like to do all my own paintjobs, and prefer house of kolor (automotive custom paints), or PPG paints as I usually have some braze on/ cable clip removal "bodywork" to deal with, and the typical rule is: "if it has bondo, you can't powdercoat it",...they have a special high heat filler they can apply but thats into the $200 powdercoating range, and I'm just too cheap for that,..and I figure if I can do paint like this:


or this:



why pay someone else?

I'll be painting my old motorbacon fixie this spring, and should have some great pics.

if I can offer anyone any other advice on painting lemme know, bicycles are pretty easy once you know a few peculiars,..........I am not currently set up to paint anything at the moment, so I'd have to restrict my help to advice onl;y

anyway, don't waste all your hard work, sanding, and prepping, and then throw rattlecan paint on it, you'll just have to do it all over again soon,...powdercoat however, will last years and years: it's just very very tough, plus, all you have to do is strip the frame (including the headset cups, and the BB) CLEAN IT VERY WELL WITH DAWN DEGREASER DETERGENT and HOT WATER (or they charge you $$ to clean it), and drop it off.  also I always have them mask off the axle nut contact area on the dropouts, and inside the headset and BB, before powdercoating as the powdercoat will add considerable thickness (anywhere between .004 and .010 thousandths) making the re-installation extremely difficult if not impossible.

[The ghoul]

conversions are unsafe in my opinion.
get a real fixed gear bike with horizontal dropouts

[ryanlovesyou]

I'm new on this board so I don't know if you're just joking or not, but conversions are just as safe as real track bikes. Suicide hubs are dangerous, but I don't think there's a safety factor in track ends over horizontal dropouts if you're using track hubs.

[benitosan]

umm, its harder to get a good chain tension with a conversion frame, and if ur riding the streets,
a slack chainline is dangerous, if you ever drop a chain whilst bombing Market or Oak street, dangerous.
i'd rather get real track dropouts along with track geometry in my frame thanks, its worth the extra $ for peace of mind

[ryanlovesyou]

I don't think its that hard to get and keep good chain tension. I never had a problem with it.
I'd also rather have track ends and track geo, thats why I ride a track bike now instead of a converted road frame, but I don't think its necessary or an issue of safety.

We can agree to disagree, as long as we agree to have fun riding.

[reckon]

The ghoul wrote

conversions are unsafe in my opinion.
get a real fixed gear bike with horizontal dropouts

why?  (remembering what they say about opinions)