Hey K.K,
I recently bought an old roadbike and want to convert it into a fixed/free machine and have some questions. (it has long horizontal dropouts )
My first question is.. would a 120track hub fit on a normal roadbike? I am afraid it somehow would not fit.
My second question is.. I want to give my frame a paintjob.
Where should I bring it for a paintjob?
I have seen you gave your yellow fixie also a paintjob, could you tell me something about it?
Best Regards

amazing.

how do complete strangers always find and choose me if they have questions about bikes? you cannot imagine HOW MANY people regularly ask me. complete strangers online, real life friends online, real life friends in real life, web2.0 friends.. anyway.. i always like to help. but this time like lots of other times, i will tell and explain you my doubts about your plans in detail. my doubts are a conclusion from the things and the way you asked me and the bike part vocabulary you did not use.

why do you want it fixed? fixed bikes can be severely dangerous if you do nor exactly know how and what to do with it. i broke my helmet into two pieces during the first weeks of riding fixed. because i forgot for a second only that it was fixed.

about fixing your freewheel i recommend in the first place: make yourself comfortable with the topic. get yourself LOTS of knowledge. yes, knowledge, not "presumptions". watch, think, read, maybe try riding fixed on a friend's bike. take yourself at least a year after your first idea before you actually start riding fixed. again: why do you want to ride fixed?

fixed has been misunderstood as a stylish thing. but it's not. we bike messengers use fixed gear bikes to reduce costs of wear-out parts. that is all there is about it. now there's hipsters who think we are the cowboys of the cities blablabla, and they copy our "style" (which there is none. i don't know two messengers in my city who share something like a "style").

thus, riding fixed is not a matter of style, but a matter of reduced maintenance expenses AND a matter of danger. you really have to have been a very skilled rider and -most important: visual and ascoustical observer of traffic ALL around you before you should try to kill yourself with a fixie.

reason i insist on all this is: we skilled riders, being bike messengers, suffer from those idiots who in the last few years started to copy what they think is a "style", but the fail. they get responsible for accidents, which we hardly ever get. thus, police suddenly notices there's a kind of bike which they say "lacks" what the call brakes. so, we bike messengers are getting serious problems after having ridden urban fixies for twenty years without problems, thus without police knowing.

BE AWARE OF WHAT YOU DO to yourself and to others. both in terms of your own health and in terms of traffic politics.

your questions.

"an old racebike ith horizontal dropouts" is nothing of an information. how much knowledge do you have about bikes? can i trust on that you know this is a racebike? then, it's made for 130mm hubs and nothing else than that. or does it have horizontal dropouts? HORIZONTAL? open to the rear, closed in the front? then it's probably a track bike and it should neither have holes to mount your brakes, nor holes to mount bottle cages, nor threads to mount a derailleur, nor should no one on earth ever have been able to mount a freewheel hub with sprockets. thus, i assume it does not have what is correctly being called horizontal dropouts. i assume it has old fashioned dropouts, open to the fornt. use those for fixed use only on your own risk. the rear wheel can slip out during skidding. be aware of that. always check how tightly mounted your rear wheel is.

there's fixed hubs available in every width. measure your actual freewheel hub. possibilities: 120, 125, 126,5, 130, 135mm. i'm sure there's even more options around the world.

how much money can you invest into a paint job? best way: unscrew anything frtom your frame. not one single screw or part may remain. don't forget the headset shells. the cone on your fork. the dropout, if replaceable. then, put tape around places which may not be sandblasted (eg where the headset has to be pressed in to again afterwards, bottom bracket threads etc.). after sandblasting, you should get powder coating.

HOW ON EARTH shall i know where you should bring your frame for a paintjob? ô_0 google knows!

i hope you can handle and respect my doubts and appreciate the time i put into this mail. i alsways like to help, but deoending on how people ask, i might happen to add my estimation concerning if the enquirer is actually experienced enough. i have read and heard LOTS of mails and questions and during years, i learned to read the grade of experience in the other one's phrases. excuse me if i under-estimated you.

good luck!

=)

ein gruuuupiiiiiie!