Mr Larrington's Fixed Gear Bicycle

Thee Fixer
This is not kitchen porn, as my kitchen is too full of Things easily to accommodate a Bicycle.  Instead it is my new Shedde, which has a bit more space, but not arranged terribly conveniently for Photography.  That is why Cosimo The Stealth Baron is rudely sticking his chainset into the equation, as is the washing machine.  Shameless media tarts, eh?
Thee Road Fleet

Having moved the fixer into its current parking place, we may now see revealed the full glory of the Road Fleet.  L-R: ICE Trice XXL, somewhat modified Trek 4300, HP Velotechnik Speedmachine and the fixer.


The bike started life in the Autumn of 1984, when I built up a new touring bike to replace a Claud Butler Majestic which had come to a violent and untimely end when I rode it smartly into the back of an innocent Vauxhall Nova.  It hav a very interesting history, if you are interested in hist. which few boys are.  At various points in its career, it has had friction and indexed shifting, twelve, fourteen and eighteen gears, cantilever and linear-pull brakes and quill and clipless pedals.  It even had a low-rider rack, Campag Record hubs and Sanyo Dynapower-based lighting system once...  As it stands, the frame, fork, bars, stem, seat post and rack have all been there from new, and it's always had a Brooks leather saddle.

Frame & fork: Revell Romany1 531 ST, 25.5".
Wheels: Sovos hubs, Mavic A719 rims, Panaracer Pasela Tourguard 25-622 tyres.
Headset: Some sort of Shimano, I think.
Bottom Bracket: Ancient and very firmly rusted into place.
Chainset: 170 mm Stronglight 80 (I think), liberated from TWFKAML's Kingcycle when I decided to switch the Romany back to a double from a triple.  Now sports a single 44T on the inner ring position.
Rear sprocket: 18T
Chain: The cheapest SRAM I could lay my grubby little paws on.
Brake: Avid linear-pull, Dia-Compe V287 levers.
Bars: SR Randonneur clad with Grab-On for wimpy recumbent-softened palms2.
Stem: GB quill, as supplied on my old Claud Butler Majestic in 1982.
Seat post: SR Laprade.
Saddle: Brooks B17 (accept no substitute...)
Pedals: Grotty old ally-bodied Looks found in a box in the old Shedde.
Mudguards: Some sort of chromoplastic.  They don't match coz the original rear one fell apart and I have no idea what happened to the silver front one.
Rack: Blackburn.

  1. Revell were the own-brand of the old Freewheel concern, which operated out of Beta Bikes in West End Lane, Hampstead.  I believe the frames were actually made by Mercian, though this could be self-delusion on a grand scale.  I chose this model as, at the time, it was the only off-the-peg frameset available with cantilever brake bosses.
  2. Actually, I have been using this stuff since 1982 and didn't switch to the Dark Side big-time until 1990...

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