David Forbes' Frejus Fixie
Here's my bike. My father bought this Frejus road bike, S/N 89279, new back
in about 1960, when I was an embryo. He used it to commute in the sixties.
It fell off the roofrack of our Citroen station wagon one evening in 1967,
resulting in the rear derailleur breaking
off and the right rear dropout and fork getting bent. He bent it back, and
it's worked fine ever since.
My dad gave me the bike a couple years ago. I
didn't ride it much, since the wheels had turned to junk. I was hesitant to do anything major
to the bike since all the Campy stuff was in good shape. Then I
started noticing these guys riding bikes with no shifters or brakes, and I
got interested in zooming around in one gear. Sheldon Brown's site and
bikeforums.net gave me all the info I needed.
I got the bike converted a couple weeks ago with a fairly standard wheel
replacement - Mavic MA3 rims, Suzue Basic hub with EAI 19T cog, Continental
Sport 1000 tires on thornproof tubes. I swapped the chainrings to use the
gently-worn 50T instead of the worn-out 47T with the new Sachs chain. I kept the old Campy front
hub, which still runs smooth and tight. All the wheel work was done by
Ordinary Bike Shop in Tucson, which appears to be the only shop here that
understands fixies. The original Mafac brake works great with the big Shimano
MTB pads. The Avocet Racing I saddle is okay for now.
The lights and rack are for real-world use. I ride for fun at night, as
it's cool and quiet. I have children, so a brake is needed. Besides, as
Sheldon points out, you go faster with a brake!
