Bike #2, Diamondback Approach Hybrid Fixed Gear

After I commuted on my Van Dessel Superfly for a while, I decided to try something new. My good friend Dave had recently converted his Miyata road bike to run with a fixed gear. Dave is a serious cyclist, and he really liked riding his Miyata to work. I decided to find a bike to convert to fixed gear.

Fixed gear bicycles have only one gear and no freewheel, which means the rider cannot coast, but rather must pedal while the bike is moving. There is a fixed relationship between rear wheel speed and crank speed.

I really liked the idea of converting a "hybrid" bike rather than a dedicated road bike or mountain bike. I reasoned that the hybrid's geometry would be a little more relaxed and that it might be better for potholes and frost heaves. So I searched around and found a Diamondback Approach hybrid on Craigslist. It was very reasonably priced and seemed to have spent most of its life in a garage.


When I got it home (the punk kid who was selling it for his mom lived only two blocks from my house) I stripped off most of the components. I purchased a bargain-basement flip-flop rear wheel along with a new front wheel. The Diamondback came with 700c wheels, but I the new wheels were 27" wheels. The diameter difference is negligible, so the existing cantilever brakes worked with only minor adjustments.

I put a nice Sugino crank on the bike. It was one I recovered from another Craigslist purchase, a small Bianchi road bike. Its smaller chain ring had 42 teeth, which in concert with the 16-tooth cog on the rear wheel gives an ideal ratio for my commute. One of my main challenges was getting the chainline right. I resorted to deforming the right chainstay on the bike to accomodate the chainring. I bashed it with a ball peen hammer until it gave enough clearance. I am not too worried about weakening the frame because it is steel.




I put the stem from the Bianchi on the bike, along with the aluminum seatpost and the seat from the Van Dessel. I also put the brake levers on the flipped and cut down handlebars. These bars look a little goofy, but they are extremely comfortable. They provide about the same hand position as a modern STI shifting system, but there are no drops in the bars. I don't use those anyway. Also, the exposed cables make the bike look kind of old school. Adding fenders makes a huge difference when it is raining or when there are puddles.

After I built up the bike and was satisfied with it, I commuted for a few weeks on it. I liked it so much that I decided to fully make it my own by painting it. I stripped everything off of the bike, down to the headset bearing cups. I sanded and painted it with a spray can. I did a few coats of reflective "license plate" paint, followed by clear coat. I also masked a few snowflakes into the paintjob.


This bike rocks. If I ever build a frame of my own, I will probably try to replicate the geometry on this bike. It is really great. I am constantly on the lookout for a duplicate, identical bike.