Hi I just picked up an old Raleigh 501 bike and I want to turn it into a fixie for as cheap as possible I suppose while still making it look cool. Any advice is really appreciated as this is my first time attempting something like this. Pics of bike attached.
by Taspden
9 Comments
It would be better if you post specific questions. That frame doesn’t have horizontal dropouts so it may be a bit inadequate because you won’t be able to tension the chain properly. FWIW tho, I don’t have much experience with conversions
Sheldon Brown’s website is the best resource
don’t
You might have enough slide in that dropout to tension a chain and make a conversion work but it will be tight. Conversions are classy and I love them but they’re almost always very fiddly and require work to get right. It’ll be a fun and practical bike but you’re taking some tradeoffs vs a bike designed for fixed gear like BB height, rear spacing, and fork outs.
Sheldon Brown is the definitive resource for this, so checkout his guide here: [https://sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html](https://sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html)
You’ll have to make your own decisions about bow cheap you want to go. Like going for dedicated single speed cranks vs a narrow-wide ring vs pulling chainrings and using the front derailuer as a chain guide.
The biggest thing for me personally was rear spacing. It pays to have all relevant measurements for your bike before you get started (again, Sheldon…) but I tried to get a single speed onto a 130mm spaced frame and that was not a fun time. Track wheels are 120mm and a lot of older road bikes are spaced at 126mm. You can make 126mm work with some spacers but not 130mm. After the 70s or so 130mm became pretty standard for road bikes.
Good luck, have fun, don’t die!
Keep it as is. Invest in an actual fixed gear frameset. You’ll be happy you did.
You need vertical dropout on the rear wheel to be able to tension the chain on a fixie, it’s possible on this bike but not really viable considering you need to buy special gear (a single speed chain tensioner or a offset bottom bracket), I would recommend giving it a proper service at a bike shop, let them dial in the gears n brakes, if it was me I would remove the front chainrings and front derailleur & get a new front chainrings like a 44/48, probably find replacement parts for the rest if anything needs replacing
Some people on here literally haven’t got a clue. I rode cheap fixed conversions for nearly 20 years with no problem. Yes track ends are better (or ‘vertical dropouts’ smh). Yes a conversion is a bit fiddly and you’ll need to tension it occasionally. But genuinely what you’re doing with an old steel frame is how most people have got into riding fixed gears for like half a century. As others have said, familiarise yourself with Sheldon Brown’s site and you’ll be able to get that thing fixed for little investment but your time, and you’ll learn a load about bicycle mechanics along the way.
Do it. Not bad at all.
You would think people in the fixed gear sub would know the difference between horizontal (track bike) and vertical (road bike) dropouts. I’m sorry you’re getting some bad advice here. Rear hub spacing is different on a track bike than a new road bike but might not be if that’s only a 10speed. If it is different it will be 120mm for the fixed wheel and 126mm for the road wheel and people definitely just squeeze them in with some controlled pressure. You would need Chain tensioning but there are tensioners out there for this exact thing like the [surly hurdy gurdy](https://surlybikes.com/parts/hurdy_gurdy)