I’m finally done with my fixed gear conversion of a Nishiki International road bike. I’m not going to lie and tell you that this was close to even being a cheap ordeal. Here’s the list costs that was necessary for this complete build:

• 19 teeth cog and new bicycle chain = $48.71
• Bar tape & 3 inner tubes (1 for spare) = $19.78
• Nitto bullhorn handlebar = $54.89
• 2 Panaracer Strada Pro tires, front brake pad , and White Lightening chain lube = $80.18
• 2 rim tape = $8.64
• White Specialized Alias 143 seat & brake cable = $72.09
• Spray paint & electric tape (extra bar tape) = $5.80
• Cyclocomputer, front & rear lights, wedge bag, mini pump, and miscellaneous items = $149.32
• Donations for stand time @ Bike Oven = $65.00

Grand Total = $504.41

I guess I could have went real cheap and buy the plain black tires with no puncture protection or no red stripe sidewall or even gone with a bulky wired cyclocomputer or big no name front lights. This bike, in my opinion, deserved a better assortment of accessories. Hence the expensive bill.

I did gain 3 things from all this:

1. Being comfortable with taking bikes apart and working on it.
2. Owning a kick ass fixed gear bike to ride.
3. Fixed gear riding is sooo different than regular free gear riding.

Converting the bike felt like when I first got into computers in college. I was obsessed and was laser focused on the task. I was thinking about the bike when I wasn’t around it. And when I was working on it, I felt at peace. The time working on it went by very quick. I think I’m going to actively volunteer at the Bike Oven to learn and work on bicycling. This is so fun that I’m actually considering selling my motorcycle so I can use that to buy a very nice road bike. Yes, I am that into it.

Here’s the before picture of the bike when I picked it up:

Here is the finished conversion with new white toe clips and all.