Building up a set of single speed wheels ?

[cnighbor1]

Building up a set of single speed wheels ?
Next set of wheels I am building up is a pair of Dura Ace single speed Hubs new 36h NJS to what rims is the ?
I was reading that used NJS Track frames and all track frames to be used for used on the road aren't selling. Due to they can't fit larger tires like 32c And that is current state of on road fixed bicycles.
Therefore when buying rims should I go to say 25mm with rims to allow wider tires to be used ? Has I could be offering on San Francisco craigslist when built up.
Thanks for all comments
Charles

[Gummee]

Whaddya mean 'they don't fit larger tires?'

I've been running anything from 19s to 33s on the same series of rims since O4CDs first came out

Heck! Bontrager cut down some MA40s for mtn biking and they were running 1.9s to 2.1s on the same width rim

If you're talking tubulars: ditto. In fact I still have a few pair of Reflex/Open Pro tubular wheels.

M

[oldpotatoe]

Building up a set of single speed wheels ?
Next set of wheels I am building up is a pair of Dura Ace single speed Hubs new 36h NJS to what rims is the ?
I was reading that used NJS Track frames and all track frames to be used for used on the road aren't selling. Due to they can't fit larger tires like 32c And that is current state of on road fixed bicycles.
Therefore when buying rims should I go to say 25mm with rims to allow wider tires to be used ? Has I could be offering on San Francisco craigslist when built up.
Thanks for all comments
Charles

You can use wider tires on narrower rims..it was that way for a long time. The issue, as you mentioned, is frame and fork clearance.

[Jef58]

Track oriented frames will be narrow tire bikes. The wheels I built for my Vigorelli are wide Aeroheads on Phil high flange hubs. I won't run Conti GP4000 28's on that frame due to very tight clearances, but 25's fit nice. I checked prebuilt pista wheels and most were for narrow tires. Since the Vigorelli is more of a fixed road criterium bike, I wanted the wider rim and...the enjoyment of building them myself.

[19wisconsin64]

Most track frames are difficult to put anything larger than a 23 mm tire on the front. Each frame is slightly different.

If you choose to go with a road bike frame you will have the advantage of being able to fit in larger tires plus the added benefit of front and rear brakes. Using a single speed vs. fixed.....you will need all of the braking power you can get.

These days I mostly ride a mid 80's Davidson bike as a fixed gear with Dura Ace hubs laced to modern wide carbon aero rims. This allows the bike to have smoother and faster rolling wheels along with the benefit of stopping with brakes in emergency situations. As a fixie most of the time you stop the bike with your legs, unless you are going super fast or fast downhill or when some idiot jumps in front of you. Brakes are your friend, front and back. My bike has wide rims and 28 mm tires.

You mentioned the frames are going for less than they used to. This is very true, and the other road frames are going for less too.

[citycyclist247]

They sell pretty well in the right market. New York and SF are two cities with a good fixed gear culture.

[11.4]

I'm not quite sure what the question is.

If you're using a traditional steel track frame -- a NJS-approved keirin frame, an older American track frame, or the like, you have five potential clearance issues: under the fork crown, under the down tube (and secondarily, if it matters to you, with toe clip clearance), under the seat stay bridge, behind the seat tube, and between the chain stays.

Of all of these, the fork crown clearance tends to start out the tightest, simply because there's no adjustment possible there without replacing the fork. You speak of 25 mm clearance but I've had plenty of track bikes with less than 21 mm clearance. A replacement fork may alter geometry or handling slightly, but not necessarily to the worse.

In the rear, the common assumption is that by pulling the wheel back in the horizontal slots, you can buy clearance. However, it can take a fair bit of backwards adjustment to buy meaningful clearance at the seat stay bridge on some bikes, and you may not have enough room to adjust for chain tension with different gearing combinations. The bigger problem can be between the chainstays: they don't open up quickly as the wheel slides backwards, and even with the rear wheel mounted all the way back, it's not uncommon to fit no more than a 22 or 23 mm tire.

Additionally, note that even if you buy room for the tire, you may not be able to position normal road calipers within the range of their adjustment.

In short, building wheels to set up a traditional track frame as a fixie can be a losing proposition. You can find excellent track frames such as the EAI Bareknuckle and Cannondale CAAD10 alloy track frames, which perform well on the track but also have reasonable clearance to accommodate at least a 27 mm tire. Or consider an All City Nature Boy, a superb road fixie with tons of clearance for big tires and fittings for brakes plus fenders. The Nature Boy has 130 mm spacing so you can reset it for 120 mm or can get any old freewheel-based 5- or 6-speed road wheels (old Campagnolo Nuovo Record wheels are great in this regard and because they require freewheels instead of cassettes, are dirt cheap) and set the rear for either 120 or 130 mm depending on how you set up the axle. (A rear freewheel hub can be British, Italian, or French threading. You can't use a French threaded hub but British threaded freewheel hubs are plentiful and Italian threaded freewheel hubs will work. Freewheel threading is the same threading as track hub threading. If you want an actual fixed cog on the rear, as long as you are using hand brakes you're fine. If going without brakes (which I don't recommend), you'll want a rear hub with a reverse-thread lockring.)

I'm not sure if I added anything to your question. If you clarify what you're asking, I'm happy to help.