Two Tough Fixie Questions

[keno]

1. What is the largest cog that I can put on a Bianchi Pista with a 48 ring without having to play with chain length and have a safe setup?

2. A friend just bought a used, 2004, 54 Fuji Track Pro. He wants to put a front brake on it for road use. The fork is carbon and not drilled for a caliper. What forks can you suggest that are drilled for a caliper and would give about the same ride as the stock Fuji fork, steering and feel?

Bonus Question.

2a. The seat stays bracket appears to be drilled, although the paint somewhat obscures the scene and makes absolute assurance difficult. Has anyone ever put a rear brake on a Fuji Track Pro?

keno

[11.4]

I'm not sure what you mean by "playing with chain length" in your first question. Since we don't know how long your chain is currently, there's no way to know just where in the stay-ends your rear hub is positioned (or would be positioned with a different rear cog). There's no limitation on how big a cog you can put in the rear if you have a big enough cog already in the rear or you're at the back of the stay-ends and have room to accommodate the extra take-up of chain. I usually ride with a 1 or 2-tooth difference on the rear, but while changing cogs out I've had at least marginal chain fit with a 5-6 tooth difference. The rear axle slot on the Pista isn't particularly short, so it all depends on where you are located currently.

On choice of forks, I've ridden a few Pistas and they come with a variety of forks, most commonly what looks like a relabeled Mizuno. Some are drilled, some aren't. The undrilled ones I've seen have a shorter axle to crown race seat distance than on typical road forks, so you'd add about 2 cm or so to the height of the front-end in mounting a road fork, based on comparing an undrilled Mizuno I'm looking at right now alongside an Easton fork. Ride, seat angle, and steering would all be significantly affected. You could do it; you might not like it.

The Pista I'm looking at (a friend's) has a ventilation hole but not a brake hole drilled. And the hole certainly isn't countersunk on the rear, so it would need brakes with an old-style nut-type center bolt. That being said, I've seen drilled ones too. They may be sourced by Bianchi from multiple vendors overseas and vary a bit in spec. I've mounted rear brakes bolted through two flat pieces of metal, one on either side of the seatstays.

You might get both a workable drilled fork and a rear brake boss crafted by a steel framebuilder, but at that point why not just go for a Soma, IRO, etc.? You're spending more than the frame is worth. Or check out the Nessuno at www.businesscycles.com -- a very hot Italian fixie frame.

Wish I had better news for you.

[keno]

thanks for the reply.

I probably could have been more clear on the brake question, but it concerns the Fuji Track Pro, 2004, 54cm, bike. I have a front brake on my Pista, 59cm, and am happy with it.

If you have thoughts on the brake situation for the Fuji Track Pro, I'd be interested to know them.

keno

[11.4]

Keno,

I don't know where Fuji got their forks last year. They're not bad, but they're a weird height, certainly not a road standard but a lot higher than anything like a track standard. I guess they were made to accommodate relatively large clinchers, as that's what most tracks do with them where they're used as training/rental bikes. I have seen 04's with drilled forks from the factory. The year before, the ones I've seen had front brake drillings, and I don't believe the geometry changed from year to year, so go figure. Your friend would still have problems with changes in steering, ride, and seat angle, but presumably not quite as serious. You might have a Fuji dealer call the distributor. It's not a particularly expensive fork, and they might have a drilled alternative available from the distributor that fits. Failing that, shop for an inexpensive fork with the lowest axle-to-crown-race height available. With a 54 cm frame, you can get lots of forks (including used) and still have plenty of steer left. Wish I could help more.