The Washington Post had an article about a low-budget reporter with an intense bike lust who decided to try a fixed gear conversion to see if it might satisfy his need for a newish budget bike.  He definately had a few mishaps along the way, which is not uncommon for the inexperienced.  This is one of the reasons there are a few "fixed gear consultants" out there.  Inevitably, you'll save money in the end going that way, just like you could get the BF headset and then put the King headset on later, but you might as well just get the Chris King headset from the beginning

Speaking of fixed gears, going out on a few lnuch rides I found that the 70 gear inches I have is a little limited for winning sprints against the fast guys but I have been able to maintain ~29mph trying to fight for it.  I just calculated that this means I was doing about 140rpm.  140rpm!  That's reasonable for the track.  I think it's about time I get my buns over to the Alpenrose velodrome.  Anyone else want to meet up there sometime?



The beautiful Japanese-made track bike above was made by the people who composed the San Rensho factory (minus their fearless leader who was paralyzed in a car accident).  San Rensho made some beautiful bikes that looked as good as, well, this one does.  In fact, they're both very similar, and that's not a bad thing as San Renshos are pretty darn hard to find.  If anyone wants to buy this Makino for me so I can race it on Alpenrose, I won't complain. :)