I have decided to sell my fixie as I am now spinning out on the gearing. The only way to get more gear inches is to go to a 36’er so that is what I am buying.
size 56 CM
brand-unknown old school steel
steering is a bit weird with the fork reversed but it looks cooler that way,
this bike will do about 50 MPH at 110 RPM, great commuter rig
I think its a replica (hopefully not an original) like this one- http://piedmontvelosports.blogspot.com/2011/08/alfred-letourner-set-motor-paced-speed.html
@ Mr. P:
It’s not a WTF fork, you’ve just never seen a stayer racing bike. It’s a track event where riders draft a few inches behind a motorcycle. The motorcycle has a fork behind it with a roller so if the rider bumps into him at speed they won’t crash. The fork is backwards because it’s more stable that way when they do bump into each other. These guys get going to truly insane speeds – 40+ MPH, easy – which also explains the massive chainring.
Here’s an article from Dave Moulton: http://davesbikeblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/stayers.html
Here’s a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFTamxcoGQk
I don’t know if I can take this seriously. The rims look like the Mavic rims I had on my Raleigh Pro in the 70’s and it looks like old sew up tires. Besides, where would you even find a chain ring like this? You couldn’t even pedal this thing unless you got a tow, or were going downhill, which means you’d never get up the other side.
I think it’s a replica/tribute bike to Mile a Minute Murphy, the first man to ride a bike faster than 60 mph for a mile. He drafted a train in a special shed off the caboose and hit the flying mile on a board track laid between the rails. At the end of the mile, he hopped of the bike onto the platform and the bike was twisted up by the following draft.
@ABW “The reversed fork increased trail, which makes the bike more stable at high speeds. ” – Absolute nonsense. (Dare to say with multiple graduate degrees in Physics and Engineering and great interest in bike mechanics…). This type of fork when reversed results in inherent instability at any speed. Anyone who attempts to ride this bike at any speed requires better ability than average acrobat. Reaching any greater speed (even if first pulled buy the car) is almost impossible – control will be lost and fall immanent. I’d bet that no one ever drove this bike in this configuration further than few hundred feet.
Experiment for anyone to try: reverse similar type of fork and push the bike; compare with normal oriented fork pushed over same terrain in same manner. Muse over the results.
@dusanmal you are correct re: trail. The rest of you just look at John Howard’s land speed record bike and you will know that with greater speed comes the need for greater trail for stability.
http://www.canosoarus.com/08LSRbicycle/LSR%20Bike01.htm
Oh, and by the way, the above bicycle would have never taken him to this record. The chainring would have been about 5 inches lower than the tire…hahah. When you look closer at Howard’s bike, you will notice the compounded gearset that he is running (see extra chainring behind his saddle). The primary drive (from pedals) has a chainring on the left that drives a small cog on the left side of a second bottom bracket spindle behind his saddle, which transfers energy to another large chainring on the right, with a chain that drops down to the wheel for final drive.
The following link will show you the extreme of the above design though, with the chainring mere millimeters from the ground. Still don’t understand why they insisted on the reverse fork
http://antranik.org/127mph-on-a-bicycle/
