In the continuing insanity that is my life as it relates to cycling to work (actually, probably my life in general) I am midst transferring the last item (bottom bracket) I can from my road bike to my fixed gear. Since it died a death earlier in the year I’ve stripped it down an transplanted the following:

  • The front wheel. I borrowed this for a while (just out of laziness since it had a tyre on it) before I got fed up of the shoddy spokes and stuck on the older, but re-built by me, one that originally came with my fixed gear. The rims are pretty worn, and it is going to have to be replaced fairly soon as a result - I’m not sure what the grand masterplan is there. Death or serious injury perhaps?
  • The seat. Yay! In a round-a-bout way it meant I finally got to replace the broken/torn seat on my fixed gear.
  • The front brake cable. Which gave me a very short front brake cable, but that’s a good thing. I desperately needed a new brake cable as the last one I nicked was from my eldest’s old bicycle and wasn’t exactly of great quality (especially after a winter) which meant it didn’t release at all (I had to push the brake lever back out again). It was also pink. The one from my road bike is actually a decent branded one.
  • Nearly the headset. I tried to do the headset, but it was a different type.
  • The front axles and bearings. From the shoddy front wheel (since they were in far better nick).
  • Bottom bracket. It is 3mm shorter, but that’s only a smidge each side so hoping it doesn’t impact my chainline too much - I haven’t really got any other choice but to try though. I need to keep my bike running and I need to do that magically.
  • Forks. Retrospectively adding to this list that I have, against all odds, made my road bike forks fit over Cross tyres.
  • Front brake lever. Retrospectively adding this because I’ve decided to be honest with myself and face reality.

Should I ever break my handlebars (and I’ve actually done that before!) I could also nick those from my roadbike.

It’s a little bit sad that when it broke, it was just a ~£3 component that failed (although other stuff desperately need replacing). Now I just have a frame and forks. It’ll never be a road bike again.

[EDIT: 2015-04-21] Adding in the forks to the list above.

[EDIT: 2016-02-08] Adding in the front brake lever since the use of forks seems to have become more permanent than I intended.