I concur. It's not what it looks like, it's how fast you can make the fucker go!

intresting

i had a white van pull alongside me today in maida vale, was ready for the gob-flem, coke can or house brick but instead i got "kinell mate, 32mph!" and a thumbs up

pity it wasn't a fit burd in merc who's not getting any.

Nice! Although unless you were pelting it down a hill or riding gears I'm gonna be a tad jealous of that kind of speed...

i didn't realize you could go that fast on a fixed it but according to an online calculator its 160rpm, it didn't feel that fast it was just a nice bit of smooth road with little traffic and a gentle downslope. i did have 'breakin the law' by judas priest going through my head so maybe that was it. (no ipod for cycling but tunes in my head)

the block before the 'slow down' 30mph sign flashed but i looked round and i think it was a car behind me? i have a cheap cycle computer so i think i'll fit it and see if really did go that fast?

What gear ratio do you use??

46/17 so 73 gear inches

you must of been spinning hella quick.

but having said that, i'm not sure what 30mph feels like or any speed for that matter, so its hard to judge, : /

Nitto bars & Stem, stylin 1897 wise

Buy British

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you forget taiwan tyres, french rims, by th looks USA hubs and Keirin pedals too, aaaaaahh the beauty of globalization

pedals look like LOOKS whether they are or not I dunno

They look more like Shimano Ultegra SPD-SLs

Huh? Spec. says Crank Brothers. Don't think so.

Wellgo Wam R-3 Look Style Pedals

tut, tut imitation 'roadie' pedals on a fixed

I have to stop lookin this bike is a mess

this frame is nicer, is this a touring bike...?

It might be hard to tell, but no, it's a track bike fitted with f/r brakes, bottle mounts. There's no braze-ons for racks.
More here: http://www.witcombcycles.com/completebicycles.htm

it might be a 'road track' but it ain't a 'track bike'

track bike don't have brakes...

Track bikes can have brakes.. just not 'on the track'.
I know people who bolt brakes on their steed, ride to to the 'drome, remove brakes, race, refit brakes and ride home. ie. "track bike with brakes".
This might be their track frame fitted with front/rear brakes, bottle mounts - they're just not removeable.

" real track bikes " have no drilling whatsoever

Ya had to go and make me google for the link..
"Look ma, no holes!"
http://www.kalavinka-bikes.com/brake.htm

BTW: If a bike is track-legal, brake drilling or not, it is a track bike.

the 'drilling' on the kalavinka is because it is a 'training bike'

NJS track bikes don't have brakes

the Whitcomb looks to me to have a 73 - 73 geometry which means that it is almost certainly built for the road, the fact it has two brakes and a bottle mount confirm this to me, sure you can ride it on the track, but you ain't going to 'race' it, not if you want to win, a 'road track' can be ridden on both the track and the road, a 'track bike' is for the track only

I know people who ride converted fixed wheel road bikes and call them 'track bikes'

It doesn't mean that they are 'track bikes' though

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_bicycle

witcomb track bikes are steep in geometry that the above is probably a custom track made for the road. it is a beauty!

The Kalavinka isn't drilled for brakes - that's the point. It's a track bike with two plates fitted to be able to add/remove hand brakes when off/on the track.

Road bike conversions are still road bikes, fixed gear or not.

A track bike with brakes fitted at some point in its life (by drilling, or not) is still a track bike.

A track bike with the slackest geometry in the world can still be raced on the track (assuming still UCI/club legal) and is still a track bike.

If you removed the brakes from the Witcomb you could race it on the track and thus it could be a track bike.

Winning on the track or losing on the track doesn't change the bike you are riding from 'track' to 'non track'.

Yeah but if you loose on a bike that is less track, you can blam the bike.

"Stupid not track enough track bike. Grrrr"

Instead of yourself. :)

"Why didn't I splash out that extra £8 on the BT.. DOH!"

As Hippy has said the presence of brake holes doesn't mean a bike is not a "track" bike, although it may not conform to the whole "ultra-tight clearances, ultra steep angles, crazy paint job" track bike look. To be honest there's been a lot of variety in track bikes over time and also depending on the events they are designed for. The whole 75/75 geo and tiny clearances is mainly for mass start races and sprints. Look at the bikes for longer races and six day stuff and they are a bit more relaxed, pursuit bikes are more like TT bikes than anything else and modern bikes tend to have slighly slacker geo than the bikes from the 70s and 80s.

The Witcopmb posted above looks like it has typical road angles, but it's a long way away from being a touring bike.

I say 'touring bike' in the pejorative sense

Nuthin' wrong with touring bikes if you're touring..

nope no brakes, no rack, no bottle mounts, this bike is built to go fast, look at that clearances on this thing

on no I don't subscribe to that new fangled nonsense

yeah course you don't ...;)

THIS bike is designed to go fast. I like new-fangled.

But I'm not riding a track bike 200k..

next you will be telling me its alright to have gears if you ride up hills

I rode my bareknuckle a fifty miles and my hands went numb, BUT if you want to burst through traffic with maximum speeeeeeed and agility, nothing comes close to a 'road track', which is why we ride them

and not touring bikes

your hand probably went numb because of your riding position, my 4th and 5th finger went numb and it was just because of the handlebars, if your hands are at 90deg angle to your forearms it traps a nerve and can cause numbness, you ideally want your hands straight from your arms.

http://sheldonbrown.com/pain.html#fingers