I'm documenting via a blog the build of my first fixed gear bike. To make it nice and difficult i have chosen to build it with a 1993-95 steel Orange P7 Mountain bike frame.
Lucikly for me the frame somewhere along the line has had the rear dropouts converted to track ends.

I reckon when this bike is finished at first glance you would never know it was a mtb frame.

check the progress here http://orangeproject.wordpress.com

Anyone thinking of doing the same thing and is pretty new to these type of bikes like me should have a read as it hopefully will be a good insight into what you need to do.

Cheers

chainline's gonna be fun.

watch the chainstays, you'll probably have to re-space and dish the read wheel on a bike like this.

the tubing size, slack head and seat angles and the massive q-factor will make it obvious to most people that it's not a track bike.

it won't ride like one either.

good luck, be interesting to see how it ends up

I'm building a Fixed gear track style bike from a retro steel Orange MTB Frame that has had it's rear drop outs converted to track ends. It sounds a little odd but i'm pretty sure when this job is finished you would be hard pressed to notice it was originally a mtb at first glance.

You can follow the bikes build progress here, I would imagine it would be pretty useful to anyone thinking of building a bike but not sure about compatibility of parts etc...

http://orangeproject.wordpress.com

old Orange frames are lovely. the P7 is steel right?

Yeah the frame is steel, it's a largish frame too so the geometry is not a million miles away from a track bike. It should look really sweet when resprayed, the welding is tight on Orange bikes. The top tube is not sloping due to it being a 21.5 inch frame. I don't want the frame to mimic a track frame i want it to be it's own thing.

I just about got away with the chainline on a similar type of build-up. 135OLN Goldtec meant chainline of 46 or 47, and I had a Truvativ DH single ring set up at the front, but only just squeezed a 38t ring on with about 1-2mm chainstay clearance. It was quite a stiff Columbus frame, and there weren't any tell-tale rubbing marks on the chainstay paint. I think my chainline was about 2mm off, but not a problem.

I was using 38x14 on the road with 26" wheels, 38x18 singlespeed, and 38x15/16/17 fixed off-road depending on the type of ride.

thanks for the info on the chainline, this is the main concern for me at this stage. I'm going to get my local shop to set the drivechain up.

It's not visual really, its verbal

it's not really verbal, it's literary.

+1 on the lack of visualness though.

Cheat

spam
http://www.londonfgss.com/thread8552.html

cool, good luck with this, i look forward to seeing how you get on.

Its not that visual yet because I've only just started it. Its funny how people have to make negative comments about nearly every thread i read with their names against it

there's nothing funny about that

+1 - false advertising.
At least put a link to your flickr so we can have an instant 'visual' representation of the project.
I was on there for a couple of minutes and only found a picture of your handlebars!

to help with your visualization the color concept for this project has summit to do with wedding cake

Could have just stuck to it being an MTB and have a fixed, rigid mtb? That's what I use and it gives me a much more versatile bike. I can ride, on road or off, and I prefer the ride position and handling of an mtb to a track frame. Especially if you put short forks on it.

Chainline was no problem as all, I am getting 43mm from an XT front disc hub and bolt on cog combined with the chainring being on the left hand of the spider rather than the outside. And that is on a 135 OLN frame.

http://www.fizzypeach.co.uk/bike.html

That is looking shit hot

There will be plenty of pics coming when all the stuff arrives, i shouldn't have posted this link so early. I have a Scott Ransom freeride bike so i don't need this bike to be versatile for road or off road. The geometry of this frame because its so large actually is quite similar to some of the road fixed gear bikes i have been researching. The only difference being that the rear triangle is not as compact. I'm not racing the bike so i don't care.
Wait till you see it finished and pass judgement then. I promise I will be posting lots of pics when for the blog when i have the material to shoot.

Your bike looks sweet, my frame will look nothing like that built up though. It is unusual as the top tube is flat unlike most steel mtbs. I seriously can get away with my spec due to the frame shape