INTRODUCING... THE BLACK PLAGUE

Well, here she is- my newest fixie, the Black Plague. Azuki frame (circa 1980) rattle-canned and built with various components that are a mash-up of craigslist and careful bargain searching on the intarweb. I probably spent too much money (around $350), but hell, it was worth it. I got my first real ride in today and I am completely stoked on the large size of the frame and the power of the 44:15 drive train. I put a 16 tooth freewheel on the other side of the flip/flop hub so I can coast around if I want. Highlights include Soma bullhorns, MKS clips, and a weird goose-neck stem that half of me thinks is awesome and the other half of me wants to replace. Here's the evidence:

Black Plague

Converted FSA Triple Crankset 

MKS Clips with Alle Leather Straps

Before: Azuki "Rust", $23

CRANKSET MOD

A couple of weeks ago I decided that it was time to build a new bike.  So I sold my blue Huffy SS (see Single Speed Conversion post below) for $200 and ordered some components with the money.  While those were shipping I painted the Azuki frame (see previous post) that was sitting in my yard and hunted up a flip/flop wheelset.  The idea is to build a completely black fixed/SS bike with subtle red accents.  When i got my components in the mail a couple of days ago and started to convert the FSA crankset from 3 ring to SS, I realized that the factory had failed to grease the chain ring bolts and thus they were essentially welded into the nuts.  After some fruitless wrenching that only led to stripping the weak alloy hardware, I grabbed my trusty Ryobi and drilled out the bolts.  If done carefully, this works great.  I used a 3/8" steel bit, which was just slightly bigger than the inside diameter of the nut.  Once the 32 and 22 tooth rings were removed, I reattached the 44 tooth ring to the spider with some sweet red anodized bolts.  Here's some before and after...

FSA Dyna Drive Crankset (Original):

Modified: