From a Mountain Bike to a Fixed-gear Bike

Sean Yeap has been talking about converting his old mountain bike into a fixed-gear bike for a while now. Two weeks ago, he got it done. Here are some photos of the bike. On a RM500 budget, he managed to put together this really cool looking bike. Salute!













I wonder how it will ride like. The last time I rode a fixed-gear bike was way back in 1970s. I remembered I borrowed someone dad's fixed gear bike and struggled with it... LOL.

What is a Fixed-gear Bike?

To put it very simply, it is a bike with pedals that will always move or rotate in the direction you are going... forward or backward. Depending on your preference, you can choose to install a brake or use the pedals or tires for braking. For a full history of fixed-gear bike, go here.

BikeTrials on a Fixed-gear Bike?

Here is a video of Chris Akrigg (a very famous biketrial rider, famous for his brake-less biketrials... :-) riding a Mongoose Maurice fixed-gear for the first time.



More information:

• http://www.myfixedgear.net/ - Photos of fixed-gear bikes from all over the world posted up by riders.
• http://www.fixedgearrepublic.com/ - Very popular fixed-gear social network.
• Youtube Fixed Gear Playlist
  

Replacing the Screw-pins on the Monty Platform Pedals

Recently, I decided to replace the screw-pins on the Monty platform pedals, which were pretty badly worn out. I took the pedals to a couple of bike shops and none of them sell the replacement screw-pins. Finally, one of them suggested I look for stainless steel screws that fit and use them as replacements. And that was exactly what I did...


The worn out screw-pins.


The 2.5cm stainless steel screws that I bought from a regular hardware shop as replacement screw-pins.


The pedal after I inserted all the stainless steel screws.


I took the pedals to a workshop and asked the workers there if they could help me saw off the screws at the length I needed.


The pedal after I installed it back on my bike.

The pedals worked great! I am getting the full grip that I needed, but now... I gotta be extra careful and make sure I wear the shin guards. A slip here could be weeks of pain... LOL.

Singapore 09 National BikeTrial Championship - Round 3

The Round 3 of the Singapore 2009 National BikeTrial Championship was held in Bukit Batok Town Park on Oct 4th. I was there to capture the event on photos and videos.

For this round, a couple of things stand out and affected the overall competition; the format and the sections layout.

The Format

There were a total of 7 sections with all riders required to ride two rounds. All the riders were to finish the same section before moving on to the next section together. The reason for this format was primarily due to the lack of qualified Observers to man all the sections at once.

From my point of view, it was great, as I could take photos and videos of the riders in sequence (ran out of disk space... LOL.). Crowd-wise, it was fantastic... spectators and riders gathered together to watch the riders take on the sections making it so exciting for everyone.

From the competitor's point of view, it was not so great. Riders lost momentum as they needed to wait for the other riders to finish first before moving on to the next section. Their competitiveness, pace and drive were mellowed and a bit too chilled... LOL.

Thus, it was not surprising that by about 3:00pm, the riders could only managed to reach Section 7. And so, due to a unanimous decision, the competition was concluded with only 1 round instead of 2. However, the Open category riders went for Round 2 as there were only 4 competitors in that category, and they were able to complete the round in less than 30 minutes.

The Section Setup and Layout

Out of the seven sections, only two were not setup on a slope. The rest were all setup and laid out at the slopes along the lake.

In my opinion, I think Section 5 was the toughest, especially the Elite's route. Upon entry, you will need to ride (or rather hop) up a steep slope. Then you will need to side hop a 5 foot high rock. Because of the slope, even "dapping" onto the rock was extremely difficult. Not surprisingly, none of the Elite riders could finish the section.



Check out the photos and videos of the competition:

• Photos
• Videos

Here are the results of the competition:

Elite Category

1. Kaden Low (Monty 26")
2. Ben Loh (Month 20")
   
3. Matthew Tan (Rockman 20")
   

J. Senior Category

1. Clement Ng (Monty 20")
2. Chai Chin Cher (Monty 20")
3. Gavin Ong (Monty 20")
   

Open Category

1. Mohamed Bin Ali (Neon 26")
   
2. Ben Leow (Koxx 20")
   
3. Kelvin (CZAR 26")