hey dudes! i bought my first single speed at the end of 2011 then moved to japan, just got back. my fuji feather has been collecting dust whilst i was away so i just gave it a good clean.
when i bought it, it was an off-the-rack model with a nicer seat, some bullhorn handlebars and thickslick tires slapped on it (i don’t personally need the thickslicks for any reason other than avoiding punctures ). the wheels themselves feel pretty flimsy.
the hub is a liiiitle noisy (at least, not 100% silent), the chainring, cranks and pedals are as ugly as sin and the chain itself is looking crabby after 18 months of non-use.
what can i do to improve the overall smoothness/agility of this bike? what are the first things i should consider upgrading/replacing?
Been riding around on my Feather for almost a year now - bought it second hand off Gumtree.
I’ve just been slowly swapping out parts based on what I see pop up on here and on eBay/ gumtree. So far the only stock parts on mine are headset, crankset, pedals and seat-post.
Next on the list is to swap out the stock crankset… you’re right it really is ugly. Probably just swap out the chain on yours for now if its looking bad and go from there.
i know there’s lots out there, but many of us ran Velocity Deep V’s. i got hit by a car, folded the frame, but the wheels never went out of true. they are bulletproof and, for the cost, you could do a lot worse.
You were lucky. My front V folded in half when I got hit by a car.
But yeh, can’t go wrong with deep V’s.
And as everyone sez, have a look through post your ride, see what other people have done to their bikes, steal the ideas you like. And in the meantime ride the hell out of it.
haha funnily enough I ended up replacing my drivetrain after getting hit by a car. fucked the shitty bb, which led to replacing the shitty one piece cranks (!!!) etc etc.
Yeah it’s completely up to you - there’s plenty of good builds on here with parts list too. Work out a budget and take a look around. If something catches your eye make a note of it.
I managed to score a Phil Wood/ Mavic for my rear and have been running with that. As far as cranksets go I don’t have anything in mind just yet, still hunting around.
Absolute best thing you can do to improve the ride is to spend on the drivetrain. Key components are chain, cog and chainring. Cranks will also make a big difference, but if they’re already half-decent and take a standard BCU ring then buy a good chainring first (if they’re a random BCU then wait until you can replace the lot).
A few years back I upgraded my drivetrain to a KMC Z510 HX chain (about $15 on Wiggle), an EAI Superstar cog (about $70 from hubjub.co.uk) and a CycleUnderground chainring (also about $70, now you get them from fyxo). I’ve got the CU chainring on standard Miche cranks.
Those three components, at around $150, are by far the most noticeably excellent parts of my bike. Incredibly smooth and silent. Every day they make me love riding the thing.
loads of good posts, thanks everyone. yeah the cranks and chain ring in particular are an eyesore and like i said in the first post, a little bit noisy and heavy.
i like the DIY aspect of building a bike, but i figured certain components may play nicer with certain frames/makers than others, that sort of thing. but thankfully it doesn’t seem to be prohibitively expensive (yet). keep the advice/suggestions coming plz!
Seriously though the KMC chains with the SP (“stretch proof”) heat treatment really do last surprisingly well, and, more importantly, come in a variety of colours
). the wheels themselves feel pretty flimsy.