Rearwheel gear/fixed - how to change from gear to fixed?

[creindesign]

David, Peter, "pigman" - thanks!
Again very informative and useful info - not so "silly" after all.

The conversion for winter / summer season makes a lot of sense. I guess I will put the Holdsworthy in winter mode for now, until I have everything sorted to convert it with period correct parts.
Meaning a 4-speed freewheel (any experience with converting other 5-speed blocks besides the Regina?), a decent leather saddle, GB rear brake from the early 50s...

Ta, Rogier

 

[Cefnbikie]

Back in the early 60s I used to ride a Carlton Connaught frame that I acquired second-hand. The wheel I fitted had steel rims and a fixed/gear steel hub. I only ever rode it with a 5-speed block, and left the fixed side with no sprocket, as I saw little point in putting a fixed sprocket on.

About the same time, I also built up a ‘hack’ bike from second-hand parts, for riding to school, training and for some club runs, and used a double-fixed hub, but with only one sprocket on it – 18T in summer, 19T in spring and autumn and 20T or 21T in winter (with an old Nicklin steel 48T chainset).

When I started racing in 1964, the sprints fitted had Campag Gran Sport hubs, with a single gear fitting on the rear, for a 5-speed block.

As I really enjoyed riding 'fixed', later on in the 60s I started to race with ‘fixed’ on flattish courses, and used an Airlite Continental double-fixed hub built into the rear sprint wheel with a Mavic sprint rim. As I used to ride to the event, I used to fit fixed sprockets on both sides, a 16T on one side to race on, and an 18T on the other side to ride out to the event on, and home again afterwards. I used a 48T chainring, giving an 81” gear for the race, and 72” to ride to and from the event. I did try other combinations but I was happiest with these. Most riders using 'fixed' would do the same as I if they rode out to the event, turning the wheel around on arrival, and then turning it again before setting off for home. One club member who rode ‘fixed’ would ride out to the event with his best sprints attached to his front wheel spindle with wheel carriers. But occasionally a rider would have just a single-sided fixed hub on his race bike, and would really struggle on the undulating route home.

 

[mattsccm]

Might I suggest that chain length wouldn't be an issue. With normal dropouts you have a lot of chain length adjustment. A fixed sprocket would likely to be somewhere in the middle of the range of the block sprockets so you just flip the wheel, dog up the wingnuts or QRs and away you go. Well that's what I did, but mostly I ran fixed in the winter and stripped the mech etc off.

 

[BobToo]

I got this wheel as part of a set on here last year, is it quite an unusual arrangement then?

 

[Jonny69]

No, most hubs in the 50s were double-sided. In the catalogues they often had two or three options for the amount of axle spacing on the freewheel side to accommodate either a single freewheel, 3-speed or 5-speed. I'm not old enough to know for sure, but I've come across more hubs with axle spacing for multiple freewheels than I have for just a single speed freewheel. That would lead me to believe that the single fixed/free was the less common option. Here are three mid 50s offerings that I have in the drawer:

Left to right: chromed steel Resilion with single fixed/free axle taken out, mega rare early Campagnolo low flange spaced for 5 on a quick release axle, Normandy high flange on a 5 speed axle but centred with nuts. My other Resilion hub was spaced for 3 or 5 but I cut it down to fit a frame that would only take a single.