vintage bike porn

bingo.  that's the exact reason I bought it.  I'm stripping it clean, having the paint blasted off, doing a nice paint job (black) and switching it to a flip-flop fixed/free single speed.  I'm keeping it stripped down as much as I can and only putting bull bars on the front and maybe my clip ons once I get my tri bike.  I'm also going to lace my own wheels for it and do some crazy build pattern, like a 5 spoke crows foot

Your telling me I could get $10 for my mom and dads old 1970ishs bikes?  Hot damn!  My dad is now always telling me that he will beat my riding my bike whenever I come home from school.  He has an old he says 60-61" frame Schwinn and a double crankset.  Probably enough rusts to kill someone.  to put it lightly the bike is older then me and I'm 22!  I can't wait till this summer to show him how much faster I am then that old bike. 

Matt not a bad idea with the cleaning up and all.

Lemme know how the changes come, wouldnt be a bad fathers day gift if I could do the same. 

I'm not sure yet.  I'm going to go out on a few road rides and not allow myself to shift to see what gear combo I want.  I think I'm going to run a slightly larger front ring and put a compact crank on just for clearence though.

As for the chrome...I'm still debating paint scheme.  I'm thinking about having the frame done in matte black with gloss black or maybe a dark silver perl on the lugs, then having all the shiny parts (including the fork tips) done in black chrome.  I found a place that sells modern 27" rims for pretty cheap, so I'm going to pick up new wheels and I'm trying to find a shop that can do twisted spoke lacing.

If you are replacing both rims you can go with 700c.  If you are going to run a brake in front the pads can just be dropped a little and it'll work just fine. If you're not running brakes....it doesn't matter.

Fixed gearing is different from freewheel gearing. It's the downhills that get you if you gear too low. 42x16 or there abouts is pretty standard on the road. If you live where it's flat, you can probably go a bit higher.

well i went on a training ride on my road bike to play with gear combos.  Both flat and hilly.  The 42-16 was the best all around combo I could find.  I'm almost tempted to do a 15 in the back, but it was a little much on the hills.  I figure I'll get more out of learning to spin 120 rpm then out of lugging up a hill at even lower rpm. 

I think I'm revising my plan.  Instead of going with a flip-flop free wheel hub, I'm going to get a flip-flop fixed hub.  So it will be a fixie on either gear.  I'll use the 16 as my normal/hill gear but put on a 13 or 14 tooth on the other side, so I can bring it out to the local time trial from time to time just for fun.