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So it’s been ages since i blogged about my bike. Maybe that’s because i’ve been busy riding it instead of just keeping on buying things for it :D

My cranks were playing up a bit, they were obviously not liking being converted from being used on a geared bike for 23 years and then thrown into some serious stress from being involved with a fixed gear :D, so i decided to grab a Sugino Messenger in white with a 46t chainring (4 more teeth than what i was used to), which is so much easier to ride and so much quieter aswell! My old 42t conversion was fine until i got the Sugino and now i know i was mistaken!

To go with the new front chainring, i decided to scrap the Charge Masher halflink chain because it was too chunky for my liking, so i decided to get an Izumi track chain that was recommended to me. So far this is has been far superior to the Charge Masher for my personal preference.

I thought that would be it for my purchasing streak of late, and that was the case until the other day when i was trying to learn to how to bounce backwards off a wall and then ride away again (but backwards). I didn’t realise how old the headset that i had was until this point. I did a bounce off a couple of times until i heard a massive clunk as i did it and then my headset went all loose and really horrible to steer!

Took it to my LBS and they told me that it was some shoddy old school BMX type headset that wasn’t going to last at all so i had a word with them about getting hold of a new one. I decided to get a Shimano Dura-ace 1″ Threaded headset. I thought ‘Awesome’, and proceeded to ride the bike home. The bike was perfectly fine for a short time until it started to go really loose. I know that newly installed threaded headsets can have a tendancy to go a bit loose over the first few weeks of riding it, so i just tightened it up a bit and it never actually got better so i headed back to Hewitt’s and had a talk to the mechanics there and they suggested some new forks because the threads on the top of my steerer weren’t holding the headset properly. I wasn’t really thinking about new forks just yet, but if that’s what i needed then that’s what i’d get.

Here are those beautiful black, straight, track, Hewitt’s made forks! So nice to ride, and a lot smoother than my previous bended forks. Seriously wish i’d upgraded them earlier! The clearance on the front tyre is silly, i won’t be able to ever ride a tyre thicker than a 23 (just how i wanted).

I decided that because i was upgraded pretty much the entirity of the front end of my bike that i should also upgrade the stem aswell. I love the look of a nice quill stem and out of the massive selection i had in front of me, i chose a Nitto Technomic stem. Another beautiful bike component that fits my bike perfectly.

Now that all of this has been upgraded, the only remaining parts that are from the original purchase and build are the bars and the frame. I won’t be upgraded the frame any time soon, the next frame i want is a custom build from Hewitt’s that is pretty much what i have right now but with some additions and changes. I am currently in the process of designing it and will be talking to Hewitt’s frame builder before christmas to arrange the build/fitting of it. Cannot wait!!

The bars on the other hand (no pun intended) will be bought next month hopefully, i’ve got my eyes on a couple of different options. One being some lovely Nitto B123′s (below)

or some riser type bars, but there’s a million and one different choices on that front. Any help would be greatly appreciated.