The Queensland State Velodrome has been formally named the Anna Meares Velodrome. The following photos were taken during my accreditation to ride on the Anna Meares Velodrome. Yes, I achieved my acceditation first time.
Anna Meares Velodrome
Anna Meares Velodrome
Anna Meares Velodrome
Anna Meares Velodrome
Anna Meares Velodrome
Two Dolan Pre Cursa track bikes just hanging around at the end of Round 1 of the Queensland Winter Track Series run by Ipswich Cycling Club.
The following photos are from Round 1 of the Queensland Winter Track Series run by Ipswich Cycling Club. A great event and thanks to all the volunteers who contributed to making it a fun and safe day.
One of the things that I love about cycling is getting shiny new chunks of metal in the mail. The TA Specialities chaingring is just such a piece of metal. Yumo.
I recently entered the world of track racing at Chandler Velodrome. As any track rider knows, having a set of chainrings and cogs allows you to dial in the exact gear that you want.
With 49, 50 and 51 tooth 1/8″ chainrings, I felt that I also needed a 48 tooth, hence the new TA Specialities chainring.
I also have 46, 48 and 52 tooth 3/32″ chainrings, but I use them on my Wabi Special.
All these chainrings are in 144 BCD (bolt circle diameter) to fit my Andel cranksets on the Wabi Special and my Cell Bikes fixie configured as a track bike.
My yellow Cell Bikes fixie, which my kids have affectionately named Bumblebee, is currently configured as a track bike.
My Cell Bikes fixies (I have two) have been through many guises, including a singlespeed ridden on the 100 km Brisbane to Gold Coast cycle ride at an average speed of more than 30 km/h, ridden up Mt Coot-tha, and configured as a sit-up town bike with swoopy bars.
Recently I have been using a Cycling Queensland track hire bike to train on Chandler Velodrome in Brisbane, Queensland. I was keen to ride one of my own bikes on the track and had heard of other people riding Cell Bikes fixies on velodromes. I stripped my Cell Bikes fixie of brakes and the water bottle cage, replaced the riser bars with PRO PLT compact drop bars, and put on some 165 mm 144 BCD Andel RSC1 cranks.
I took the bike down to a training session to see whether it would be okay to ride on the track. My main concern was that with a 65 mm bottom bracket drop, the bike is at least 7 mm lower than a typical bunch-start track bike. However, with the shorter cranks, I was able to get enough clearance to ride safely around Chandler Velodrome.
Chandler Velodrome, being an outdoor 333 metre track, has relatively shallow banking at around 30 degrees for an international standard velodrome. Indoor international standard velodromes are typically 250 metres (or less) and have banking of at least 42 degrees. On the other hand, many regional velodromes in Australia have track banking much shallower than Chandler Velodrome.
My point is, if you are thinking of putting a Cell Bikes fixie on the track, check with your local club first. Depending on the track specifications, and how strict your club is, you may be able to put a Cell Bikes fixie on the track and safely have heaps of fun for not very much money!
I had a dig around my parts bin on the weekend to see whether I could find another bike in there somewhere. It seems I could! I am just missing some handlebar tape and bottom bracket bolts (I have a sprocket and stem not shown too).
The frame is a Cycling Deal fixie/track frame TF-56W. I bought it for another project, but then lost interest in building it when I got my Wabi Special. Being an aluminium frame, I thought about building it up as a rain bike, but really could not be bothered. When I realized that I had enough parts to almost build a bike to use to train on my rollers, I finally built it up.
The wheels are from my first Cell Bikes fixie. I used them on my second Cell fixie for a while before replacing them. I have pulled them out of the shed to complete this bike.
For more information on the bike, explore the Project Beetlejuice tag on this blog, and here and here.