Humans are not all made from the same template, so sizing a bike can be pretty difficult. The main rule to follow is that the bike should always fit the rider, not the other way around. If you can get the frame size close enough, then you can make fine adjustments by tweaking the seat and handlebar configuration and maybe changing the stem to increase or decrease reach.

The chart below should give you some idea of the size to aim for based on either your height or your inseam.

Track cogs for fixed gear bicycles can be a real pain to get on and off. Ask anyone who’s done it and they probably remember losing skin off their knuckles at some point.

Chain whips are largely useless in this situation. Maybe with a bit of extra leverage, like a bit of pipe to extend the handle they could be useful, but there’s actually a much simpler and more effective way of putting track sprockets on and getting them off – even the really stubborn ones.

Now that it’s bike building season again, I’m going to try and run through the building of an entire bike from scratch. So to start with, here’s some tips for headset installation.

I started working on my latest project this week – the Viking. This is really to see how I get on building a bike from scratch, rather than a refurb. I picked up a brand new frame (a Viking fixed steel frame with track fork ends), which I think had been used as a display item.

I learned my first two lessons pretty quickly…