Hey Hon, can you get me a fixie?

There are some things that are necessary and many things that are not.

A bicycle? Yes.

A folding bicycle? Arguable.

A fixie? No

A folding fixe? Absolutely.

That's right. I'm not the first to pull off such a feat nor will I be the last. For the last year, I have joked with friends that I wanted to build up a folding fixie to have when I traveled and to simply to keep in my car to always have a bike with me. Sure, I could have kept it kosher and rocked it single, 3, or 7 speed like many that come stock but there was simply some allure to making it fixed.

This was the second folding bike that I got my hands on but the first that I made into a fixie. The first was a 20" wheel Dahon Speed D7, that I ended up trading my former co-worker, Brent, for my Karate Monkey frame. I got this 16" wheel folding bike, a Hon, precursor to Dahon from another former co-worker at my old shop for a pair of Oakleys. Check out an old post on the No Drive website to see what this started out like.

I did do a few modifications to the bike to be able to make it work. Since I am all legs and arms at a little over 6 foot. In order to get proper leg extension and reach to the handlebars, the first thing was to cut off the attached flat bar that was on the steering column. Without putting much thought as to what I would do after removing it, I soon discovered that the it was extremely close to an 1 1/8" steer tube. Grabbing a stem, it confirmed it. I then, added a pair of mustache bars that had been floating around on a couple of bikes but had never found a good home.

The bike then sat for a good month or so. I built up the wheels once I found the Maxxis Hookworms, then I knew I wanted to change the color of the bike. Originally, I was going to black out the bike but ended up changing my mind after taking it completely apart. Raw seemed to be the better way to go. The bike sat in pieces for 2 months as I explored how I was going to extend the seatpost.

Enter, a good friend of mine, Bob Hammond [who happened to do all the photos in our current catalog], who is a bit of a machinist and took up the challenge of making a post that would not only be long enough for my leg but also strong. What he ended up using was steel, machining it down to size for a seat clamp and the notched properly to keep the seatpost in line; even going a step further to drill completely through the middle to lighten it up a bit.

The last week I've spent clear coating the bike after having it sandblasted, cleaning/polishing all the parts and attempting to remember how it all went together. In the end, the bike came together great and I even discovered that one of the old Velocages worked remarkably well on the old reflector mount on the steer tube. I topped the bike off with a rear rack that was made specifically for the Hon, the Pedro's Trixie [carefully placed I might add; see picture below, right side] and some hipster cysts for good measure. There a few things I'll be adding but for the most part, it's all done.

Here's a few of the specs on the bike:

Frame: 19?? Hon 16" Folding Bike
Wheels: Velocity [349] Aeroheat 32H, Radial Front, 2x Rear on Velocity Solid Axle/Cutout Flange Track Hubs
Tires: Maxxis Hookworm 16 x 1.95
Gearing: 46 x 13 [roughly 59.7 gear inches]