The Monkey Lab: Schlumpf-Equipped Leader 725 Two Speed Fixie

08 April 2012

Schlumpf-Equipped Leader 725 Two Speed Fixie

We built this black and white Leader 725 recently for a customer in Toronto, ON Canada. He was looking for a fixed gear bike with clean lines to commute on but wanted to have more than one gear to deal with hills. A Schlumpf Speed Drive was a natural fit as it offers two gear choices without any cables or hand shifter. The customer had been interested in getting a frame from Leader Bike and decided that the 725 model fit his budget and offered the aesthetic he was looking for.

For the wheels, we went with White Industries track hubs laced into Velocity Dyad rims using Sapim Race spokes and brass nipples. Dyads are one of our favorite rims; we've used them for many applications - road, touring, fixie, commuting, and mountain. At 24mm wide and 22mm high, it has the width of a typical touring or cross country mtb rim. The sidewalls are thicker than a standard road rim, so it can handle more abuse. When used in more of a road/fixie application, the extra wide spreads the tire out more to provide increased comfort and traction.

The Leader 725 model is a stout aluminum track frame built for the rigors of urban fixed gear riding. It has short chainstays for tight handling with stainless steel plates to protect the dropouts from the axle nuts. An oversized headtube with internal headset stiffen up the front end. The minimal decals on this frame were part of the appeal for the customer as they don't loudly scream an advertisement at you.