While it may be no secret that fixed gear bikes have become almost the default ride for the young urban cyclist, it’s not every day that we riders of a radically different demographic looking for one.

That’s not to say that fixed gears are only for the young… it’s just taking longer to catch on.  While we build up a few nice track bikes each year like the ones we did for Tim, Ethan, and Rob, we don’t do as many road oriented fixed gears like this one for our friend Ben.

When Lisa came to us in search of a new bike she had some pretty specific things in mind.  Like anyone else she wanted a nice riding and reasonably light bike.  Unlike our average customer she had some pretty specific needs for the fit of the bike.  Lisa’s inseam is unusually tall for her height.  Couple this with a lack of flexibility in her back and she needed a position on the bike that was not going to be easy to work out.

In a perfect world a custom frame would be the obvious choice… but in the real world not everyone is trying to spend $1500-2500 on just the frame.  So I was put to the task of finding a frame with a relatively tall head tube for the length of the bike.  A steel frame was preferred and one that can take 700×28 tires as well.

The Soma Van Ness frame fit the bill so it was time to get building.

FSA compact handlebars and Sram brake levers make for a comfortable cockpit.  Sram’s S300 track crank for a stiff transfer of power and long term durability.  Top it off with some purple Velocity Deep V rims and you have one sweet fixed gear road bike (just don’t call it a fixy).