They are bottom facing, but a chain tensioner could be added vs cutting your frame (which sounds like a bad idea).

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Mitchell Mathews | Community Manager | Trek Bikes | @mitchmathewz

The Koga bikes are sexy!

Agree with the Velo Flyer recommendation. Lots of my track friends ride them. http://veloflyerbicycles.com/
I rode a Felt but donated it to the Hellyer women's program in the summer.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

You'd be better off going with an eccentric bottom bracket vs. tensioners... if you can find one for whatever bb system is current.

Or, realistically, if you were going to try to repurpose a bike not designed for it... just having a team mechanic to handle things like gear changes between events :)

I wouldn't suggest cutting up a bike for most folks either... but it's certainly been done, and ridden to an hour record on a speed concept even :D

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My Blog - http://leegoocrap.blogspot.com

Aquila

That looks interesting, thanks.

Have you ridden one? That's very non-traditional geometry.

Even rear dropouts without track-style length are a real hassle. Have to keep different chains on hand for different gearing. Also they typically aren't the durable steel style that you can torque really high over and over again (I've yet to pull a wheel in track, and I don't plan to ever experience that)

Indeed, I started on a p3sl and it really only worked with one gear, and all it really did was make me realize I needed a real track bike if I was going to continue.

Yes... You can ride a converted road/tt bike with enough sacrifices / bodges... But outside of something like an hour attempt or some other specific event, it's going to be a headache bare minimum.

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My Blog - http://leegoocrap.blogspot.com