I purchased This SE Draft Coaster with 650c wheels 9 years ago for $279 mainly because I wanted a cheap SS bike with 650c wheels that I could lock up and not worry about it getting stolen or vandalized. There are not very many options when it comes to track bikes with 650c wheels, the only other currently being a Wabi, and those are not cheap. I never really liked the coaster brake, and immediately added a front brake, because a rear brake alone doesn't work very well when you have to stop quickly. This bike was really heavy out of the box, weighing nearly 26 lbs with its hi ten frame and fork, and nearly every component including the cranks being made out of steel. The regular sized SE Draft bikes with 700c wheels were even heavier, weighing about 28 lbs. The bike was extremely hard to pedal, and it felt like I was pedaling through deep sand. I thought maybe the coaster brake was dragging, only later when I removed the rear wheel to replace it did I realize that the axle bearings were way too tight to the point that I couldn't turn it by hand. I also immediately discarded the crappy steel stem and seatpost, and replaced them with alloy pieces from my parts bin. Anyway, I thought about replacing the rear wheels and converting it to fixed, but didn't feel like spending a lot of money on the POS bike.
Fast forward to a few wheels ago when I bought a new 650c wheelset for my Wabi Lightning Scandium (see post #263), which freed up the original 650c wheelset for use in this bike. All I needed to do was transfer the tires and tubes from the original SE Draft wheelset to the Wabi wheelset, and find a fixed cog and lockring in my parts bin. I also needed to have pedals with foot retention, and found some old Shimano Deore XT caged mtb pedals, MKS large toe clips, Alfredo Binda laminated leather toe straps and REG toe strap buttons. So, bottom line, I succeeded in making the conversion without spending any additional money on this bike.
So, the new bike is about 2.2 lbs lighter, but still heavy at 23.1 lbs, and by far the heaviest bike in my fixed gear stable. I did lower the gearing a bit, down to 61 gear inches from 65 gear inches. The combination of lower weight, lower gearing, less drag in the rear hub, and foot retention has resulted a much livelier, easier rolling and better climbing bike that is actually now enjoyable to ride. The problem is that I can no longer use it as a lockup bike, because it would really upset me now if it were to get stolen or vandalized.
Anyway, the first photo below is of the new fixed gear setup, and the second photo is of the original coaster brake setup.
2012 SE Draft Coaster with 650c wheels converted to fixed in 2021
2012 SE Draft Coaster with 650c wheels