I need some advice, basically I've been saving money for a bike and have come to the realisation that I have to put down ~£600+ for a decent road bike, NOT GOING TO HAPPEN (I'm poor).

Anyway, I've been looking into alternatives including fixed gear bikes but I have a few questions/worries.

1: Would a fixed gear bike be okay to take on long rides? I'll be mainly riding on roads/bike paths.

2: What FG bike would you recommend I buy? I'd love to be able to build my own but I have never done it, I also have a feeling it would end up quite expensive due to me having no tools to do the job properly.

3: Will I regret losing gears? I haven't been on a bike in years, my primary reason in getting a bike is to get active and fit again. I'm only 25, 5' 7" and 200lbs...

4: How fast can fixed gears go generally? I know "it's all in the engine" but with the 'normal' gear ratio there must be a limit at which you legs are spinning too fast to make the bike go faster.

Well, thats my life story. I'd be very grateful if someone could clear these up for me, It's frustrating being stuck in the house on sunny days when I could be out there enjoying it if I knew what to buy!

Cheers

1. yes. i did over 75 miles yesterday on mine with no problems.

2. start having a look around at what's available, test ride a few, then decide.

3. i don't know. will you?

4. i can sit at 25mph on the flat and spin up to 37mph on the downhills but it depends on you and your gearing.

Thanks for the quick reply.

I am planning on test riding when I can get to my LBS, sadly they only have the Spec Langster and I really do prefer the look of the Charge Plug bike.

I'm looking at either the Charge Plug, Charge Plug Racer or Bianchi Pista, are there are others I should take into consideration?

Silly question... Whats the clearance like on the pedals on these Fixed Gear bikes? As you are pedaling constantly surely it's quite risky taking sharp turns if your pedal is at risk of hitting the floor, are the cranks shorter or something?

Also what gearing are you using to reach them speeds?

Cheers

^ + 1

Check this thread for bike ideas:

http://www.londonfgss.com/thread6022.html

Riding SS or fixed is the best way i know of getting fit, when i first started riding fixed i was 25, and dropped nearly 2 Stone in as many months riding about 10 miles a day Monday to Friday. Gears really not needed in London.

Ohh and dont rush out and buy the first bike you like, take your time and make the right decision, 600 quid will get you some very nice ss/fixed machinery

Check out the new IRO builds they have at Cavendish Bikes for 450ish too.

http://www.irocycle.com/

http://cavendishcycles.wordpress.com/

Thanks guys, I checked out the IRO bikes and they look sweet and seem lightweight.

Anyone here have an IRO bike or have had the chance to ride one? What are they like?

Sucks that I would have to pay loads just to get a bike imported, I don't see the IRO builds on the cavendish site, got a link?

Cheers

Cavendish have IROs in the shop right now.

"the new IRO off the peg has arrived, looks pretty good, fairly basic parts, but with a nice matte black finish."


The Charge Plug is heavy compared to the Langster.

I'll concur, I dropped 4 stones since last year after building my first fixed gear bike (probably due to the insane gearing of 16-52)

went from this to this

. . . to this . . .


http://www.vimeo.com/1313493

Well, becoming addictive to nuts is a side effect...

LMAO that is actually you aswell isn't it? :D (In the video I mean).

How are you finding your Bianchi Pista edscoble?

1. Fixeds are fine for long rides, but sometimes if your doing long rides daily (15+ miles) you might like to give your knees a break now and then. Remember the tour de France was contested on fixed wheels back in the day.

2. Its hard to recommend a bike but I'll recommend things to look for.
- How it rides. Cycle what ever your thinking, your skill in gauging how well it rides will increase with the number of other bikes you have cycled and how long you have cycled them for, etc.
Components. Make sure the components are decent, this depends on your price range, but generally a frame wont break on you for a while (even if its not great) but your parts will. So get decent ones.
- Frame. More important perhaps than the parts but you wont notice that til way after you've replaced parts. Look for light wieght, strong frame, space for mud guards and brakes if you intend using them. Make sure it's the right size, etc.
- Style. Its important you like the bike your on.
So basically you need to develop a 6th sense that weighs up price, applicability to you, value for money, style, etc.

3. You'll miss gears sometimes, but you probably wont regret it. By and large geared bikes are faster outside of the velodrome. However, when I cycle free wheeling bikes I feel like I'm out of control!! Also, if your new to bikes they are more difficult to repair and have more to go wrong. In short, fixeds are so much more fun to ride (but I'm biased), are very quick and I've only encountered 2 areas of London with hills you need to work on (telegraph hill and some place out near Compton cycles) so you wont need them. So unless you regularly hold onto cars, trucks or buses for a lift you wont "regret" not having them.

4. This depends on the gearing, you and where you're cycling etc. But you'll rarely find you hit top end on a fixed in London.

Hope that helps,

Peace

Thanks for the advice, I don't live in London I live in Shropshire, it has some hills but most are only slight inclines.

I'll have to try a fixed gear out next time I can get to my LBS, they stock Langsters so it's worth a go.

they get a bad rap and they are ugly, but the langster is really fun to ride. i use mine as my daily all round do everything bike and it's fine.

also, with a bit of black tape over the decals, it looks ratty enough so that no-one bothers it when it's locked up.

i use a 70.9 inch gearing on mine (42/16)

If you are still looking at a road bike you could get a hell of a lot for even £400 on ebay at the moment. Road bikes depreciate a lot as they are not so fashionable these days.

You will love fixed wheel bikes though and they do work you harder for a given distance than their multi geared counterparts, at least I find this to be the case. Try a few but don't drive yourself nuts trying to choose, get on a bike and get pedalling, this is the best way to really learn what you want when, in the future, you are looking to upgrade.

you can get an incredible SH road bike for much less than £400

example:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Cannondale-Sil...3286.m14.l1318

Whether you go fixed or geared, the first couple of months you'll need to HTFU til you get your fitness up to something adequate.
Riding a bike you get sweaty, breathless and sore.
I think this is what puts people off.
It gets easier though...

+ 1

I would start off SS to get your legs in then switch to fixed - the best thing bout it is that if you switch back to gears after a couple of months on fixed you will find that you can drop the hammer like a motherfucker, my MTBing has improved no end from riding fixed on the road

Well, if you don't mind coming to London for your bike this forum every now and again has amazing bargains, ie bikes completely built. Many people on here seem to enjoy building bikes and will only ask for what the components have cost them and not for their skill and knowledge.

I regret having bought a bike before I started hanging out on this forum. I easily paid double to what I would have on this forum.

I don't mind hopping on the train to London, my local train service has recently started a direct train service from Telford to Marylebone.

I'll keep an eye out on the forum.

Thanks for all the help so far guys ;)

Keep a very close eye on the classified section. The aforementioned bargains go very, very quickly.

For example look at what vinylvillain sold for £230: http://www.londonfgss.com/thread7054.html

Love it, perfect for London, not sure about long journery mind since it's a proper track bike, but really I love the bike because I find it perfect for me, so it might not be for you - test ride as much fixed gear/single speed bike as you can, and/or try and make a good decision on what to get as a first timer.

Yep!

Im probably gonna get "abused" for saying this, but if your strapped for cash the offer on a Giant Bowery pearsons just advertised in the classifieds section is amazing.

I often reccomend the bowery as the best value/quality off the peg for those who havent got the time/knowledge for building/sourcing parts. And thats at £350, which is good considering things like the plug & pista are £400+

they are dong it for £225 for forum members I think, but they kind of got told to piss off so I dont know if its still on. If it is, bargain!

Yeah I saw that, have you seen the new Bowery?

Slaved Bowery!

Yeah the Pearson deal is very good. (mumble spamming grumble bastards grrrr whinge hiss) ;)

I actually like the new Bowery.

OTP - lots of bike for not much money.

Thing is, you're going to start messing around with it and changing bits. You may think that you won't, but you will. It'll start with a pair of grips and end in a powder coat. Honestly. Think about that before you start spending.

Building a bike isn't so expensive and there's lots of people who are willing to help. Lots of tools to borrow, too.

Come to polo. It seems a little daunting to start with (I was bricking it the first time) but people are friendly and want to help. We're all bike nerds.

Have fun

Since there's offer for a Bowery for only £225, you'd still be under £400 if you managed to add some powdercoat, nitto bar, deep V, etc.

How does the Bowery compare to other OTP fixed gear bikes when it comes to Weight?

I want a light bike, was looking at the Charge Plug but heard it was quite a heavy bike.

Ed, you speak truth. I'm just highlighting the inevitable - you will want to mess with your bike.

Phix - Honestly, I don't know. Aluminium is light, but a harsh ride. Strong legs will outperform light bikes every day. The Plug is strong - check out what Superted gets up to on his.

I ride a steel Bianchi Pista, and I notice how much stiffer it is to normal steel road bike, surely the alu wouldn't felt that much different to steel due to the fact that track bike are design to be quite stiff? or is there's a logic that I don't understand yet to this?

The Charge Plug, while it's a heavy bike for it's kind, it's still a lots lighter than a mountain bike of the same price, even a £700 mountain bike cannot match the weight of the Charge Plug, so if it your first bike, you wouldn't really think it's heavy, in fact when I first ride it (my first ever test ride on a fixed gear bicycle was an Charge Plug from my local bike shop) I thought it was amazingly light compared to my Kona Smoke (rigid MTB).

Hmm. I don't know... I've only ever ridden steel bikes, but the 'Alu is stiffer' theory is what I've been told.

Condemning the Plug (and I'm not saying you did, just reflecting a common frame of mind) as 'heavy' is a little subjective – or is it objective, buggered if I know at this hour, but I'm sure you get my point. It's £400, it's great for the money and you'll have a lot of fun on it. Ditto the Pista. And maybe three or four other bikes.

I thought Steel bikes were meant to give a more responsive ride?