i’ve been browsing ebay recently for a used steel frame fixed gear to try using for winter training. just wondering if any fixie owners can share some advice as to what to look for, preferred gearing, converted road frame vs. track frame, if your run a different crank length than you road bike, and any other helpful considerations. also, any particular brand of frames that convert pretty well and economically (a colnago or pinarello might be a bit overkill) that anyone can recommend would be appreciated as well. thanks.
almost got what appeared to be a nice deal on a steel fixie on ebay yesterday, but somebody undercut me and slipped a bid in with less than a minute left in the auction. very uncool. grrrrrr.
I bought a 30 year old peuguot off ebay for like $60 last year. I had to use the bb and cranks that came with it, but it worked great. Sizes were a little wierd for modern times (120mm rear spacing and 26.0 seat post) but parts could easily be found. Great great commuter.
You can get a Bianchi Pista for between $300 and $500. I bought one on ebay and it’s awesome. I changed the gearing to 42x16 (pretty much standard for road use). Cranks are generally 170mm. Any bike with horizontal rear dropouts is a decent candidate for fixie conversion.
scroll down a little. double butted cro-mo ( true temper) welded up sweet by none other than waterford cycles for ben’s. 350 bucks frame or 750 built up with nicely functional parts. road geometry. braze-ons. drilled for brakes. pewter headbadge with a beer mug, hey. usa made by one of the most storied usa bulders ever and bitchin cool.
thanks for the input so far guys. t-t-n, this option intriuges me. i’ve seen this site before, might have been one of your posts. do you own one of these, and if so, can you comment on the ride? it seems like it’s pretty solid quality stuff here.
more of an open question - is it cost effective to put one of these together by yourself, or better just to have an lbs set it up, and what is a typical upcharge? also which stuff is just plain better to leave for the shop to do? i imagine i should at the very least let a shop set up the rear cog to get a good chainline.
It comes as a single speed. However it has a flip flop rear hub to go fixed.
I left everthing stock except. Saddle and Brakes (old DA brakes) for comfort , Armadillo tyres, pedals and I went to a 42 chain ring (comes with a 48) so I could do some hills (16 cog in back).
They are hard to find since most LBS employees scoop them up before they hit the shop floor. I have a P3, Specialized E5 but about 80 percent of my riding currently is on this. Its too much fun.
rsum. i do not own one of the Milwaukee’s. i do know several of the key players in getting them off the ground, tho, and have ridden one around a bit - that one in the pic, at that very venue ( a 'cross race), as it happens. the guy was cyclocrossing it as a singlespeed, and it worked great.
solid and quality would two very good words to describe the ride. lively and quick, yet very true. waterford’s reputation goes without question. compared to other stuff out there in this price range, the Milwaukee would very, very hard to ignore- and for affordable fixies with road geometry it is a slam dunk.
the complete bikes have a bunch of QBP house branded and similar stuff on them. nothing real special, but plenty solid and esily the match of any similarly spec’d bargain fix. or close enuf - with this bike you go old-school and realize the the frame really IS the heart of the bike. with a fix what else matters ?? ben’s cycle is a hyper-cool shop in milwaukee with tons of cred and savvy.
if you have things like a suitable bar/stem, crank, post/saddle maybe wheels lying around you can build it up yerself and be good. keep in mind the rear is 120 mm. - made for track-style hubs. otherwise, the bike is good to go, replace stuff as you like, or as it wears out, or never. that is maybe the best thing about this frame - you could upgrade to campy pista level track parts, or phil wood, whatever - and the frame would not out-classed, unlike similarly priced bikes out there which may be slightly better in OEM spec - but with a POS chinese frame. it ( the Milwaukee ) is wicked ass cool, make no mistake.
There is a lot of that on the E-bay, it is called sniping, and it must work cause it happens all the time.
If you are a handy with a wrench kind of person you can cob together a rig for real cheap from any old frame with long horizonal dropouts.
42/15-17 ish seems to be a good starting gear. Whatever you do do have a front brake at minimum, I don’t care who you are a front brake will stop you faster and safer.
There are a bunch of new rigs for around a grand or look under “track” in the cycling section of the E-bay. you can probably get a rig for between $400-700 range. Be very careful it can be addicting, I look for TT with flat courses to use my fixie on all the time. Aloha G
I could care less if it was made in Taiwan - they make fine bikes there, including the Soma Rush. The problem is the aluminum - on a fixie that just ain’t right.
I could care less if it was made in Taiwan - they make fine bikes there, including the Soma Rush. The problem is the aluminum - on a fixie that just ain’t right.
You forgot the two brakes as well…blah, blah… 20 years ago you could only wear black bicycle shorts when bicycle racing. Things change. If I cared about conforming I would be a roadie instead of a triathlete.
Anyway its really considered a track bike. Langster is the last name of one of their employees that races track.
Check the reviews out on the web. www.roadbikereview.com for $450 I wouldn’t care if it was carbon.
20 years ago you could only wear black bicycle shorts when bicycle racing. Things change.