Thanks for all your advice. The answer has come. My LBS found a customer who has a 56 Mercury Alpha. I am going to buy it used for $300.00.
I want to also mention www.nycbikes.com. Will the owner was great in helping me to find an affordable bike and if my regular LBS didn’t figure something out I was going to go with him. I’m a firm believer in LBS loyalty and am glad to support shops in my area.
thanks ST for all your help.
B.
Hello All,
Wife was going to purchase me a Mercury Alpha fixed gear track bike ($400.00) for my birthday last month. Found out today that they are backordered until March (EVIL, EVIL, EVIL).
I desperately want a fixed gear bike for winter riding and want it now.
I throw my desperate soul at the collective genius of ST…
help,
MLT
PS - I’d love to find a shop in and around NYC that I can drive to and pick the bike up.
You might want to consider converting an older road bike (i.e., one with horizontal dropouts) to a fixed gear. I’ve done it several times, it’s not very difficult, and the final cost can be really low. Check out Sheldon Brown’s website for everything you will ever need to know about fixed gears.
What you don’t want is a true “track” bike, since it’ll have twitchy-ass handling. You want road geom with horizontal dropouts. It’s a common enough thing these days, most frame builders make one, and usually don’t charge much for them.
Talk to John, he can probably get you a Bianchi Pista pretty quick. He sells oodles of hi-end stuff too, so beware; I cannot be responsible for your CC bill.
I just got home from a night ride on my fixed gear bike. I had a blast . The temp is 35 f in nothern ny. I am glad I had fenders on . It was a nice dry ride. Get any bike you like that fits. I would check out the Felt. I would try to suport your LBS.
My bike is a home made job 10 speed frame. No noise while riding.Full fenders Leather seat very old school.
I have a Soma Rush that I use for commuting and love it. The only problem I have with the track geometry is it has toe overlap which is a hassle when going around tight corners on a fixie (and can’t stop pedalling to avoid hitting the front tire).
I bought the Rush over a Surly Steamroller because of fit (long legs, short torso)
Don’t know the bike, but the other place to look is Bike Works NYC on the lower East Side. It will get you any new frame, or you shop for any of the really cool old-school frames hanging on the walls. The place just feels cool when you walk in.
The easiest thing would be to take any road bike and buy a wheel built with a white industries ENO hub… best place to get that would be through sheldon brown…
It is a regularly spaced wheel with an eccentric hub which will allow you to get correct chain tension on a road bike without horizontal drops…
Thanks for the help. I am trying to support my local LBS, but he told me that it would be in this month and than he said that it would be in by March. 3 months requires a lot of loyalty…