Suggest a fixed gear for me

[vvill]

@dcv 90974 wrote:

I didn’t immediately love riding fixed.

Wha’?? Does not compute. Say it ain’t so!

Seriously though, it’s good to hear I’m not the only one that took months to get used to fixed gear riding. (Finally the thought of coasting while I’m on FG now seems about as natural as throwing a pump in my spokes.)

@jrenaut 90975 wrote:

@vvill – Think of this bike as my 2-seater convertible. I have the full-size SUV (Xtracycle), the sporty-yet-roomy CUV (Bianchi Volpe), and now I want a stripped-down, bare-bones just-me-and-the-bike bike.

If you want closest to stripped-down convertible, then that’d be 23/25 tires, a front brake only, and 120mm rear spacing – and I’d agree with dcv on spending a little more to get a frameset that you love and maybe even have a LBS build you a nice rear wheel. Other parts could be pieced together fairly easily, and upgraded later as you see fit: I feel like saddles and handlebars are almost always customized by riders, and to a lesser extent stem length, seatpost (I don’t like too much setback), bar tape, hoods/brakes, crank length. On a FG that only really leaves a few other things to change, and since your riding position changes less on FG I think it’s more likely you’ll want to fine tune the fit. Personally, I like a FG that rides like a (“racing”) road bike – reasonably aggressive but normal drops, hoods and bar width (I ride 40cm and have fairly narrow shoulders), no track drops or bullhorns. I do ride in drops and tops a lot on all my dropbar bikes though.

I don’t have any specific suggestions on brands, but if you want light and reasonable budget you’ll probably be best served by aluminum. There are at least three happy Cinelli owners here, and RESTONTODC (doesn’t post much anymore) commutes fixed on a Langster (he used to be on a heavier SE Lager/Draft bike). If you’re set on steel, it’s going to be heavier unless you pay a lot more – my Reynolds 725 Wabi is still around 20lbs (and I’m tempted to swap out the fork and seatpost out for carbon already). I doubt there’s actually that much difference between most big manufacturers’ cromoly urban/FG offerings other than look and paintjob but I haven’t ridden any of them.

I have a listed-as-56cm ex-hybrid converted to SS/FG that you could test ride too, although right now the brakes don’t really work (hoping to remedy that soon). The set up is mildly aggressive but not track. I don’t have SPDs but can swap out pedals easily. (My Wabi is a 52 so probably too small.)

Side note: I don’t like Specialized’s corporate attitudes either, but I have 4 of their saddles, and a bunch of other accessories. It’s unfortunate because they make good stuff.

[dcv]

@americancyclo 90988 wrote:

This sounds like a great time to organize the fabled “Bike Arlington Hains Point Fixie Fest”

Did you just volunteer to organize?

[dcv]

@dcv 91003 wrote:

Did you just volunteer to organize?

And might I suggest Barcroft as an alternate venue?

[jrenaut]

@vvill 91002 wrote:

If you want closest to stripped-down convertible, then that’d be 23/25 tires, a front brake only, and 120mm rear spacing

Aside from the rear spacing, which I know nothing about, yes, that’s what I want. A small rear blinky and nothing resembling a commuter accessory.

Steel vs aluminum – I’m sort of biased towards steel because my aluminum bike (my Giant that got hit by a cab) wasn’t really the right bike for me (because when I bought it I didn’t know what the right bike was) but my Bianchi definitely is. So since i’ve had a much better experience with a steel bike, I tend to want another. But I’m not entirely opposed to aluminum.

Isn’t a custom build likely to be way more expensive? And how do you get the right fit when you’re just buying a frame?

[hozn]

@jrenaut 91013 wrote:

Isn’t a custom build likely to be way more expensive? And how do you get the right fit when you’re just buying a frame?

My impression is that “curated” is a better term than “custom” here

As for fitting, there should be a “right” frame size that you can arrive at by calculating your current stack/reach numbers and factoring in any desired changes to your cycling position. As i think vvill already mentioned, buying a complete bike just makes it more likely that you will have to change out your contact point equipment — saddle/stem/seatpost/bars/pedals.

I imagine that someday I will build up^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H curate a FG for fun. My next n+1 will probably be a unicycle, though. I guess that is a FG, so win win!

[OneEighth]

I found the fit on my fixed bikes to be pretty different from on my road or cx bikes. Took a bit of riding to figure out what worked best and that is why I would suggest going used first and giving yourself time to feel things out before you plunk the bigger bucks. Get the frame size right and then fiddle with the stem, bars, ratio, and cranks.
I actually loved riding fixed right off the bat. I liked that it was so different from what I was used to. It took some getting used to, but it didn’t take long.

[vvill]

@jrenaut 91013 wrote:

Aside from the rear spacing, which I know nothing about, yes, that’s what I want. A small rear blinky and nothing resembling a commuter accessory.

Steel vs aluminum – I’m sort of biased towards steel because my aluminum bike (my Giant that got hit by a cab) wasn’t really the right bike for me (because when I bought it I didn’t know what the right bike was) but my Bianchi definitely is. So since i’ve had a much better experience with a steel bike, I tend to want another. But I’m not entirely opposed to aluminum.

Isn’t a custom build likely to be way more expensive? And how do you get the right fit when you’re just buying a frame?

Basically 120mm rear spacing is standard for track frames, and by extension, many SS/FG bikes you see on the street. Modern road bikes are typically 130mm, or 135mm for disc brakes. It’s mostly an aesthetic/classic thing afaik.

I’m no expert on frame materials/design but I have the impression that the ride quality of aluminum frames can vary just as much as that for steel frames, based on tubing sizes, shapes, methods (hydroforming) etc. But the cost/weight thing I think is a constant with aluminum vs steel at this point in time.

A custom build will be more expensive but that assumes that you end up keeping everything on your stock build. There is some risk on fit if you can’t test ride a frameset, but most people buying framesets will be experienced enough with geometry charts, etc. that they minimize that risk (or they may have already ridden something very similar) and are willing to take it. I’ve bought three bikes online without test riding, and three with test rides (albeit two of them way too short test rides), but I’ve ended up tweaking stem lengths, saddles, etc. on just about all the bikes anyway.

[jrenaut]

@hozn 91029 wrote:

My impression is that “curated” is a better term than “custom” here

Yeah, that’s what I meant. I mean, I’d be happy to have a frame custom built but I could buy the Pista, the Catena, and six beaters from BikesDirect for that kind of cash.

[hozn]

@jrenaut 91035 wrote:

Yeah, that’s what I meant. I mean, I’d be happy to have a frame custom built but I could buy the Pista, the Catena, and six beaters from BikesDirect for that kind of cash.

Yeah, I was just joking. “Custom build” is technically correct, but misses some of the cultural context.

[jrenaut]

@OneEighth 91031 wrote:

I found the fit on my fixed bikes to be pretty different from on my road or cx bikes. Took a bit of riding to figure out what worked best and that is why I would suggest going used first and giving yourself time to feel things out before you plunk the bigger bucks. Get the frame size right and then fiddle with the stem, bars, ratio, and cranks.
I actually loved riding fixed right off the bat. I liked that it was so different from what I was used to. It took some getting used to, but it didn’t take long.

This seems like it might be the best option. It has the added benefit that buying used means I should be able to get back most of what I paid when I sell it to upgrade to what I really want.

Is there anything resembling standard guidance on how to convert from comfortable CX geometry to comfortable fixed geometry? I’m also new to putting a lot of miles on different bikes – for a long time I just had the one, and now I split my time between the Xtracycle and the Bianchi, which are pretty far apart on the bike spectrum. The time I dropped the Xtracycle off after a 10 mile ride and picked up the Bianchi to get in to work was really weird – it took a mile before the Bianchi didn’t feel weird, and I’ve ridden it 4-6 days a week for nearly 2 years.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@vvill 91002 wrote:

If you want closest to stripped-down convertible, then that’d be 23/25 tires, a front brake only, and 120mm rear spacing – and I’d agree with dcv on spending a little more to get a frameset that you love and maybe even have a LBS build you a nice rear wheel. Other parts could be pieced together fairly easily, and upgraded later as you see fit: I feel like saddles and handlebars are almost always customized by riders, and to a lesser extent stem length, seatpost (I don’t like too much setback), bar tape, hoods/brakes, crank length. On a FG that only really leaves a few other things to change, and since your riding position changes less on FG I think it’s more likely you’ll want to fine tune the fit. Personally, I like a FG that rides like a (“racing”) road bike – reasonably aggressive but normal drops, hoods and bar width (I ride 40cm and have fairly narrow shoulders), no track drops or bullhorns. I do ride in drops and tops a lot on all my dropbar bikes though.

Basically agree with all this. I built my Cinelli from the ground up and it probably ended up being cheaper than buying a complete build (which for Cinellis are practically non-existent). I bought the crankset, wheels, and saddle new, but the stem/bars/seatpost I got off the DC Used Bike Marketplace on Facebook for a pretty good deal. From all my research, most complete FG/SS builds tend to be the “cheaper” bikes, like Purefix, State, Wabi, Bigshot, etc…while most of the higher-end bikes tend to be sold as framesets. I think that, due to the lack of a groupset and the volume discounts builders get on those, the cost differential between building your own FG/SS and buying complete is minimal, so you can fine tune every minor aspect of the build without adding a lot of extra cost.

Alternative framesets to a Pista that could be build within your budget, and that have the more classic look:

-Soma Rush
-All-City Big Block
-All-City Thunderdome
-Pake Rum Runner (not quite so classic)
-Pake French 75
-Cinelli Gazetta (a little more expensive)

[chris_s]

@hozn 91029 wrote:

My impression is that “curated” is a better term than “custom” here

RIGHT. Curated sounds way less expensive.

[jrenaut]

So, I was thinking of all the parts I’d have to buy if I went frame-only, and then I remembered I have my old Giant. The frame is toast (aluminum frames generally don’t handle being hit by cars very well), but the bike only had about 2100 miles on it. How much could I salvage from that?

[mstone]

@jrenaut 91056 wrote:

So, I was thinking of all the parts I’d have to buy if I went frame-only, and then I remembered I have my old Giant. The frame is toast (aluminum frames generally don’t handle being hit by cars very well), but the bike only had about 2100 miles on it. How much could I salvage from that?

Probably not enough to make much difference. Depends on how modern the Giant is and how classic the fixie is. Worst case, you’d be able to use the front wheel, the seat, and the pedals.

[jrenaut]

@mstone 91058 wrote:

Probably not enough to make much difference. Depends on how modern the Giant is and how classic the fixie is. Worst case, you’d be able to use the front wheel, the seat, and the pedals.

Makes sense. I think the front wheel is bent and the pedals are on another bike. So basically nothing.

[Author]

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