Advice on a fixie

red_ice

Hey, im looking at getting one of these. Im not buying it to use every day, just about once a week. Just wondering if it would be good to have for a run around? Would it be convenient purchase?

cheers

Chips Lovell

To be honest, it looks like the fixed equivalent of a supermarket mountain bike. Lots of no name components

penexpers

Hah looks like someone was busy with photoshop trying to paint the chain blue.

red_ice

not worth it then? Im not looking for anything fancy, just something that would be somewhat relyable

Raam

red_ice wrote: »

not worth it then? Im not looking for anything fancy, just something that would be somewhat relyable

I'll go out on a limb and say that that bike will not be reliable.

Chips Lovell

I've a €100 bike in my basement I use when I want something to lock up around town. It was never used very much but always sounded like the cranks were going to fall off. It's a false economy to be honest.

red_ice

fair enough! Any advice on what to go for then? i like the flipflop idea (obviously i dont cycle or know anything about bikes)

flickerx

Bide your time and wait for someone here to sell one second hand, you'll get better components and frame, or maybe something like an offer will come up on a website for something better, like what happened with the Specialized Tricross recently.

Keep an eye on the adverts.ie alerts sticky at the top of the page for fixies for sale.

stuf

e.g. http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=96572&cat=52

oflahero

Ah, the now-ubiquitous Unipack. Spotted one the other day on South William St, in glorious Bumblebee-Man black and yellow.

Actually I was nearly interested in one myself until I unearthed the multipage thread below, in which the London fixie maniacs tear it to shreds:

http://www.londonfgss.com/thread5205.html

flickerx

oflahero wrote: »

the London fixie maniacs tear it to shreds:
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Arent all London fixie riders complete tossers though?

blorg

Now the bike is probably not great and I would not suggest you get one, but I must say good god that thread is self congratulatory crap from fixie ****.

There is plenty of speculation regarding what might be wrong with it from people who have never come across one but the reports from people who have actually seen the thing in the flesh are just "it's crap." Post after post, "it's crap", "it's crap." No specifics, just "it's crap." Nothing specific. No "the headset is fecked," "the cranks have just snapped," etc.

Every so often someone posts who actually owns one, and says, well, erm, it's OK actually.

They take the piss out of someone who bought one in a market and likes it: "Real nice, solid and study, well put together ride."

Another poster: "One of the girls partners had just brought a unipack and was carrying on about how great it was, and what a fantastic bargain he had gotten, only £190 from e-bay. Didn't know the guy and couldn't bring myself to outright **** on his bike, had to resort to dropping subtle hints about checking spoke tighness and being wary about going using it fixed or on the road or at all really."

From reading that entire thread, the general jist I got of any actual problems with the bike were (1) it's a bit heavy; (2) stuff was loose, chain, brakes, front wheel nuts- down to the buyer I reckon as they would be doing the assembly there.

Jesus what a display of fixie tosserdom, +1 on that one flickerx.

You are still better off looking for a reputable brand or decent conversion second hand though.

oflahero

blorg wrote: »

Jesus what a display of fixie tosserdom, +1 on that one flickerx.

You are still better off looking for a reputable brand or decent conversion second hand though.

Yes it's a relief to hear a bit of positivity in among the smug braying of the 'i dug my own carbon out of the earth and fashioned my bike with it' snobs over on that board. What I *did* take from it all was that the shininess, SS trendiness and, well, sheer colour-richness of the Unipacks shouldn't distract anyone from the fact that it's still a two-hundred-quid bike and has the components as such. As Mr Blorg says here, it's worth spending that little bit extra for quality that will last in the long run.

blorg

Saw a few conversions on Gumtree. Prices may very well be negotiable. The problem with buying a conversion if you are just starting out is you may not be best placed to evaluate the state of the components etc.

http://www.gumtree.ie/dublin/97/34095397.html
http://www.gumtree.ie/dublin/82/35173282.html

steinone

Despite what you think about London tossers or whatever DO NOT buy a unipack, please for your own good.
Yes its very heavy, the bb apparently breaks very easily, the wheels are terrible and with the spoke pattern it would be very very hard to re-true the wheels.
I know someone who got one. wheel got a bit of a buckle, had to buy a new back wheel, the buckle was from hitting a pothole... Not good.
The chain that comes on them WILL break very quickly, that also happened to my friend.
You could buy a off the peg bike or build one for slightly more than one a unipack, the price of the unipack doesnt include the parts you will have to replace think about that.

oflahero

Yeah I was pretty close to getting one until I did my research. Ooh... pretty spokes... coloured chain... mmmmm. It was the saddle, funnily enough, that first made me think about it - it looked so bog standard in the photo, and on ebay they describe it as 'Narrow type with soft feel top, plastic base and steel rails' - hardly fulsome praise. And then there's the slack chain - althought that's hardly difficult to fix.

I gave the one parked in Sth William St the once-over - yep, all bog-standard no-name components - so sadly it really doesn't look like a long-term investment, even for £200.

Bit of a hijack but does anyone have any thoughts on this lad here from Evans - the Iron Horse Transit - http://tinyurl.ie/563 ? 38t chainring on the front is a bit low but they might put on a 42 or 44 if asked I suppose.

steinone

oflahero wrote: »

Bit of a hijack but does anyone have any thoughts on this lad here from Evans - the Iron Horse Transit - http://tinyurl.ie/563 ? 38t chainring on the front is a bit low but they might put on a 42 or 44 if asked I suppose.

I remember someone saying that Ironhorse bikes are quite good, cant remember where so dont hold me by it.
As for the chainring its grand as it is, with a 13 on the back you will get 77 gear inches, fairly high for street riding.

oflahero

Cheers steinone, it's a tempter alright. 16t on the back though currently, botheration.

steinone

oflahero wrote: »

Cheers steinone, it's a tempter alright. 16t on the back though currently, botheration.

What do you mean by that? Im taking it as you have a 16 on the back on your other bike, but what relevance does that have to a new bike?
With pretty much all fixed gear bikes you buy you should include the cost of a sprocket or two extra to get your gearing right. Plus you cant really share sprockets on bikes..