So i’m looking to buy a really clean lined, subtle single speed bike to hack round London. Looks are absolute priority, bonus points for matt black. Clean lines, nice finishes, etc.

I’m thinking I either buy a proper “Lifestyle bike” and have it double bubble for going on to the mud when I get the chance –

Think Cotic Roadrat:
https://www.cotic.co.uk/product/roadrat

Or I buy something comparatively cheap but with good looks just for the city:
https://www.single-speed.co.uk/collections/bicycles/Single-Speed-Bikes

https://www.single-speed.co.uk/collections/bicycles/products/juliet-by-pure-fix-cycles
https://www.single-speed.co.uk/collections/bicycles/products/galaxy
https://www.single-speed.co.uk/collections/bicycles/products/matte-black-5-0

But are these actually any good? I get they’ve not got branded parts, so they’ll naturally fall apart, but what about the frame quality? Does anyone have experience?

Of course, if anyone knows of any other clean single speed bikes around the £1k and below mark, let me know.

Cheers

Do you have a sister,will she let you wear her jeans?

I bought one by State Bicycle Co for my commute. Black and pink, bullhorn bars, painfully hipster. It was about 350 quid. The reason I went for that is that it was the cheapest I could find with a Chromo (as opposed to Hi Ten) steel frame.

All the parts are no name, generic bits, and are fine. I’ve done about 12,000km on the bike, and have had to replace consumables only (tyres, tubes, chain, pads, cables) and a couple of freehubs. It’s actually reasonably quick too. I’d recommend.

Don’t buy it from Fixed Gear Frenzy though, they are useless.

Seen comments saying to avoid that state bicycle co.

This guy has been trying to sell this steamroller for a few weeks :

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=232097236089

I thought that this looked quite decent, went for £357 :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kona-Grand-Wagon-single-speed-fixed-bike-Campagnolo-Nitto-Dura-Ace-Gipiemme-/222255136143?hash=item33bf703d8f%3Ag%3APtMAAOSwtnpXoOZN&nma=true&si=GEAuN2jFQz9cHodh359ZQctt6sE%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

default answer for a single speed I think is a Langster.

Planet-X La Quelda? Seems pretty good value at £300

I’d suggest:
a) not spending more than you can afford to lose, if it’s good looking and fashionable you’re more likley to see it for sale on brick lane than you are where you left it.
b) going for quality and re-buildable rather than cheap parts, and avoid hi-tensile steel frames, 4130 is a sensible minimum.
c) if you want to use it every day then get one that will take mudguards and bigger tyres, not ‘cool’ but neither’s walking or looking like you’ve shit yourself whenever it’s rained. Ditto disks make sense if you want to use it all year and not be replacing rims or adjusting pads too often.

I’d trawl ebay for an older kaffenback with singlespeed dropouts or the pompetamine if you’re set on drop bars but want a cheap everyday hack.

genesis day one disc are good, dunno if discs will suit your “clean lines” but it’ll probably do the mud thing better than your standard fixie.
Pompino is a classic, lot less than 1000.

<edit>Oh yeah langster forgot about that, mate got one at similar time I got my pompy, langster was way, way lighter, tidy package but no chance of CXing it, tight clearances everywhere, short drop brakes etc. Fitting mudguards was a faff too – if that bothers you

Just had a look at the genesis site, looks like they don’t do an ss day one anymore 😯

Would still quite like a nice light road SS, I really enjoy the winding up to speed thing, not really got the room for it, hardly worth having my road bike as it is.

Luckily I have secure parking at home and at work – it’ll mostly be a pleasure bike rather than transport tbh. Going for rides, rather than going to places.

Im down with bigger tyres, I want to take it offroad if i can!

Do you have a sister,will she let you wear her jeans?

no but yours let me keep hers

A grand would buy you a very nice singlespeed

I would look at stuff like the Charge Plug

HOwever i do like the colour and style of The Holdsworth from Planet X as well

Spend say £500 on the bike and the other £500 on a bloody great bike lock for that there London

Alternatively how about a single speed cross bike

Just a few thoughts for you really

plyphon – Member

Do you have a sister,will she let you wear her jeans?

no but yours let me keep hers

…and todays internet winner is

I used to own a Surly Steamroller, it’s the only bike I regret selling and I really, really regret selling it! It was loooooooovely. Fast AND comfortable, and looked great. Definitely recommend! 🙂

I bought one by State Bicycle Co for my commute. Black and pink, bullhorn bars, painfully hipster. It was about 350 quid. The reason I went for that is that it was the cheapest I could find with a Chromo (as opposed to Hi Ten) steel frame.

All the parts are no name, generic bits, and are fine. I’ve done about 12,000km on the bike, and have had to replace consumables only (tyres, tubes, chain, pads, cables) and a couple of freehubs. It’s actually reasonably quick too. I’d recommend.

Nice, thanks !

ron jeremy – Member
A grand would buy you a very nice singlespeed

I would look at stuff like the Charge Plug

HOwever i do like the colour and style of The Holdsworth from Planet X as well

Spend say £500 on the bike and the other £500 on a bloody great bike lock for that there London

Alternatively how about a single speed cross bike

Just a few thoughts for you really

Now we’re talking, they’re both ruddy lovely. I like the idea of a Cross bike, as I fancy the idea of getting on a train to some leafy part of Surrey and going at it.

Tho that Charge is very tempting at the bargain price but also at the £1k price. Options!

Mine

2017 Grater 0

Gets locked to a bike stand in a part of town with plenty of scum bags in it, and it’s not been nicked yet. Looks nice and anonymous. Got a big old D lock for it which is pretty solid, so don’t think it’ll go anywhere.

After a PSA on here last week I bought a V-braked singlespeed cross bike from Edinburgh Bike Co-op.

£200.

Seems like a good, sturdy build for the money with some city proof tyres and space for a rack and guards.

It should be delivered next week, so can’t say how good it is yet, but for the price I thought it was worth a gamble. It might also suit your needs.

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/products/revolution-cross-0-16?bct=browse%2fbicycles%2fcyclocross-bikes

I bought a “Viking CityFix” for £165 three years ago, promptly changed the Bars and not long after the wheels, fitted a CX chicken lever for the front brake and removed the rear all together as it’s fixed. It has also acquired mudguards and a Beam rack for practical year round commuting… All told it’s maybe cost me ~£250 to date…

It’s a sack of shite, but it’s my most used and reliable bike and gets me to work without incident, it’s pretty undesirable and therefore almost theft proof, and actually quite nice to ride (with 28C tyres) despite being made from pig iron…

Those ‘State’ branded things basically look to be the same, cheap frame and fork, ‘dotek’ or similar cranks, cheapo deep section heavy wheels (The hubs won’t last long) that “look the part”.
The only difference really is I paid half what they want in hipster tax, and still didn’t spend more replacing half the crap parts…

If you’ve got £400 to throw at a fixie, buy a really cheap one and upgrade it, or spend wisely on a good used one… I’d love a langster…

Edit: oooh, just spotted that Revolution Cross 0 link above, that looks very good VFM…

Pearson have always made some tasty single speeds. I always wanted a Touché but they no longer make them.

Some current alternatives here though.
http://www.pearsoncycles.co.uk/bikes/road-bikes/

Check out LFGSS for whats cool in that there London village.

Now we’re talking, they’re both ruddy lovely. I like the idea of a Cross bike, as I fancy the idea of getting on a train to some leafy part of Surrey and going at it.

Trawl ebay for a Specialized singlecross, not disk brakes, but usually dirt cheap (they’re ugly and don’t have disks so unfashionable to just about everyone).

At the extreme end there’s bikes like the genesis vagabond (just stick a blackspire stinger style tensioner under the BB), with tyres big enough to cope with riding off road, drops to get you there quicker, and clearance for big tyres and mud guards if you want to commute.

I’ll be honest though, as runabout fixie I’ve been looking at the la quelda (pronounced l’ arc welder as joke from when Holdsworth were asked to produce some of the first welded tour de France frames) , for a long time. It just looks right, without the hassle of sourcing odd sized parts for old frames.

Charge bikes (amongst others tbf…) look lovely but do weigh a ton. The basic ‘0’ level grater or plug is 10-11kg which I find a little too hefty, and the geared models are 12-13kg! I had a plug 0 from last year and wheelset was soo draggy heavy. The tyres are 600g alone!

If you fancy a mix of town and country perhaps the charge plug (on sale at wiggle for £350 and then budget £200 more for a nice light singlespeed wheelset and cx tyres?

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/charge-plug-1-2016/

Or if just sticking to tarmac the eastway fixie (comes with a brake that’s not pictured) weighs sub 8kg and costs less than £500?
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/eastway-esaki-t1-2016/

I’ve got the La Quelda as a replacement for a Mango SS I had stolen.
FAR better bike for the same money, whether its a better frame or wheels I don’t know but its a lot more fun to ride. More comfortable and more lively than the Mango.
Just one thing, change the bloody brake pads as they are non existent in the wet! Strange really as I can easily lock the wheels in the dry.

OP if you’re over 6’2″ I’ve got a tange steel Charge juicer set up singlespeed with magic ratio that I’m looking to sell for not a lot. Proper parts on it and rolls lovely.

Seen comments saying to avoid that state bicycle co.

This guy has been trying to sell this steamroller for a few weeks :

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=232097236089

I thought that this looked quite decent, went for £357 :
I bid £347 on this… 🙁

The Kona Paddy Wagon is a clean looking design and has mudguard/rack mounts so it is quite sensible too. Unlike some of the fashion bikes at least youknow it is a decent quality.

I’ve done nearly 2,500km on my basic State Bike singlespeed/fixieTw*T bike since last October. I run it with 28mm Conti tyres, with full length ‘guards.

Pros: cheap, quite nippy, durable with very low maintenance (so far anyway), works fine with fixed rear mudguard (you have to use ‘strap-on’ ones at the front), nice paint job
Cons: brake pads are very hard, the wheels weigh a lot (2.6kg without tyres) 😯

When I saw this thread I went to check the Jaspa website to see what they were offering, but they don’t seem to be trading anymore, which is a real shame as they were producing lovely bikes. 🙁

This is my replica, 1920’s Path Racer, with a Sturmey Archer, 2 speed kickback hub and coaster brake (it can get a little complicated), plus a Sturmey Archer crankset. Brookes saddle and leather wound grips just finish off what is a hugely comfortable bike to ride.

Think it was £450 when I bought mine about 4 years ago. It was the 1st one they’d made and the 3rd they’d sold at the time. However, a quick check of ebay shows that there are lots of other replicas and real ones kicking about for around the same amount of money.

Really nice bikes to ride!

C.

Charge Plug 1 for £350 at wiggle looks a bargain tbh. Even if it is 10kg!

I have a roadrat singlespeed, it is fun to ride, but frame + fork is really a bit too heavy.

I am looking for a singlespeed frame, non disc and no mudguard or gear bosses, have not really seen anything yet.

This guy has been trying to sell this steamroller for a few weeks :

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=232097236089

I’m not surprised it’s been a few weeks, that’s pretty nasty looking, and a rather ambitious price.

I must admit I do like my Genesis Day One singlespeed cross bike,its a hoot as my weather looks dodgy amd winter commuter, but load it up with a rack and i can happily sit and spin for an afternoon on it and not worry about the poor state of roads in general

oh yeah forgot to mention, if you want to try the mud thing you’ll need different gearing imo. I was running 72″ on my road and 63″ on my cx, both pretty good for their respective uses but 72 would be pretty much impossible offroad I reckon and 63 is quite spinny on blacktop. Fine for nipping round town but if you wanna travel a fair distance you may get bored of twiddling the pedals.

Alternatively, you can hunt down a bargain on ebay and build yourself a bit of a one off thing

[url=https://flic.kr/p/MFPc1z]Tunnel Sprints on a 50year old Raleigh[/url] by dtilby, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/MvPJwY]Fixed Gear Pub BIke[/url] by dtilby, on Flickr

Sounds like you need 2 bikes – something nice for out and about and something cheap cheap and matt black for the city. I know it is Hi-ten steel but look at this for £150!

https://www.merlincycles.com/retrospec-mantra-fixed-gear-single-speed-bike-94148.html

Also search “Reynolds” or “531” under road bikes on ebay. This throws up lots of old and surprisingly light bikes (often cheaper than frame only options). Guy at work got a 1988 531 Raleigh with forward facing horizontal dropouts and full retro Shimano 105. Surprisingly light, and a £7 threaded axle plus cog and spacers lets him reliably singlespeed it.

A fast commuter track bike for under £1000 look for Cinelli brand.

Check out All City for a sscx bike, around £700-£800

Quella

These do some reasonable bikes.

default answer for a single speed I think is a Langster.

Or a Paddy Wagon. I have one of each; the Paddy Wagon is a nicer ride.

I’ve so wanted a Grand Wagon frame. The steel is high-end and they were broken and sold off as frame only some time ago. Now they appear in all sorts of builds (see the above for how to ruin one). But in all honesty, I couldn’t justify just swapping the frame over to my custom parts.

Titanium next for me.

Oh and there’s nothing wrong with State Bicycles. Frames are double butted. Wheels will be heavy, tyres will be cheap.

Quella – no-one if going to be nicking this one :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Quella-Racer-Bike-Bespoke-in-Baby-blue-adults-or-teenager-bike-RRP-449-/391574136254?hash=item5b2ba325be:g:Ze0AAOSwNRdX6SD1

There’s quite a few of those Quellas on ebay though…

My Raleigh Flyer is resting… frame in one wardrobe, wheels in another. Keep meaning to rebuild it with higher quality parts as brakes, BB, saddle, etc. were giving up. I bought it when I was a student and it survived a bit of bashing for quite few years. All rusted up, so needed a paint job. I was also kinda glad to mess with it a bit, trued the wheels myself, etc. as I wasn’t worried if I did something wrong…

Take a look at the gear ratio, otherwise you might spend a bit more replacing the chainring or the cog. Mine was a killer as a fixed, but rolled nicely with a freewheel.

Transition rapture? Can be run with drops or flats and looks nice IMO. If it’s built anything like a Trans AM it’ll also be utterly bomb proof, but weigh more than the moon. Proper Tonka truck though.

I’ve got a SS Genesis Fortitude (black) that I used as my commuter in London. Rigid, disc brakes, cut down carbon bars, guards, stuck a big gear on it so it was first off the line most of the time… and could be fitted with knobblies at the weekend. https://www.evanscycles.com/genesis-fortitude-single-speed-2012-mountain-bike-EV162937
Ideal commuter, but it’s for sale as I now longer commute..