Our office discussion today has been around the best bike to commute 5 miles on. I know there are lots of sensible options, but we’ve decided on a fixie as that would have a nominal “training” advantage. It’s got to be :
* A complete off the shelf bike
* Budget £400

We’ve found the Charge Plug at a nice price on wiggle, but that’s a little bit too much “look at me I ride a fixie”. So if we can find one that is more MTB or road bike based even better.

that one in Fresh Goods Friday (though it might not be fixed).

Fuji Track Classic, bargain intro fixie.

Bang on budget too: http://www.velodromeshop.net/index.php?p=product&id=767

http://www.discountbicycles.co.uk/biz/product.php/9793/4657/claud_butler_courier_single_speed_2011

http://www.discountbicycles.co.uk/biz/product.php/8387/4657/claud_butler_courier_sport_single_speed_2011

http://www.discountbicycles.co.uk/biz/product.php/8323/4657/merida_s_presso_single_speed_2011

trek soho S, its a singlespeed but has a flip flop rear hub so when you get sick of fixie you can go back to singlespeed!

Cheap and cheerful: http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_856019_langId_-1_categoryId_261353

Looks good, too, I think.

fuji track is nice enough! they also do a “feather” version with quill stem etc

I like the look of that Viking race master

Be warned. A lot of these recent upstarts, particularly in the road arena come with pretty heavy steel frames that will feel pretty dead. For road, I’d go for a second hand Kona Paddy Waggon or Specialized Langster.

Charge’s are not light bikes 😉

paddy waggon is a fairly weighty beast too isn’t it?

Another vote for secondhand here – Trek, Kona etc.

If you’re in the States, check out the Mercier Kilo TT; it’s well within budget, not too heavy, not too bling.

Charge Plugs are great bikes and they’re not all ‘LOOK AT ME’ coloured. The one below is very sedate I think.

However, I have the Plug Freestyler which I admit is a little ‘LOOK AT ME’ coloured. In my defence, it was a surprise gift, I’d have gone for matt black with bright rims.

In terms of weight, its a commuter, and its tough as nails.. Leave the featherlights for roadies. I do ‘rad’ tricks on mine, 😉 besides it really isn’t heavy by any stretch of the imagination. Great bike.

Look at the ‘Create’ fixies too, pretty reasonable and look quite good too…

Plug’s are heavy but it’ll be fine for a 5 mile commute, served me fairly well on mine anyway.

Apart from the hubs which were crap, this was a 2005 model so they be better/worse/different by now.

It just sits on the turbo these days, thinking of converting it to a track bike for occasional visits to the velodrome.

Charge’s are not light bikes

No, they’re not.

Personally I’d stay away from alu for a fixie (Langster – although they do a steel one too). Personal preference, but most steel track frames use quite thin tubing, helping to absorb all those little holes in the tarmac. Bit more of a comfy ride.

Fuji Tracks (from experience) are quite flexy, but not in a bad way, can quite happily cruse the commute at 20mph. Did a century ride last summer on it too.

Would also look at a Surly Steamroller – a bit more on the heavy side, but not as ‘LOOK AT ME’ as a the Charges.

Plug’s are heavy but it’ll be fine for a 5 mile commute, served me fairly well on mine anyway.

Depends what you’re used to. Seems light to me…

Apart from the hubs which were crap, this was a 2005 model so they be better/worse/different by now

No problems with my hubs, forks are beefier now I think too.

If you did want alu – probably can’t go far wrong with this Dolan Pre Cursa – £100 for a frame! There was some guy in the classified’s selling a pair of track wheels the other day. Could probably build something up well within budget.

No the Kona isn’t “light”. But it isn’t made of gas pipe either. Not ridden a Langster, but that is really light. My Poyner 531 track bike for the road is 17lb of flexy loveliness. But try fitting guards and a rack for commuting 😆

Ooooh, It’s technically for a mate at work and Part of the plan was to get something that doesn’t stand out and get nicked from the bikeshed.

But I’m tempted by some of these choices myself…..

Dolan Pre Cursa

Or £200 as a frameset, nearly bought one myself a few weeks ago.

http://www.dolan-bikes.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=121

How about an On-one Pompino?

I think the Dolan would be scarily fast… especially if you’re not used to riding fixed.

Fuji Track Classic +1

There was some guy in the classified’s selling a pair of track wheels the other day. Could probably build something up well within budget.

That was me. Still for Sale.

Pompino – some good deals on at the moment and easily under £300 used.

PLUS – get a set of CX tyres for weekend ramblings.

They’re ace.

+1 for the Pompino
I’ve been commuting On One for a few years now, it handles road, towpaths and off road ( got another wheelset for off road )

Ive got a kona major one CX bike for sale. Bought for £1000 last summer and im only after £325! Scandium frame, Carbon fiber forks, FSA crank, etc etc. Great condition. If you are interested email me at: kh306 (at) exeter.ac.uk

I got the Charge Plug just over a year ago (dark blue one pictured above) and it’s a fantastic bike. IMO it ain’t heavy, feels the same weight as a mates Paddy Wagon. Soaks up the rough ground and for me, it’s a lot more comfortable than my road bike. I’ve only cleaned it a handful of times as it’s very low maintenance.

Evans price matched Wiggle for me and ordered in two sizes, as they told me at the time their sizing is always on the large size. For me it was great service, as the size guide says I was small, turns out I needed the extra small. They don’t come fixed though, only single speed. I had to pay an extra £20 for a rear cog & lockring and they don’t have mud guard eyelets, so limited for that choice.

I commute 12 miles round trip & it didn’t take too long to get used to the fixed wheel. I feel it’s helped me build up leg strength & somehow helped with keen pain I was getting on the road bike.

Take the plunge! 😉

I ride a Paddy Wagon, it not as light as my steel geared road bike but is a hoot to ride and is fast too. Damm good ride and comfortable too with 28c tyres. The ultrasports it came with though are crap in the sense they puncture easliy. I like the most of the rest of West Suffolk Wheelers am now using Conti gator skins – no puntures any more and it still a great ride. On single speed (it has a flip flop hub) I have done 100 miles + on it thats how comfy it is.

If you had the money and £400 is enough you could try the Cinelli Gazzeta but you would need £750 thats a good bike too (thinking of them for my shop).

http://www.chickencycles.co.uk/index.php?cat=1&sub=118
Scroll down the page they come in three colours.

Or £200 as a frameset, nearly bought one myself a few weeks ago.

http://www.dolan-bikes.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=121
I did

it’s brilliant, it’s stiff-responsive but not harsh, fine for commuting and there’s some bad bits of road that I ride. can get 25s in the frame no bother but there is no rear brake hanger so you will need to ride fixed not a freewheel

do it 🙂

you’ll notice the feel of the frame more on a fixie – you want something that takes the stings out of bumps in the roads but doesn’t flex around the bottom bracket area which you can really feel with a fixed wheel bike.
I’ve got a Cotic Roadrat as a fixie at the moment and there’s too much flex in the BB area.

That’s why the Kona’s so good, transmission is so direct, no noticable flex.

Pompino suits me very nicely. Have been using one for over 3 years now.

Is very practical, with the rack and fender mounts (which many other frames don’t seem to have) and dual bottle cage mounts.

They can easily be had for £200-300 second-hand complete.

New set up:

Old set up:

SE make lovely singlespeeds with flipflop hub. get them on sale for that price easy… I used to love my Lager

IMG_0550 by passtherizla, on Flickr

it’s brilliant, it’s stiff-responsive but not harsh, fine for commuting and there’s some bad bits of road that I ride. can get 25s in the frame no bother but there is no rear brake hanger so you will need to ride fixed not a freewheel

Cheers, I wanted it as a track bike anyway so brakes wouldn’t have been an issue.

I’m putting the cash towards new wheels for the road bike now, may well come back to this another day…

worxbikes
with either fixed/free or kickback 2speed freewheel
http://worxbikes.co.uk/

Langster here……

SDC11843 by jcabuckley1974, on Flickr

Pretty light which makes a difference on steeper climbs! 😉

No question…. Best fixie around, damned cool… And these bars are ace…. Price is cool too.

Surly steamroller

I can’t recommend the SE Racing Lager enough. I love mine, it’s passtherizla’s model up there, a 2010.

The new 2012 models look a bit…well, not to my taste but you can get a 2010 from winstanleys well within budget.

but most steel track frames use quite thin tubing

no they don’t, most use stovepipe thick cheap steel of .8-1.0 and even meatier stays.
there are a few that use oversize tubing like the condor pista (deda sat-14)that is relatively thin walled. “quite thin” would be something like columbus spirit (.38-.5) enigma would build you a frame out of this but that would cost you, it would also ride significantly better than a lot of the cheap fashion fixies that weigh 20 lb+