Single speed road/cx bike

After seeing the bargains thread I’m quite interested in a cheap single speed road or CX bike for riding to work. I know of the charge plug bit not really sure what to look for. Would need to be a size small or XS.

What about a Genesis Flyer?

They were quite trendy for a while, so if you don’t just get a DayOne, (which is obviously a good choice) then there’s the Specialized Langster, Kona Jake the Snake or Giant made one, the Bowery? All City made a couple or Surly but they’re probably uncommon.

There were also loads of cheap gas pipe jobs with bull horn bars which were mainly style over substance and probably best avoided.

Flyer on sale here in XS and S:

https://www.99bikes.co.uk/bikes/road-bikes/genesis-flyer-single-speed-gravel-bike-in-grey__42837?currency=GBP&chosenAttribute=GN21250LG&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD9iJ56f-wOpJkrcrqUhbL3Qssu7e&gclid=Cj0KCQiAgdC6BhCgARIsAPWNWH3CLIzTX9yEY_YTCmSRDMaDXHZ7_nCzZlh__0VWx9W_GIr_OughOpUaAk7uEALw_wcB

If looking at second hand to add to the suggestions above I’d have a look for Pinnacle Dolomite Singlespeed and maybe even Spa Cycles Audax Mono. The Flyer at £409 is tempting.

I’ve got a Cotic Escapade which is singlespeed and it’s great, highly recommend. Or a Roadrat maybe, they come up for sale now and again

If looking at used, the On One Pompino or Pompetamine often come up relatively cheaply.

Unless you want SS specific, any road/CX/gravel bike, strip the gears and buy a SS kit; I did this previously with my Saracen Hack and subsequently a Cotic Escapade.

I’d put the Pompino firmly in the gas-pipe special category, particularly in a small size – it rode, felt and weighed like it was built from scaffolding. I still have a SSCX – a Chinese custom titanium based on a Ritchey Breakaway

Thinking of selling my bargain 54cm Langster if you’d be interested? It won’t fit gravel tyres though, got 28c Roubaix at the minute which is probably the limit.

bargain 54cm Langster

I’d be very tempted if it was smaller.

Love my Charge Plug SS. It might be the aluminium equivalent of gas pipe but I’ve never noticed.

Raced CX on it with 35s, currently on 30mm spikes for winter duties, and it easily cleared the stock 40s it came fitted with.

I have an Il Pompino and a Genesis Flyer, can’t say they ride much different. Main difference is Flyer has disc brakes…

There’s not a lot between them weight wise as well, given one is steel and the other Al.

How about a Spec Tricross SS? If you fancy it stick a disc brake fork on but the cantis can be set up reasonably well. Used a fixed and the disc will be all you need. I liked mine.

Define “cheap”. New or used? New there are now few options. Dolan FXE is a good one. As is a Condor Tempo at the pricier end of the market. Used, a 52 Kona paddy wagon would be my first choice. Upgrade the wheels.

Up to about 400. Used is fine.

+1 for a used Spesh Singlecross. Running mine with 700x40mm tyres so good clearance, and mini-vee brakes which stop on a dime.  Better alternative is arguably the Pinnacle Arkose SS, as came standard with TRP Hylex disc brakes, and Eccentric BB and takes 38mm to 40mm tyres. I have both (don’t judge me!).  Need to get around to letting the Spesh go…

How about a Spec Tricross SS? If you fancy it stick a disc brake fork on but the cantis can be set up reasonably well.

Yep, I’ve been through several sets of cantis and mini-Vs, no need to fear either, the key is good pads, Kool stop red or Swissstop blue. Avid Shorty Ultimates are expensive but definitely seem to be a guarantee of decent power and squeak free performance, I’ve found cheaper cantis (even the ‘nice’ Tektros) could squeal where a Shorty Ultimate didn’t. I still use Shorty Ultimates on my winter gravel bike (née my CX bike…).

Singlecross

Arkose SS (left bar end shifter on as do stick a rear derailleur on it sometimes & frame has cable guides fitted…)

Up to about 400. Used is fine.

£419 new…

https://www.edinburghbicycle.com/genesis-flyer-2023-adventure-road-bike

Or £409 new as listed above

I’ve had a spesh single cross for 15 years.

It rides like shit. – it’s a really rigid frame/fork combo.

But it was cheap. I paid 200 quid .

It’s a commuter. If it was stolen tomorrow I wouldn’t cry.

I’d be looking at a spa cycles audax mono to replace it.

Not much about on ebay at the moment in my size but I’ll keep looking.

I bought one of these off CRC 3 or 4 years ago. Its been fine for short and punchy winter miles.

KODE

Takes full guards (need to be careful with the toe overlap on the front one) and the loose bb hubs havent been an issue so far.

Love my Charge Plug SS. It might be the aluminium equivalent of gas pipe but I’ve never noticed.

+1

I actually think it rides really nicely. Although I think some of that is probably down to the frame being stiff, the SS rear wheel being stiff and then a nice tyre. It never seems to get phased by rough roads whereas the CAAD4 (which is well renowned for being a great frame) starts to loose it’s composure.

There’s a later disk version with an EBB but they’re rare.

Dolan FXE in a 52. Offer £400. It’s a great bike. Basically a Pre Cursa with a rear brake and mudguard mounts.

gratuitous photo of my commuter to test the image upload. Paddy Wagon frame in a 56, with almost everything else now upgraded. Carbon fork and seatpost, hand built wheels, PDW mudguards, 105 165 cranks (snapped the original), 42×14 gearing, SPDs for that London stop/start. Still rides beautifully and always brings a smile – except when to a headwind

I like the look of that Kode, not one I was aware of before.

Dolan FXE in a 52. Offer £400

I’d struggle to stand over that. Probably a bit scared to ride a fixed wheel too.

Where are you based? I have one of these in a size Small I was slowly getting around to stripping down/listing for sale (I’m in Farnham, Surrey):

https://fawkes-cycles.co.uk/cinelli-tutto-plus-steel-frame-fork-2020-blue-p13068

I’ve used it single speed and geared (it has EDIT – horizontal dropouts but also a derailleur hanger) and with flat and drop bars so it’s pretty versatile. Ideally looking to sell as frame/fork though as I don’t have all that many matching bits to build it up. Feel free to drop me a message if you’re interested!

45 Pre cursa for £300.? About as small as they get! You drill out the front fork for a front brake, and if fixed, do not need a rear. you can also drill the rear for a second brake. Fixed is the one true way. Once you’ve seen the light, there is no looking back. Pre cursa won’t take guards or a rack or very wide tyres, but it is light and has excellent handling too. (I have a 54 of that too).

Those fixed wheels in the TiRed garage…

Kona Paddy Wagon – Steel, nice but heavy – super commuter.

Specialized Langster – Light, fast, rigid. Poo brown winter club bike.

Enigma Echo Titanium – Bike for life with full Record groupset. Just soooo nice to ride. Sub 7 kilos. Prise it from my cold dead hands!

Dolan Precursa – Track, TT, Road, can do it all. Excellent value aluminium. Rode a 100 TT fixed in a smidge over 4hr this year.

Dolan Seta – Pure track endurance racing machine and it lives at the velodrome. Racing it later tonight.

Btwin Tilt – Folding, heavy, decent ride with drop bars and a proper stem for reach.

Tactic Panache – Folding, light, cheap.

Vintage Poyner steel track bike. Bit too small and very flexy. Has seen road and velodrome action.

If you can find a 50 FXE, I’d go for that, Unlikely though as small bikes are rare. The small Pre curses come up as youth graduate to larger track bikes. Drill the Alpine fork or replace with another. it’s an easy job.

TiRed, I’m still scratching my head over singlespeed or fixed for winter. I’m trying to use it as a backup for early AM zone 2 rides but with ice tyres, headwinds and ‘rolling’ roads I feel I’m still either pushing hard uphill, and spinning or coasting downhill.

How would you gear a fixed for low gears on the uphills but also ‘easy’ on the downhills? For reference I’m 38/17 singlespeed at the moment…

Also with a fixed wheel how do you avoid pedal strikes on tight corners on long downhills?

Fixed is generally so awesome it’s only right that it completely sucks in one aspect – going downhill. Just rubbish and that can’t really be helped, although a rear brake makes a decent difference.

Can’t recall having a pedal strike riding fixed in over 10K miles – seems like a logical thing to be concerned about but it’s not an issue on 160 or 165 cranks ime.

Always fixed. The momentum of the back wheel carries the pedal stroke. Most fixed wheel bikes have slightly higher bottom brackets and shorter cranks. Pedal strikes are not an issue. What is an issue is forgetting you are fixed when approaching a junction, and coming to a stop and you revert to bad habits and coast. A quick jolt is a reminder. The other fun is applying the front brake, lifting the rear wheel and resetting the pedals to move off

You can ride single speed on any geared bike. Most people find that rather unsatisfying. Pick a middle gear on the back sprocket and try it. It’s nothing like fixed. I find when riding fixed that the variation in heart rate is lower, you are working harder and that helps with fitness building. You will be working harder uphill pushing a bigger gear than you would want. And spinning downhill instead of coasting. A medium club ride can leave me very tired, as a fast paced ride would with gears. But commuting in zone 2 on the flat, nothing in it until a headwind (Tuesday). If you live near a velodrome, book a taster session. The absence of a brake is more concerting than not being able to coast! And forget about brakeless on the road pedals to go, brakes to slow. Although you can fine tune your speed with pedal pressure. Something my geared club mates would do well to learn in a close bunch!

Fixed is faster uphill and slower downhill, which can make group riding a challenge. But you’ll learn to spin more efficiently and rev out at a 120-140 downhill. Gear selection for terrain is important, but generally I prefer bigger for cruising and downhills, with some serious gurning uphill. I commute on the flat on 3:1 42×14 (82”) and that’s fine on rolling but not hilly terrain. Head winds are a killer. I club ride at medium pace on 3.2:1 49×15 (88”). I track race on 3.5:1 52×15 (94”) and I TT on a bit bigger 56×15 (100”).

I’ve ridden fixed wheel for over 25 years. Of course I ride and race gears too. But if I could only have one bike, it would be the Enigma.

How about a Surly crosscheck? I’ve got a small (can’t remember the exact size, I’m 5’6”). Not used it for a long time, have it set up with a riser. But also have brifter/flared drops, and (whisper) gears. If you’re interested I could send you details, really not looking for much for it

Another Tricross SS owner. Its a beaten up POS with a hammerite paintjob but it weighs as much as a pube and I’m more than happy leaving it locked up anywhere I want.

That said, I do want to upgrade it to something a tiny bit fancier… Had a Cotic Roadrat (actually had 2) before and another one of those would be high on my list…

A beautiful summary of all that’s awesome about riding fixed TiRed.  Going to make a concerted effort to ride my new one more regularly. Will have to get some mudguards ordered I think.

When I was younger and fixie strong, I rode the Tour of Flanders sportive on my DayOne with a fixed gear. Got to count as one of my most memorable, favorite rides.

Also with a fixed wheel how do you avoid pedal strikes on tight corners on long downhills?

It’s never been an issue, even with mudguards.

The only time I turn my bars hard enough to kick the mudguards is climbing over those zig-zag pedestrian ramps over the motorway / river bridges.  And I only seem to do it on geared bikes, I suspect because I coast into the corners cranks level whereas the fixie there’s probably only a 1in4 chance of kicking the mudguards.

+1 for Ti-Red’s summary of riding fixed too, it’s just nice.  Hard work, but somehow just more enjoyable.  Singlespeed on the road however is nothing like it. Fixed you ride at a constant speed on the flat bits and just learn to modulate your effort level and torque so you can put the same power out at 60rpm uphill and 100rpm on a downslope. SS you tend to sprint and coast on every slight undulation.

You only have one first ride on fixed, after that learning curve it’s easy.  What’s harder is swapping back to gears and freewheels!

I should add it’s not all hard work. On a modest downhill I can let my legs spin without effort, and  power (from the assioma) will read low to zero watts. But on a fixed wheel power is basically speed is cadence. Although I do run a PM on my track bike for testing at the velodrome.

Roy Booty (aka The Boot) rode the first sub-four hour 100 mile out and back TT on a fixed wheel bike with drop bars! They don’t have to be slow 🙂

What’s harder is swapping back to gears and freewheels!

I was in the habit of subconsciously changing up a gear or 2 and smashing the bottom of hills, then after a couple of hundred meters remembering and changing down for a more sensible pace. 😀

Between 63-73” seems to be my sweet spot for gearing on the south wales roads. I tried fixed on the roads but my back didn’t enjoy the descents. My riding is a mix of lumpy roads including long climbs and rough stuff. 70” seems to work nicely for Audax although some climbs lead to a bit of tacking up hills. From hazy memory my track bike was 103”

Bike wise I have a few and I really enjoy riding 1×1 and would recommend it. I’d echo comments above about geary club mates learning to moderate pedal pressure though!

Done a nice mixed 20 miles on the Day One this afternoon, including a few short, sharp pulls. Pleased with the gear ratio I chose, and the new wheels are great. Also pleasantly surprised with the Lifeline commuter tyres, they’ve bought themselves a stay of execution. Computer ran out of battery before the end.

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/R72BGir3lPb