Interestingly the 59 cm Cinelli vigorelli XL has a shorter effective top tube than than the 58 cm cordoba..

@Tired It would be about 90.7 gear inches, but do most of my current cycling at 93.7 so I should be fine here in flatland. In headwinds you just have to get out of the saddle. Helps that I’m 200 lb and lean, got some powah – just prefer grinding to spinning, and love sprinting :)

Duly noted about the wet, but did you run basalt rims? People say they make a big difference.

@kerley the bars are too high here, i would probably keep once spacer and slam the stem.

@tired Dolan with deep silver rims is indeed another way to go and would give me better breaking in the wet at the expense of some grams of wheel weight compared to basalt carbon rims.

I thought about running it fixed 48×14 with only a front brake and a basalt carbon front wheel plus carbon specific pads and ultegra calipers, but I’m starting to think that combo will be dicey in the wet: hard to get a lot of braking force through the rear so you’re nearly fully reliant on a wet carbon rim for (emergency) braking?

@philjunior does 10mm of extra stem length have that much to say? I’m going to test a 58 cm bike this weekend with the same stem length.

Here’s a blue dolan pre cursa with H+Son SL42 (budget Shamals), would look quite neat with the same front rim.

And the Aventon Cordoba again which I’m considering at €699. For some reason I’m drawn to the molten orange, might have been the lego iceplanet set that I was very fond of as a kid

Bonus, Cannondale Track 93 icelandic green w shamals, easily €4-5k bike.

94 inches does not belong on the road, and you have NO stopping by skidding, resistance speed attenuation is so-so, but you won’t be stopping.

Ok so I’ll need to lean on my front brake if I want to run 90+ gear inches even on level ground? Then factoring in selling the original parts at half price:

a) basalt coated carbon front wheel with the best pads and caliper money can buy €150
b) silver alloy wheelset €300 (would need a silver crank to match em ahem, but looks naff with a red frame, so unless I could find a nice blue mataro or black dolan pre cursa used..)
c) front disc brake (matching color fork not possible so would prefer not to, best with very dark or black frames) €250

Option a) would be easiest/cheapest/most aesthetic to try first.

Araya has some nice 30 mm tall 545 gram polished silver rims also.. the F30 are out as they have no brake surface.

Guess I’ll just have to try and see, if I go for the red cordoba figure I’ll just get a basalt coated 38mm carbon front wheel for $150 and get the red pads and the ultegra brakes if need be. Wasn’t aware the coating made such a big difference.

Probably, but then so would gears

48×14 (usually stay in 40×11 on my geared 650b bike), I like to grind..did I mention it’s flat here? Woo, then quality V rims are the optimal rational choice for me – or maybe the F30 ;)

H+Son Archetype does indeed look like a nice middle ground re V section at 25 mm at 470 grams, although if you go real fast a taller rim could plausibly save you some watts? Their SL42 is 615 grams so why not it looks sick as long as you don’t get blown sideways! My rides are max 30 min.

So, basalt coated rims = OK. Not coated = crapshoot.

Simplest option here would be to either just use the front brake for emergencies, saving the coating, or getting a basalt carbon front wheel used or new for around $150..

Read several reports of the campag reds being the shiz, so might be worth trying w00dster!

Scruff: interesting, i guess i won’t rely on them too much mainly breaking with the rear wheel, so cost might not be an issue, although i see basalt treated track wheels are rare and £100 extra, only 1500 grams though. Would be half the price to get a 2+ kg plain alu wheelset.

oldnpastit: sounds good, and this is with basalt coating or not?

Good point Kerley, GP5000s are expensive though ;)

Too bad last one i saw sold went for $2400 for the frame only!

Early 90s Cannondale Track, Icelandic Green *swooon*

Found a 58 cm CAAD..not ideal for SS but could work

The Cordoba comes with a pre drilled carbon fork, in the us the whole bike costs a ridic £310 with free shipping!

The dolan looks great, but i love the red/orange of the cordoba.

@fantombiker nice! could be a good and not too expensive front wheel upgrade. You can find the rims used cheap as chips.

If you just want to mash a big manly gear and build your leg gunz an over-geared fixie isn’t the right tool (IMO/IME of course)…

Disagree, I exclusively use the 40-11t combo on my current bike which equates to 94 GI. Leg strength has shot up, also do my squats etc. Probably helps that I’m 90 lean kgs. Suffering is fun!

Gerontophiliacs josh/epic: I had to google Drillium, here’s something that came up..

My tentative plan is to get an Aventon Cordoba orange/red 58 cm fixie 48-14 for just under £600. May not need to change the wheels (for brake track aesthetics reasons) as It’s flat here so can get away without using the front brake much.

@kerley thanks for the tips! Building up something from used parts could be a good idea, I’m not in a rush, although I do love the orange red of the Cordoba and it’s relatively clean lines, can’t find one used though so value is so-so. Trying to keep the total under €1000.

@joshvegas sorry, not into pokemon.

@cookeaa

I want to make riding more fun, and not just a slog from A to B in the most effective way possible. Aesthetics is part of it, so is light weight, certain handling characteristics, low maintenance needs, I also like to grind high gears partly due to building my legs doing so. Aesthetics is less than 50% of this.

Aventon Cordoba plus 38 mm chinesium carbon wheels seems to be the budget way to go here, sad they’re so expensive in Europe compared to the US.

BTW speaking of CAADz

@joshvegas do show us a beautiful track bike/singlespeed! you’ve got me all excited now

The Aventon should look even better in person, but I suspect the tone of the paint varies between production batches, hopefully it looks closer to this:

Kerley: not sure if they have a pur(ist) track geo, seems like most of the Cordobas end up on the street?

These are examples of hybrid track/road frames, designed for the track and road. The key feature is the horizontal dropouts. Geo is a bit more aggressive than pure SS frames (which I like), the trade-off is lack off disc brake or fender mount options.

I wouldn’t mind converting to disc on the front and running the rear fixed for the ultimate bastard hybrid, but I’d need a new fork and wheel, which also wouldn’t really match the rest of the bike.

I’d rather just get a cheap pair of carbon wheels and sell the original ones, it’s flat where I live so overheating isn’t likely, also the reason why singlespeed is appealing (48x14T as I like to mash).

Thx for the suggestions notaspoon!

Personally looking to build a fast singlespeed (again), the frames I’ve shown are designed for both track and street use w brakes.

Black wheels look sweet on some frames, but wondering if it’s worth a damn if the black just rubbs off, hence this thread.

Seems like carbon is the only surefire option, and then whether cheap or used carbon wheels are safe is another can of worms 😁

cause

Seems like even the DT coating isn’t that good “From my experiance I can confirm that OXIC coating from DT works great in dry conditions. In wet is very fragile, lasts very short and is not as good as advertised on DT website.”

Seems like chinese carbon is the budget option here then, I hear there are some decent options around today.

Also found that this was discussed ad nauseum here: https://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=131819

Potential new commuter (value fun over ultimate utility obviously) – would need some shoe covers..

So nobody calls fe..mudguards “fenders” in the UK?

Do you typically reserve fender for “a low metal frame around an open fireplace that stops the coal or wood from falling out”?

Usually called fenders in the US.

Here’s what I’m gonna do, keep a lookout for a Stanton Switchback 631 18″ long, save up for a BTR and see If I can find an Aventon Cordoba singlespeed that could take over its flatland duties.

Martymac I asked stanton what they thought of the idea and why it might suck.

twrch: my wheels will fit (hope evo 2 pro), It won’t be slacker as I’ve mentioned. Cotic Soul might be a better fit all-round, but not sure how I would mount fixed fenders to it with no chain or seatstay bridges, plus it would cost me to get it repainted.. Rigid forks look sick what u on about ;)

chief: thx for the tip!

You don’t give up do you?

It’s great to commute on if you like a somewhat upright position, the risers also give you the option of holding the bar by the stem to get lower. TT bar commuting is not for me.

It’s great to go offroad with too (just not proper downhill or in the wet), just a total lack of hills and trails where I live for the next 6 months. If I move somewhere with proper trails I could dedicate it to MTB-in full time, I don’t care too much about going down fast anyways, prefer going up fast.

I don’t actually commute to work, but use the bike as my primary means of transportation, and I like to have fun doing so, hence looking for a lower frame (beyond just wanting a sick looking bike).

Thanks munro, am aware of marino! For now just seeing if I can find something close to what I want used. And I’m not ignoring anyone, i’m asking why they claim what they claim, see below. Also the Pace tip was good, just hard to find one used.

Martymac: but why would it feel crap if the geo numbers end up being the same as your current non crap frame? Am I missing something? The difference between a 493 mm (140mm fork 25% sagged) to 453 mm (100mm rigid) crown to axle doesnt equate to more than a 12 mm further BB drop down to 55 mm which is fine?

I was indeed looking for an faster commuter bike, but gave up on the idea for now. Maybe I’ll test a CAAD10 or something one day, but like the simplicity of having one bike and potentially the added safety of my current one. Used to ride a Columbus steel 105 equipped racer I got for next to nothing, quite brilliant and 0 faff, sold it before moving overseas (it came with the paintjob).

My current bike is great, and the geo is good as is, but the frame has poor paint quality, is a bit taller than what I’d like and I simply don’t like the look or feel of alu, so here I am going on about my ultimate (budget) steel frame.

I’ll keep a lookout for a used Switchback 18″ long and start saving up for that BTR..

Aesthetics, but also feel and functionality. First world problem? Yes, but for something you use daily, it makes life a bit more fun to use kit that you love.

The upside of using a hardcore hardtail frame is that it’s bombproof, more fun to mess around with commuting on one wheel, will last forever, and it’s more versatile should I decide to head to the woods at the expense of just 400 grams, which shouldn’t slow me down on flat tarmac. I can also slap a suspension fork on some burly tires on it for full on DH use. What’s the benefit of getting a larger/taller frame when there are smaller/lower “long” frames? I only see downsides.

As for locking it up, it’s already too expensive to leave outside, but get an ABUS Granite 540 u lock, non QR front wheel and dropper “locks” and insurance that covers theft outside of the house and you’ll feel a bit better. It’s not an expensive frame used, it’s the custom BTR £1500 frame I can’t afford at the moment ;)

Not to be mean, but you’re running a long stem and riser bars.

80 mm is ideal in my eyes and functions well, both longer and shorter looks off for this kind of hybrid do it all – used to run short stems. You prefer flat bars? lol.

Not really. The small differences (and some of them are not so small) are quite critical.

Ok, so which ones will make a critical impact? The ST angle, reach and HT angle would be within 1 degree or 10 mm.

I’d rather have a dedicated roadbike/commuter, plus a dedicated mountainbike/playbike, but don’t have the budget currently. Plus there might be something to be said for using a burlier bike with bigger tires and brakes in traffic from a safety perspective. More traction and stopping power.

@trumpton the brandx is fine, but as I’ve noted, the Switchback would get about the same geo with a 453mm axle to crown rigid fork and I want a lower, prettier, steel frame. The paintjob on the brandx is shite and flakes off like crazy.

Pace could work, although hard to find use I reckon and not a fan of the colors, don’t know how much it weighs either, don’t see why it would be better than the Switchback?