I have been riding road bikes since I was about 16, but in the last half year i have got into building tall bikes and other 'different' bikes. With this friends have turned me on to fixies. At first I was looking on craigslist, ebay, etc for a road frame but have had no luck finding anything in my area my size. About a week ago I noticed that Bikes Direct is making some pretty decent priced fixies. Does any one have any experience or advice on one of these three bikes?
Mercier kilo TT - $307+$40 shipping (sprtymama is BikesDirect's ebay name)
These next two are from CycleSpectrum bike shop in my dad's town (a division of bikedirect):
Motobecane Messenger - $395
or
Windsor Hour - $350
I know these bikes are not the highest quality, but for a first fixie thats premade, i figure its something that can be upgraded eventually.
Also, the Motobecane and the Mercier come with brakes that I would remove and put the front brake handle on the bottom of the top tube near the stem as an E-brake. Has anyone had any experience with this set up?
Any advice on these bikes would be greatly appreciated!!!!!