Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Raleigh rush hour - any user opinions?

i have only come up with 1 thread of a person who has owned a rush hour, and i was looking for some more insight.
backstory: i spent the better part of last year looking to get a medium quality road bike. i never found anything i really liked, and i ended up buying a 90s trek 1420 touring bike. its not bad, but its kinda purply and i don't like the bar-end shifters at all. i have been toying with the idea of a fixed or single speed for a number of months, but just recently found this model. it immediately caught my full interest and i am trying to find a way to get one. i don't have a lot of money right now, but i feel its worth it. i haven't felt the urge to buy something like this before. the bike is just exactly what i was picturing in my head. i like that it comes with a flip flop, has high flanged hubs and i love the color. the decals i actually really like as well. i found a lbs that has them in stock and i spent a half hour just looking (they had it hung up, and didn't seem to want to let me touch it). the other lbs said they can get it for me for $550 ($50 less than the lbs with them in stock). i was about to purchase a new seat and pedals for my current trek 1420, which would have been around $60 - $70. i think i can sell my trek for around $300 and i have a coupon that will get me a $25 gift certificate to the bike shop if i purchase the bike there, bringing the total out of my pocket to something like $155. i only have a few concerns, but up till now i have been doing a pretty good job telling myself they'll be fine, and what can you expect on such a cheap bike.

is a chromoly frame cheap and heavy? if yes, will it still last and be a good frame? should i be worried about a no-name bottom bracket?

here are the specs
http://www.raleighusa.com/popup-specs.asp?deptid=5&itemid=264&childid=416

heres the official page
http://www.raleighusa.com/items.asp?deptid=5&itemid=264

and here is a big picture (the weird thing is, they have 3 sizes of the picture. small - on the site above, medium - which you get if you "click to enlarge", and really big - what is shown in parts when you mouse over the small image. i had to comb through the page source to find where the really big image was. thats how much i have thinking about this bike the past few days)
http://www.raleighusa.com/images/items/road/zoom/2006/2006-Rush-Hour-grey-z.jpg

here are some real world pictures, but this guy pretty much changed out everything
http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/2005/aug/CharlesUniatowski.htm

i got one, its pretty bad ass or atleast i think so
nice and feels very light and the gearing is pretty good
i think it looks really good
i'm riding it stock for now but am planning on getting some bullhorns and new levers, i haven't once seriously used the drops
it came to $550 +tax

the only problem is the fixed cog is a bit loose but thats just because the place i bought from probably didn't expect me to actually ride it fixed
also the paint has chipped off a bit on the bottom of the bb
any other questions? feel free to ask

i randomly looked at the raleigh website one day to see if they were building a fixed and there it was and i had to have

I kinda dig 'em. I was thinking about buying one. I'm still glad I built my own though.

But they look nice.

i think i'd be kind of embarrassed to ride it around downtown, but i'm too lazy to actually build my own

But you can just take all the decals off. Most people probably wouldn't know what it was at a glance.

yeah i've been thinking that and have taken most of them off but the "raleigh" along the down tube looks cool to me

Yeah. I think it looks good too. I've messed around with one of these at the LBS.

Get one of these instead.

I did.

Get one of these instead.

I did.

that is a nice frame.
if you can find one of those, and you can use your $25 gift certificate towards it... do it!
seriously though, if you're thinking about the rush hour that much, and you really like it, go for it. $550 is pretty much the lowest you're going to get for an entry level complete fixed bike. unless you get the $350 mercier or windsor off ebay. the raleigh might hold up a little longer than those ebay bikes though.

i found some more pictures
http://trackstarnyc.com/news/raleigh.htm
http://www.planetcycle.com/html/Bikes/06Raleigh/rushhour.html

and a few more threads with discussion of it, for any one else who finds this one and is looking for more
http://fixedgeargallery.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2146&highlight=raleigh+rush+hour
http://fixedgeargallery.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2288&highlight=raleigh+rush+hour
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=110030&highlight=raleigh+rush+hour

i think most people that really don't like it share this attitude (of course excluding the people who have purely cosmetic complaints):

only old lugged conversion fixed gear bikes are cool


i'm still on the fence. my girlfriend and dad both think its crazy (i kind of do too). i have a bike that works fine (only needs a couple minor repairs).
my lbs is rediculously busy because of an ironman this weekend, but i think i'm going to go in and look at it on monday. my decision will likely be based on the weight. if its heavier than my current aluminum trek, i'm not going to do it. the only complaints i have about it are the seemingly large lower tube and the fork. neither of which annoy me very much (if at all), but are the only "con" points in my mind right now.

alright, i'm 90% sure i'm going to do it. from reading the threads, the stock 48t/t15 fixed and 48t/16t single speed are too high. what should i look at changing to?

alright, i'm 90% sure i'm going to do it. from reading the threads, the stock 48t/t15 fixed and 48t/16t single speed are too high. what should i look at changing to?

i ride 48x17 on my track bike, 43x16 on my commuter. since youve never ridden fixed before, id suggest the latter. it would probably be cheaper for you to swap out the front chainring with a rocket ring than it would to buy a new rear cog. a rocket ring would probably cost you $20 max, no special tools needed.

rocket ring?

and my lbs seems pretty nice. i think they might do it for me before i pick up the bike, hopefully for free.

I'd say go 48/16 myself; the bike looks nice, which is one of the main reasons I won't buy one myself (in the process of buying my first fixed gear as well).

I am going with a Rob Roy and coughing up the extra on a flip flop. I personally like the color of the Roy better, IRO is a name that I've come to think of as synonymous with track bikes and has a reputation. Add in that Tony is a regular poster here and its a shoe in that I'm giving him my business. Raleigh has a solid background, but appears to have become yet another large scale, mass production pit that I'd prefer not hand my money to.

Sadly, budget does affect how we do things, but think like this:

For $599+shipping I can get a better grade bike (better quality frame, min.) and all I have to do is buy the flip flop hub and switch it over (okay, i have to buy a lockring too, but let's not get pickie). For $100 more I upgrade the headset and I'm in a good position.

But I digress, the issue I have with most of the bottom grade fixed gear bikes is this, your not paying for a lot of extra, expensive dura ace components (or whatever your prefered manufacture is) and therefore you can save a lot already, cutting corners on a fixed gear is like buying a custom IF frame or a Dean and throwing on Sora components and WTB tires on Alex 2000 rims.

If your going to go, put quality above all; Your paying for a frame, bb, one brake and a wheelset (give or take) I say cough up the funds to make it worth your while and last, not be something you regret having to dump funds in later to upgrade/upkeep and have a ride.

/shrug, my 2cents, which aren't worth much. YMMV.

Raleigh has a solid background, but appears to have become yet another large scale, mass production pit that I'd prefer not hand my money to.

Sadly, budget does affect how we do things, but think like this:

For $599+shipping I can get a better grade bike (better quality frame, min.) and all I have to do is buy the flip flop hub and switch it over (okay, i have to buy a lockring too, but let's not get pickie). For $100 more I upgrade the headset and I'm in a good position.

But I digress, the issue I have with most of the bottom grade fixed gear bikes is this, your not paying for a lot of extra, expensive dura ace components (or whatever your prefered manufacture is) and therefore you can save a lot already, cutting corners on a fixed gear is like buying a custom IF frame or a Dean and throwing on Sora components and WTB tires on Alex 2000 rims.

If your going to go, put quality above all; Your paying for a frame, bb, one brake and a wheelset (give or take) I say cough up the funds to make it worth your while and last, not be something you regret having to dump funds in later to upgrade/upkeep and have a ride.

/shrug, my 2cents, which aren't worth much. YMMV.

from everything i have been able to read, a low end bike is a low end bike. some have specific pros and cons which i have been looking for, but nothing i have seen puts an iro above this raleigh. i do completely understand that you would feel better giving your money to a smaller establishment, but for me that priority is not high on my list.
a) a local bike shop will fit me and take care of any problems (which griffen_ has had his fair share of with his raleigh). it would be difficult to deal with problems with an iro and would likely cost me.
b) price. i might have gone with an iro if it was cheaper than the raleigh, but its more expensive.

i am just guessing here, but i bet the hubs are the same as the iro hubs. from what i have read, Formula makes a good deal of the fixed/singlespeed hubs for IRO and other major manufacturers. the ones on the rush hour even look like the iro hubs (high flange with cutouts). therefore, the difference would have to be in the frame. both are chromoly. the only thing iro has listed is "heat treated".

so right now, an iro would be more expensive, have no support, and i don't care for the paint job. i have seen nothing to convince me the iro is a better bike, so i'm going with the raleigh.

Oh, I wasn't trying to sway you per se, merely adding my thoughts on why I chose the IRO. Sorry.

oh, no i appreciate your input. i was just giving my counter points. it helped me sort out my reasoning in my head.

has there ever been a poll about gearing? thats the 1 thing i'm still up in the air about. i guess i should just try it.

i don't know if anyone has ever been in this position, but i get a bit nervous when i'm looking at a bike and it comes time for me to test ride it. even though i have been riding for a while and never had a real problem, i just feel like i'm going to mess something up and make an ass out of myself. i feel like that will be much easier to do on a fixed (which i have no experience with). i think it all started when i first went from a coast brake bike onto my neighbors new mountainbike. i didn't know how the brakes worked and ended up riding it into a pine tree in front of everyone. maybe i'll ask them to put it on the single speed side for the test ride.

None that I've seen; I picked 48/16 based off riding my geared bike and finding out which gearing I can perform well at still, without having to shift.

yeah, that was my plan. i have been in the same gear all this past week, but i never looked at it. then i replaced the derailer cables (to get the bike ready to sell) and obviously lost whatever i was on.

alright, i was looking at the bike in person, and i am a bit confused. i thought with a free/fixed flip flop hub, the cogs on the back were both just normal cogs and the hub was the part that changed (i really have very little idea what i am talking about, please forgive me). when i looked at the bike, the free wheel side looked like one of these http://www.universalcycles.com/shopping/index.php?category=403

is that what is usually on a free/fixed hub? or is it a cheap way out? the free wheel side was pretty noisy too.

edit: found my answer, and yes this is the way it is done.

where can i find a good selection of freewheel cogs? the one on there seemed bad.

Ah, nevermind, you found your answer.

And the freewheel side being noisy, I think is definitely part of the reason why so many of us like fixed riding.

when I used to race BMX it was cool when we were younger to have the loudest freewheel... but as we got older we just wanted the one that spun the longest. If you don't want loud, don't go singlespeed.

your lbs will give you the bike with the freewheel on and probably expect you'll never use the fixed side, thats what mine did
the gearing is good on hills but i can't keep up a decent cadance on flat ground and i feeling like i'm working too hard and getting nowhere

I don't mean to derail but...

I saw it online and though it was pretty cool--like the decals, color, etc. Then I saw it in person and thought, eh, not so much. The pedals look like poo, and those stick-on brake things are kind of odd--crooked on the one I saw. The hubs look similar in design to my Velocity/IRO hubs, so you can probably get good bearings for 'em as long as you can keep from stripping the threads. The seat made me cringe just a tiny bit, but who knows, it may work. The clearances aren't very tight, which may bother track purists (I think the Fuji Track is tighter).

The big advantage to this bike is that it comes with about everything you could want to make any setup of fixed/SS road bike you're likely to want, so I've got to commend Raleigh on that. Just please get rid of those awful pedals.

i don't mind the pedals i had intended to switch out the pedals for some othe ones i have but i haven't felt the need yet
what confused me about them though was what the hell themetal triangle things were there for. i toook those as they were uncomfortable under my feet

yeah, i saw that metal triangle too. is it some kind of faux cleat?

my lbs gave me the bad news today :( no 55cm until sep 30th at the earliest. but i bought some bullhorn bars and brake levers from http://www.chucksbikes.com/ that i think will go quite nicely

yeah i'm gonna buy those bullhorns and brakes too, very nice price
i had to wait about two weeks for mine come in and the guy said there that he thought if i had waited it would have been atleast a month long wait
maybe thats bs though

Do any shops in Manhattan or Queens have the Raleigh Rush Hour (50cm) in stock?

I wanna get one!

I've been riding one for a month or so and enjoy it quite a bit. I would recommend it both as a complete entry level bike, but also something that can be built up with better parts as money becomes available. I test rode a Langster, but that didn't feel right.

Pros: Plenty stiff, tracks well, cost
Cons: A bit uncomfortable, rattle from brake levers, cable

With a carbon seatpost and good saddle it's much more comfortable.

Not to be elitist, but I had a late 70's Japanese lugged frame built as a fixed/single. It had a low bottom bracket and long wheelbase and just rode like butter, just the sweetest ride. So, the Raleigh isn't as good, but it comes close. Really the only difference is comfort.

Cheers!

A note about gear ratios: As has been noted in this forum before (but I'm too lazy to find the thread and link to it), 48 x 16 is a bad ratio for fixed because your skid will always be on the same spot of your rear tire (unless you periodically take off the chain and rotate the wheel a little bit), leading to quick tire wear. 48 x 15 is better, since it gives you five different skid spots. Your best option if you want to gear down from the stock 48 x 15 combo while having a maximum number of skid spots is to get a 47- or 46-tooth ring and keep the 15-tooth cog.

does anyone have a link to the thread hes talking about? i'm not sure what to search for . i was looking for gear inches in the 70s (cause it seems to be around what use) so i was thinking of keeping the 15t cog and going with a 42t chainring. does this sound like a good plan? what about the skid spots? how does that work out?

if you're going that low, probably a 41t or 43t chainring with the 15t cog would be best, giving you 15 skid spots. I have a rush hour that I've been riding for awhile but I think I'm gonna switch out the 48 chainring with a 41t

holy old thread batman.