Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - new and super excited about this fixed business

Hi all,

I'm Alix, and I'm clearly a complete nerd as it's nearly 5am and I'm ogling bikes/reading bike forums online. Yes. Anyway, I come to bikes via a stint in Amsterdam, where they were nigh unavoidable. I was the lame kid who didn't learn to ride a two-wheeler til 5th grade and I was s*** scared of biking in a city. Long story short, I emerged 5 months later completely obsessed with riding bikes, a state that's carried over back home to Houston. So now I'm back in this city, which is nearly as flat as the 'dam but not nearly as bike-friendly. I found a fabulous Dutch ladies' commuter bike (3-speed, cruiser style) on Craigslist and I've been commuting to work on that, but I'm stuck on the idea of riding fixed. I only ever ride with one gear anyway, I'm intrigued by the challenge of learning a new way of riding, and the bikes are just so damn hot. My query is where to go from here. I have seen a few fixies in the neighborhood, some that look to be built up road frames as well as a couple track-looking frames. I have almost no mechanical expertise when it comes to bikes, so building one up myself is looking a bit daunting. I'm very interested in possibly doing that in the future, but I'm feeling a bit Veruca Salt-ish at the moment ("I want an Oompa-Loompa NOW, Daddy!") so I'm looking at complete bikes online, particularly IRO and Bianchi. Would you recommend this as the way to go for someone who would potentially end up upgrading components in the future? Should I troll E-bay? Should I attempt to find a LBS who can help me build something cheap? Right now I just want a bike to have fun with and commute to work on, but I want it fixed and I want it ASAP! Rawrr! Any and all advice is much appreciated.

if you want it NOW, and are very new to it, and want to spend under 450, look into the Mercier Kilo TT or Fuji KHS Flite 100 (i just checked ebay real quick but didnt see anything, but i didnt look too hard)

or you could just buy a thrift store road bike with horizontal dropouts and buy a new wheel off the IRO site

Please ride a front brake during your inception until you figure out how you are going to stop. Smashing into lightposts, mailboxes, and/or peds only works for so long.

']Please ride a front brake during your inception until you figure out how you are going to stop. Smashing into lightposts, mailboxes, and/or peds only works for so long.


yeah but you can always hop off and hope you and your bike do not get crushed.

There are lots of ways to go.

A good used bike that you convert will give you lots of value. I'd say it was the path that many of us took when we started. Look for a bike w/ a few years on it; one that was classy in its youth. If you convert, get a rear wheel with a high-quality hub and a high-quality cog and lockring.

If you can afford new, expect to spend at least $700. Or a bit more if you want real zizz. If you're buying new, don't get suckered into the $400-450-ish bikes. EVerything is compromised on them. They're Velveta; kinda like the real thing, but not.

Start talking to fixee riders in your neighborhood. We know where the good stuff is and we like to help.

']Please ride a front brake during your inception until you figure out how you are going to stop. Smashing into lightposts, mailboxes, and/or peds only works for so long.

That goes without saying. :)

receptionista... that name rules.. id say get the bike you want...ive found withh all bikes that when i start with whats cheap i end up spending more money overall.. upgrading etc.. im not saying get somethhing super expensive.. but skip the cheap connversion and maybe get something like ...say.. a kogswell? (the guys bikes who posted the good info above.. they are nice...)