Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Colnago fixie or a new IRO?

I am turning to the forum for some advice. I came into to some money and i want to spend it but want to spend it wisely. Rightnow I am riding my fixie more and more. It is a vintage colnago road bie that i converted about 5 years ago. Since I took the picture i swapped out the stem and drops for a salsa drop stem with some bullhorn bars. The wheels are nothing special and need to be replaced since I stripped out one side of the hub. Now should i spend a couple of hundred on new wheels or buy a new fixie. I have been waiting for tony to post some info on the angus. the other choice is to go down to trackstar and have them put together a bike using the pake frame. I want to ride at kisenna in the future so i am taking that into consideration as well. but besides that it would be mainly a street ride not a race bike.

wheels

wheels

wheels

Third. Now wait for the purist advocating benefits of one more degree of the head tube angle and lack of the brake hole in the rear bridge ;)
Sweet ride, BTW.

yep, get some nice wheels. I love my IRO, but why on earth switch from that beautiful colnagno? only possible reason I can think of is drop out envy, and that's no reason at all.

wheels

(and a chain :D)

keep it

you could get a killer wheelset for the price of an Angus...

that thing is hott!

you could get a killer wheelset for the price of an Angus...

that thing is hott!

i like 5th wheels, and has any one seen a pic of this IRO "angus"

That's a classy bike, if you're comfortable with the fit, keep it.

phils with open pros for the price of an angus. Or any nice hub/rim combo with that price. Keep the italian and get nice wheel befitting of the frame.

Conversions rule. Wheels.

wheels

wheels (i'm currently riding an IRO btw)

wheels

(and a chain :D)

Good eye. I took the pic before i installed the new stem, bar and chain. :D

with the new wheels could i possibly race on this bike on the track?

Wheels! Seriously, you could get really nice wheels for the price of a new bike, or just decent wheels *and* some other good stuff to make your ride more awesome (a new paintjob, maybe, or any number of other fresh accessories). IROs seem like great bikes and everyone says Tony is the nicest human ever, but still, why mess around with a good thing? And yes, I think you could race it at Kissena.

since everyone is advising me to buy wheels the next logical question is which set to get? I dont feel comfortable on buying wheels that cost as much as a whole new bike so phils would be out of the question. would spending $200 get me a good set of wheels?

iro wheels

IROs are supposed to be way nice, you can get a set of Suzue ProMax on Open Pros from Harris for $315...

The IRO wheels are good and relatively inexpensive.
the wheel info on the IRO ite is old. call him to see what's in stock.
ask about the angus too.

and since you live in NYC, you can probably trek out to SI and pick it up and save on shipping.

oh and ask about the angus.

How about I'll buy you a new IRO and *trade* you for your Colnago...

?

The IRO wheels are good and relatively inexpensive.
the wheel info on the IRO ite is old. call him to see what's in stock.
ask about the angus too.

Yeah, definitely call to clarify. I was all ready to buy an IRO deluxe wheelset and called in only to find out that they now only stock deep v's in grey??? I specifically wanted black deep v's and thought that would be no problem since the site shows black deep v's as well as mentioning they can do any color combo. But yeah, the employee emphasized to me that they don't carry them in anything other than grey. So now I'm in the same boat, looking to purchase a comparable wheelset between $200-250.

Does anyone know if IRO hubs are the same thing as Formula hubs?

Good eye. I took the pic before i installed the new stem, bar and chain. :D

with the new wheels could i possibly race on this bike on the track?

you might need to have track ends as opposed to forqward facing dropouts, but a good framebuilder (which there are lots of in nyc) will do that for somewhere around 80

I ride a colnago road frame converted to fixed gear. I love it, granted I've never ridden a track bike for more than a mile. The colnago is light, handles well, looks good, feels good, all around wonderful ride.

I ride a colnago road frame converted to fixed gear. I love it, granted I've never ridden a track bike for more than a mile. The colnago is light, handles well, looks good, feels good, all around wonderful ride.

do you have any pics of your colnago?

No pics of it complete, I'll try to get some next time I have access to a digital camera.

I got a Soma wheelset for $180 off ebay awhile back. They are semi-aero and 36 hole. It's a nice wheelset for the urban riding I do...not sure about the track.

invest the money, deal with what you have

I am investing my money into my overall happiness. I believe that this investment will give me the best return.

Does anyone know if IRO hubs are the same thing as Formula hubs?
Numerous people on these boards will testify that they are the same.