Fifty Plus (50+) - My New Bike

My newest bike is a fixed gear Wabi. The frame is polished steel. I picked the bike up last week and have been putting it through it's paces, mostly on the flats of the Los Angeles Basin, of course, as well as up and down some hills.

I have a few bikes, and different kinds of bikes. When I ride fixed, I feel like I'm 25 years old again. :thumb:

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Richard Snook putting together one of his Wabi bikes.

Looks GREAT!!!!!

very nice! Are you riding it fixed or with a FW?

Very clean and good looking. And nicely photographed. When does the RD get delivered?:D

very nice! Are you riding it fixed or with a FW?

Double fixed, 46x16/18.

Tight. It's tight.

Sweet!

That polished steel is, as my daughter might say, the bomb! What a great lookin' ride.

Love it, very classy.

Have a question: I recently saw a chromed steel Italian classic, I was stunned by its beauty. What is the difference between brushed and chromed steel? I guess brushing is a treatment on the steel tube without any bath as chrome involves. But is the treatment done at the time the tubes are produced or post production? Can a regular frame, stripped from all paint, be brushed to attain your bike shiny look?

Gpelpel, I can't answer your question, as I'm not an expert. In the case of the Wabi bike, I'm not sure "brushed" is the correct term; it's advertised as a polished frame. Brushing leaves a more matt-like appearance.

I doubt, though, that the tubes come polished by some method from the manufacturing process itself. I'm guessing you could strip down your own bike and come up with a polished version.

In fact, you can ask the man who ordered up the manufacture of my polished bike, Richard Snook: contact@wabicycles.com. I know he'd be glad to answer your question, if someone here doesn't answer it first.

Or there's this, from a web page about polished metals (http://www.polishedmetals.com/finishes.html):

"#8 SUPER MIRROR (also called non-directional mirror)

A highly specialized finish produced by circular oscillating buffing, initially with abrasive compounds, followed by a rouge like compound. The surface is completely free of grit lines."

It looks clean. but I doubt it might get rusty in raining day?

The polished steel on the Wabi bike is clear-coated, so rust is unlikely. Admittedly I don't plan to leave it out in the rain. ;)

beautiful.

Wow! That's a beaut. :thumb:
I want a gold chain now.:D

Nice! Clean look. :thumb:

Absolutely beautiful bicycle. The finish, welds and attention to detail are first rate. If I was riding a Fixed Gear Bicycle that Wabi would definitely be my choice. Enjoy the new bike smell!

Bill

That is just a gorgeous bike! The accents of the gold chain and the black chain rings really make it look great. I have seen this done with aluminum bikes where the parts were polished, and they look sharp. A guy on another forum that I subscribe to does this as a hobby and sells some of the bikes. Here is a link to the forum thread (http://forums.bicycletutor.com/thread-896-page-1.html). It's a fairly large thread (for this forum) and has lots and lots of photos of the different bikes he has polished.

Smooth bike...

Beautiful bike :love:

The bike looks perfect! I like the idea of a fixed 16/18 which gives a 69" or 77.6" gear choice.

Looks very nice, and the photos were very well done.

Awesome photography

+1

Very nice!!

Found the flaw. 2nd photo. Dried water spots on frame. For shame!

THAT, Sir, is a phenomenal bike. Very, very nice!

+1 on the gold chain!

Your bike is very nicely done. I have a one-year old Wabi Special, and I love the way it rides. My tax refund gift to myself ( I do not have to run these kinds of transactions through a "Department of War and Finance") will be a polished Special frameset. I have all the parts necessary to build another one; I've been hoarding stuff over the last year for a "future build"...

Your bike is very nicely done. I have a one-year old Wabi Special, and I love the way it rides. My tax refund gift to myself ( I do not have to run these kinds of transactions through a "Department of War and Finance") will be a polished Special frameset. I have all the parts necessary to build another one; I've been hoarding stuff over the last year for a "future build"...

Onfixiate, is there anything you're going to change? Saddle? Tires? For a 30 mile ride today, I threw on a slightly wider saddle; the stock one is nice enough, fine for me for short rides, and it's amazingly lightweight. However, I'm used to a slightly wider saddle for long rides. I should probably just ride the stock saddle and break in my rear end.

Hmmm....there is one change you might want to make, if you don't have it on your current bike: the brazed cromo stem looks nice on the polished Special.

That new brazed stem is beautiful, but I guess I've been spoiled by the flexibility/ease of a removable face plate model. I have a Velo Orange stem and saddle (Model 1), an earlier Wabi wheelset (all silver rims) and a set of Conti Gator Hardshell tires. I plan to use an IRD Defiant crankset as well...

The Velo-Orange saddle is on sale right now, one third off.

I have retained the original saddle on my red Special, it actually feels pretty comfortable and broken in with 1100 miles on it now.

The stock Wabi drivetrain is really smooth, and I like the fact that Richard has carefully selected the components to complement each other.
I bought another cog from him, for my Bianchi fixed gear. It runs a whole lot quieter than the Surly cog I was using.

Enjoy your new ride!

You done good boy.