Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Bianchi single speed - worth it?

I saw this Bianchi single speed on the market for $700.
The owner bought the bike frame first and built it up himself. Picture says it's Bianchi 7000 Aluminium frame with carbon fork and seat stays and sora hubs. Don't know about the other parts.

Is it worth the price?

Why is there a gear below the cog even though its a single speed? Is it a chain tensioner? Can I just remove it by installing a shorter chain?

Your help is much appreciated. Thanks a lot in advance :)

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I'm pretty new to this forum and can't find an appraisal board for modern bikes. Do let me know if this is a wrong forum. Thanks!

Pass on it for $700.

It is not a track frame but a road bike that has been converted into a single speed. The thing you were asking about is indeed a chain tensioner, and you can't just remove it because it is likely that the chain won't mesh up with both gears at the exact position of the rear dropout. If you wanted to remove it you would have to find a magic gear ratio that works with that distance and thus would have to try a bunch of different chainring/cog combinations and then you couldn't change them. Without doing this, the bike can only ever be a singlespeed and cannot ride as a fixed gear. I would pass.

People usually put these things here:http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/677941-Craigslist-eBay-find
It is kind of a catch all thread for people both considering a purchase or people who find things that they think other forum members might be interested or for things that are just really weird on craigslist.

Thanks bikemig. How much do you think it's worth.
I forgot to mentioned that it's in Toronto.

Thanks. I see. Too bad I was thinking about changing it to a fixed gear with flip flop hub.


It is not a track frame but a road bike that has been converted into a single speed. The thing you were asking about is indeed a chain tensioner, and you can't just remove it because it is likely that the chain won't mesh up with both gears at the exact position of the rear dropout. If you wanted to remove it you would have to find a magic gear ratio that works with that distance and thus would have to try a bunch of different chainring/cog combinations and then you couldn't change them. Without doing this, the bike can only ever be a singlespeed and cannot ride as a fixed gear. I would pass.

There's nothing all that special about this bike; I think you can do better for $700 even in Toronto which I assume is a reasonably hot market for used bikes. It's certainly a great city to live in. Jamis makes the sputnik which is a pretty nice single speed for around that price: http://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/thebikes/road/fixies/12_sputnik_or.html. If you want fat tires on a single speed to ride around the city, you should check out the surly steamroller. It runs closer to $800. There are lots of great single speeds out there that cost around $700; this Bianchi is not one of them.