Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Buy new wheels or buy new bike?

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ihavenoclue
12-10-12, 12:53 PM
Hi all! I am CLUELESS about bikes in general. My partner has a Takara Kabuto Single Speed Road Bike. The wheels recently got stolen and I wanted to get him some for x-mas because he's miserable being stuck in the apt.
Now, all the wheels* I've been seeing are $100 and up and I have no idea what kind/size to even get! Should I just buy the bike itself (its about $129) or should I keep trying to find wheels?
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated :) thanks!!!

10 Wheels
12-10-12, 12:57 PM
Do you mean Wheels?
ihavenoclue
12-10-12, 12:59 PM
Do you mean Wheels?


Yes :( fail.

umazuki
12-10-12, 01:34 PM
Given that a brand new Takara Kabuto goes for $129, I'd say just get a new bike.

BUT WAIT!

Given that the Takara Kabuto is hateful towards anyone who rides it, if it's in your budget I'd look into getting something higher quality. For as little as $279, you can have something quite decent from bikesdirect.com. Of course, if he/she only rides once in a while for very short distances, a $100 bike may be just fine.
rumrunn6
12-10-12, 02:01 PM
on this forum, the standard answer is always N+1

meaning ... buy a new bike!
ihavenoclue
12-10-12, 02:33 PM
That's what I figured. This may be something I need to discuss with him then-we started riding for fun but he's talking about starting to ride into work (Brooklyn to manhattan) so maybe he should invest in something a little more serious. Thanks for the input!!
Kayce
12-10-12, 04:45 PM
Think about a ratio of quality versus money spent. Putting new wheels on your current bike costs a lot of money, and you will have the same not very good bike. But for a bit more money you will have a big jump in your quality of bike.

In sort, get a kilo.

This may be the first time I have recomended a kilo on here. Usually I am one of the haters.
Bat56
12-10-12, 05:06 PM
If the bike is ready to roll I would buy some wheels. You are in a good market; you can get a used set for under $100. You can always put them onto an upgraded frame when you find it.

Or Kilo TT for real.
asdff
12-10-12, 05:20 PM
If the bike is ready to roll I would buy some wheels. You are in a good market; you can get a used set for under $100. You can always put them onto an upgraded frame when you find it.

Or Kilo TT for real.

You definitely could get a set of used wheels off of CL for a good price right now and throw the wheels onto an upgraded frame if you decide to do that later on. Unless you're looking to spend that $200+ for a new bike, why not throw a set of wheels for <$100 onto the existing bike that you already have and is in (assuming) perfectly working condition? Will get rolling again and unless you hated the bike to begin with you're keeping $100+ in your own pocket.