Mumaro

TL;DR
Looking for a freewheel single speed bike. Found Windsor Clockwork. Thoughts? Alternatives (without destroying my college wallet)? Difficulty of assembly/tune from online orders; would LBS assembly be a better idea?

Link: Save Up To 60% Off Windsor Fixie Singlespeed Bikes - Clockwork

Info:
-College student in the city. I understand bike theft in college and cities. I'm currently renting a campus bike (POS) and have had a lot stolen and had to pay for it. Therefore, the bike sleeps in my room with me now. If I need to go anywhere at night I walk/drive/get picked up. It's (mostly) safe. I want my own bike because I've enjoyed riding around and I feel like the Wally World campus mountain bike is holding me back on the city roads.

-I looked at hybrids and road bikes but the selection is beyond me and I know very little about bikes. However, I'm mechanically inclined (at least I hope after various engine/car builds and being an ME student). I can definitely learn and my only delimma then would be lack of tools with me. Single speeds are very appealing because of that. Prefer freewheel. Weight isn't too big of an issue. It'll ride an elevator to my apartment and I'm in good enough shape to carry when needed. I love exercise so this could become more than a commuter.

-I've been looking for a while on forums, LBS, campus trading, and Craigslist. I saw the super cheap Schwinn Gambit for $200 in LBS. went to find reviews and could only find 3 which stated that it fell apart so I kept looking and found the Fuji Declaration on their website on sale for under $400. Looked it up, came here and people were recommending BD. Gave it a try and the prices are low so I found the Windsor Clockwork for under $300. Now questions...

-What's the difference between the clockwork and the clockwork plus?
-I read about assembly for online orders but would I be better off bringing to LBS, if so how much should I expect?
-Biggest question, any similar style bike suggestions that you believe is of better quality and/or price? Trying to look at all that I can. If possible I'll head to the LBS and try it out.


Update: This bike is great. The required assembly wasn't bad at all. One of the fork drops was bent so it took a while to put that wheel on and I managed to install the wheel/fork so that my brakes were backwards Took me 10 minutes to figure out why it wouldn't turn left... Had a good laugh. I really enjoy riding this bike and might fiddle with brakes and headset a tad more later to suit my needs. I'm looking forward to longer bike rides other than commutes. I'm glad I went with a single-speed freewheel bike and this model.

whosmatt

I have a Clockwork, and I love it. Had it about 2.5 years now and have put thousands of miles on it. It's getting to the point now where it needs a going over, but so far all i've worn out is 2 sets of tires and my pedals. Not sure about the Clockwork Plus, but at a quick glance it looks like the fork is different and it comes in some more, um, fancy color combos.

As far as putting it together, it was a piece of cake. I did take it to the LBS to have the wheels trued after about 100 miles. For the price, I think it's a steal, and for riding around town (or anywhere you don't have to do really long steep climbs) I prefer it over a geared bike any day. I do a 12 mile commute on it and it flies.

Matt

Mumaro

Good to hear another good clockwork review. I won't have any too steep hills with it. I will be living in Florida for the next 2 years at least. I'm really leaning toward to buying it. I'm going to do some more research and read more reviews before I make my final decision though.

fietsbob

Bene Sugg, bring the box to a bike shop to make sure its safely assembled.
the assembly fee will, probably be less than the markup you wanted to avoid
by not buying the first bike from the bike shop in the 1st place.


if the bike has to be in your Dorm room for security , a folding bike will take up less space.

Corben

I bought a Dawes from BD last year. It seems theres a grease shortage in china so be sure to lube those wheel bearings. And learn to true a wheel if you don't know how yet. They're going to need it guaranteed.
I had to fine tune my shifting but you won't need to worry about that.
Other then that I got a great bike at a reasonable price.
You won't need to take it to a bike shop. BD bikes are built well and guaranteed so just send it back if there's a safety issue. Won't be any though.

Mumaro

I'm not too worried about space. I'm out of the dorms now and in an apartment with enough space for a bike.

What I've gathered about assembly is at the least I'd need some wrenches (probably a 15 but I'd check what the bike needs), Allen keys, grease for all threading, screw drivers, a pump, and maybe a trying stand & spoke wrench. But from what I've read it might just be worth having my LBS true the wheels. I'll have to call for pricing. It might be worth it for me to buy the tools and learn to do it myself (Basically how I learned to work on cars).

Some pricing I've seen for assembly is near $100 for SS bikes. If I can save money and learn at the same time then that's a plus.

Stucky

Just don't get an "orange" one....

Retro Grouch 

An obviously brand new, shiny bike for college campus duty? I'd be more concerned about theft.

Every single year we get a lot of posts asking for advice for a college campus bike. My advice has always been to get something semi-expendable. That way you won't feel so bad when it gets stolen.

Mumaro

The bike will be kept inside my room inside my apartment. I don't ride when I know it'll be outside at night. For $260-280 it's similar to the prices I was seeing for used bikes on Craigslist (yeah a little higher of course).

Also, I went to another LBS around me to price out tools and what not. They offered to assemble it for about $50. That sounds super low to what I had been reading so that's a possibility.

Stucky

$50 is nothing special- BD bikes come 90% assembled- it's not like they have to build it from a bare frame- just stick the seatpost in the seat tube (saddle already attached); stick the stem in the headset (bars; cables, everything already attached); put the wheels on; make sure they're true...and check brake adjustment...and that's it. <20 minutes work.

Mumaro

I guess I'm overestimating truing the wheels. Either way I was expecting to do as much as I could myself because I'm stubborn

Stucky

I got lucky (as do about 75% of buyers) my first road bike was a BD- and the wheels were perfectly true out of the box. It was a snap to throw together- and I hadn't touched a bike since I was about 13. Couple'o the brake pads were on backwards, and the front derailer needed adjusting (Although that's something you don't have to worry about)- but I'm the type who likes to be able to maintain and fix whatever I use, so taking a few minutes to watch a Youtube video to learn to set-up that derailer was not a problem. Bikes are very simple; signle-speeds even more so!