Tarzan77

Hello everyone! I commute every day on a mountain bike. I have a road bike but my path has a lot of trails and crappy sidewalks which pop my skinny road bike tires immediately. I was recently exposed to fixies and I love the simplicity of them! My friend and I road together and his fixie did awesome off road! He said it was due to the fatter tires he had. I've been looking for where to get a fixie to accommodate the fatter tires but have not been having good luck. My friend said to search for "fgfs bikes" but I'm still coming up short because I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for as I'm new to bikes in general.. anyone have any suggestions on where to buy what I'm looking for, or where to find parts to build it myself? Thanks for your help guys!

REDMASTA

Kilo WT
Surly Steamroller

Philasteve

Random off road trails and bad sidewalks shouldn't just be exploding tires if they have enough pressure. I commute all over with my Surly Steamroller and no matter if I'm using 25c/28c/32c my tires never immediately burst. If you want a FGFS bike that fits tires the same size as your mountain bike a lot of companies have stopped making them but you can probably still find some around local ads like craigslist and ebay. If you want a FG that has road bike geo that fits bigger tires like REDMASTA suggested Kilo WT's from bikesdirect and Surly Steamrollers are popular. I think there's a FGFS section on this forum, you can go there and ask what's out. But a lot of the models I knew of with stock left were all cleared out in terms of complete fgfs bikes. You can still get Volume Thrasher fgfs framesets on ebay though if you wanted to build your own.

Torelli4

My Wabi "Classic" takes 28c Pasela's with room to spare. I highly recommend Wabi. My first "Classic" was destroyed in an accident with a car. I didn't hesitate buying a second one.

Broctoon

I second the recommendation for the Surly Steamroller. They're not cheap--$400+ for a new frameset, or about the same for a lightly used complete bike. They're kind of heavy, especially if you choose robust wheels and tires. But they're bulletproof. And they handle great (at least mine does). Fun, versatile fixed gear frame!

Senrab62 

Aren't WTs and steamrollers the same or very similar geometries? One is much cheaper though.

WT will likely be my next fixed frame purchase due to price.

TejanoTrackie 

Yes, exactly same geometry. But, I'm not sure you can buy the WT as a frameset only. I'd just buy a complete for $500 and change any parts you don't like.

https://m.imgur.com/a/IPcjH

seau grateau

Bike Island has WT frames, limited sizes available though.

johnnytheboy

you've got a good looking bike there.

QStorm

@ the OP

If you don't mind single speed instead of fixed gear and you have a Fairdale dealer in your town (there is one available on ebay if you fit the small/medium size though), the Fairdale Flyer might be right up your alley It's under $500, it's steel (albeit hi ten), and it's got fat mountain bike tires right out the box. Just FYI, I haven't ridden one or anything, I was just recommending based on the specs of the Flyer and what you said you wanted out of a bike.

Dewey Haftu

I'm real new around here, but I thought I chime in. Swobo Accomplice seems right up your alley. On sale too. I have one. It isn't the lightest thing, but very well made for the $$$

I'm so new that I'm not allowed to post a link yet, but search it out.

TejanoTrackie 

Good first post and welcome to the SSFG forum. The no link rule for newbies was put in place to deal with shills and spammers. Since you can't post the link I'll do it for you.

https://swobo.com/products/accomplice

I agree that this is a decent bike for the money and a good urban fighter.

Zoroman

Can you ride your friends bike and see if you really like it? And/or write the name of his bike down and write the information on the tires down on a sheet of paper and post here.

Tarzan77

Thanks so much for all the input everyone!! I believe the one for me is the kilo wt! I am planning to build it myself but am having the hardest time finding the frame(size 52-54(I'm 5'8)) think what I am going to do is buy all the parts I need and then just wait till the frames are available at bike island in the size I need! As for the type of bike my friend has, I remember him saying that they no longer make it, and I know it had 26in tires on it. Will clarify the exact model tomorrow! Thanks again to everyone for the help and suggestions!

seau grateau

You might be holding your breath for a long time if you wait on a Bike Island restock. I'd try to get in touch with them and see if they're planning on putting more sizes up soon (or at all).

SquidPuppet

That's a lot of money for an extremely mediocre bike.

Zoroman

Well, first you may want to go with a 26 inch wheeled bike for how you ride although there are far more 700c wheel sized single speeds out there.


Second, consider used Craig's list or local bike shops often have used bikes. I cannot think of a cracks in sidewalks and uneven streets where a road bike with 28mm or 32 tires and also where you could get a bike used with rims that would accept those width tires... (Usually Cyclocross and touring tires range from 28mm to 38mm).


I bought my Fuji Feather 700c bike with 25mm tires for $200 on Craig's list. It was in excellent shape. It had a singlespeed hub on one side and a fixed hub on the other side (16T and 17T).


I could have kept it just like that and rode the heck out of it but instead I bought new ultra light wheels, new cogs both are single speed (16T and 22T), new tires, new Pista drop retro handlebar, new Nitto Jaguar Stem 58 degrees, new saddle... And now it is precisely what I like a lot!


The other thing you may want to consider is changing to slicks on your mountain bike. Like these:


https://www.biketiresdirect.com/prod...t-26-inch-tire


I did this to my mountain bike, took of the knobbies and put on slicks, and it was so fun to ride in urban and rough banging around riding! Yet it was FAST and SMOOTH!


If, as you say, you need to bang into things and bang down hard on things, modifying your mountain bike for urban use is a sage alternative.


If you are set on a single speed you do know that 700c is the far more common wheel size and there are not as many 26 inch single speeds. If you want to bang into things you can certainly buy a 700c with skinny tires and put on 32mm or even 38mm tires in MOST rims although I would ask a local bike shop guy what sized tires you can put in the rims ONCE you find a single speed bike.

QStorm

I guess it's an eye of the beholder kind of thing. I like Fairdales, the style, the bikes (sort of mixes between mountain/bmx/cyclocross), and the easy maintenance and all that. I actually like the company as well. But, having said all that, I will agree that had I known about the Swobo Accomplice that Dewey Haftu recommended, I would probably would have recommended that one as well. It's less money, a better grade of steel in the frameset, you can run it fixed or singlespeed, and it has a certain mountain bike thing going on. Also, of course, the Kilo WT is really a great choice but I thought I'd chime in and give the OP another option especially in 26" wheels.

Tarzan77

Thanks for the input!! I got me a swobo accomplice! It's the only bike I could find that met my parameters that wasn't sold out in my size!! And I didn't spend as much as I thought I originally would! I think it'll be a good bike for just starting out! So thanks for letting me know about it, I never came across it while I was looking up fatter tires fixies. I will keep y'all updated on my thoughts about it when it arrives and I get to test it out!

Dewey Haftu

Cool, glad I could help someone in some small way.

eduhat

Dude very nice choice! I love that geometry and the fact it can take larger tires. I was looking for the same exact thing about a month ago and ended up building a bike that costed way too much!! Lol bike looks great man enjoy and most important thing is taking it places!

Zoroman

Are these 700c tires on these r 650c or 26 inch???


I scoured their website and SPECS and they only list the tires as being 42 (width).


You would think they would put the diameter on their specs.

NormanF

The Fairdale Flyer is old school. Cantilever brake setup. Fat tires right out of the box. Its hi-ten frame is built to take abuse. If you're looking at an old-school fixie, its worth the money with a premium parts spec!

veganbikes

What is premium on this bike? Looking at it I don't see much except maybe the tire which aren't bad but nothing super premium. Hi-ten steel is not premium either and it is rare to find nice parts hanging from it.

It is a neat bike but premium maybe not so much.

NormanF

I agree if it was a Wallyworld bike, it wouldn't be worth it.

The hi-ten steel frame is a heritage of the BMX world where frame strength is more important than lightness.

I suspect with those massive tires, riders are going to take it off-road.

People used SS klunkers back in the Repack days and they originally had hi-ten steel frames.