rozwell

over the summer i bought a 99 schwinn le tour for $100. it all appeared to be in great condition and it worked fine for a few months. then about 2 weeks ago the whole deraillure(sp?) got all bent out of shape. so a friend of mine recommended i just strip it all off and make it fixed. so we did and all was well again... until the quick release rear kept slipping. every time that happened i broke a link. so i just dealt with it and bought a chain tool and figured it was no biggie. then yesterday it slipped for the last time and the qr skewer was stripped beyond use. 2 local shops said i just need to eat my wheaties and muscle the new skewer i bought for temporary riding, on there, but i think that was my problem since it was all stripped and such. so in short, i think it would be best if i actually purchased an entire new rear wheel meant for riding fixed since i have been using my old 7 cog stock wheel with the qr problems. what would the general recommendation be? i dont want to spend so much that i would regret not just buying a new bike, but i dont want to have issues with cheap crappy parts that wont last me.

hyperRevue

Everyone here loves their IRO wheels. (https://www.irocycle.com/)
I swear by Ben's Cycle and Fitness, they have an ebay shop where you can find cheap wheelsets. (https://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-FIXED-GEAR-W...QQcmdZViewItem)

carleton

This translates to having your cake and eating it, too.

hyperRevue

Not necesarially, both wheel options I posted were inexpensive and of decent quality.

rozwell

thanks for the reply.

carleton...
the bike was only a 100 bucks so it wouldnt make sense to put a $500 wheelset on it, when i could just sell the bike to a friend and take the 500 to put towards a different bike. also i live in the city and fear for my bike (even in its current state) every time i lock it up outside.

griffin_

quick release on a conversion is ofcourse asking for trouble

Portlandonian

You could just get bolt-on skewers, not the same as track hubs. They actually make skewers that are meant for road or MTB that bolt on. I think they make them for weight savings and security.

evanyc

"the bike was only a 100 bucks so it wouldnt make sense to put a $500 wheelset on it"

i disagree with this logic. i have a $450 wheelset on a frame i paid $20 for at a thrift store. good wheels are good wheels regardless of what frame they are on... additionally, good wheels can be moved to a new frame, so if ya pay $500 for some wheels now and then later buy a more expensive frame, just move the good wheels over.

Mr. Shadow

I put a $430 set of used Zipp tri-spoked track wheels on a $20 Motobacane bought at a yardsale.
It now runs a custom built 470 gram tubular front wheel...just because I can.

Bikes are supposed to be FUN!!!

carleton

As with many things in life, you get what you pay for. Either you pay for it in cash, time, effort, or frustration.

Pay with cash at your LBS or online
Pay with time searching for cheap deals online or at yard sales or thrift store
Pay with effort doing it yourself
Pay with frustration if things don't work out and time is ticking by and the bike isn't rideable

Either way, you still pay for it.

operator

There's usually a point where the time/effort it takes outweight the increased cost. I call it the Buy it Now impulse.

0x4C

I wouldn't go that far. Forward-facing dropouts and quick releases have worked just fine for a long time, and with much more torque that you're likely to generate with standard fixie gearing. Correct me if there's something I'm overlooking.