Hobartlemagne 

Yeah- I know they're crap, but this is my cheap-as-possible fixie project.
I can't find any info whatsoever about them online. Does anyone know
anything about them?

MrCjolsen

Crap bikes are often crap because of the components on them. If you replace them with decent (or less crappy) parts, you negate much of the crappiness of a crappy bike. Of course, the frame could still be crap, but that aspect of crappiness is generally due to weight which only really matters with weight-weenie roadie types. If the weight of your frame is an issue, get some carbon fiber water bottle cages and your bike will go much faster.

No_Minkah

My quote of the week, from the guy who cut my hair, and is in Rat Patrol: "I made my tallbike out of road bikes, so it'll go faster". Yeaahhh....

Aeroplane

This is partly true, but you can only polish a turd so much, you know? You can get a roadmaster from X-mart, and kit it out in full Record kit if you really want to, but it's still going to suck a lot. Construction methods, serviceability, and part compatability are sacrificed when you go below a certain price point.

MrCjolsen

But it will suck less.

mattface 

It's also a lot more expensive to upgrade the components on a cheap bike up to good level. Most complete bikes cost less than the sum of their parts. An entry level bike like the Pista is only a good value if you are happy with the component quality. The frame is perfectly nice, but it you buy it for the frame and upgrade everything else, you will have spent a lot more than if you just bought a frame, and components in the first place. Once you've spent a couple hundred upgrading the wheels, and a couple more on cranks, say $60 on pedals, $70 on a seat, $30 on a seatpost, etc, you'll find you've spent over $1000 on a Pista, and all that's left from the stock bike is the frame. You could have had a better frame with the same parts for that same grand.

mattface 

Why spend money to make a sucky bike suck less, when you could spend the same on a bike that will suck not at all? What would you rather have. a 25 pound Roadmaster with full record, or an 18 pound IRO with Formula/velocity, Sugino 75s, Durace, component soup. The 18# IRO would probably cost less too.

operator

His statement is true if you quantify it with, sucks .0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% less.

MrCjolsen

The thing about conversion is that everything is relative. I started with a mediocre bike -- an old mid-80's Giant perigee. Most of what was on the bike wasn't that good, but it was servicable. So initially, I was able to get it to a decent singlespeed for almost nothing, and made it fixed gear when I decided to drop the money for a rear wheel.

But I had a lot of parts left over in my garage from road bike upgrades etc.

And there were problems. For example, the bike takes a 26.4 mm seatpost. I needed to replace it, and I have only one choice. It's not the best fit for me as far as a seatpost is concerned (I like very little setback) but I'm stuck.

But if you are stripping the bike down to the frame and installing new stuff that you actually had to purchase, everyone is right. You are best then to start with a good frame. But if you are recycling old parts out of a dumpster or using leftovers from your personal stash, then whatever you can bolt on to a crap frame is an improvement.

Hobartlemagne 

All my turd polish can go on a better frame when i get one.
My original question for this thread:
Does anyone know anything about modern spalding bikes?

Thanks for everyone's opinion

wearyourtruth

i think 2 things to worry about are this...

1. bottom bracket... is it 3 piece or 1 piece? a lot of crap bikes still use 1 piece bottom brackets, which will make it either a) impossible to put on a nice crankset or b) they MIGHT make an adapter that will fit in to put in a regular BB?

2. a lot of crap bikes are not made to interchange parts, they were never designed to be "serviced" or "upgraded" so don't expect them to have the same measurements and universality of a decent bike.

p.s. i didn't even know spalding still made bikes. do they? the old ones (like 80's/90's i'm guessing) seem to be alright

Hobartlemagne 

I just learned something about the wheels- forget em! I tried everything to get a tire onto the rim. no luck.
I held a standard rim against one and found these rims are almost 1cm taller than my 700x23 @#$%^*!!
It is an older bike forward facing horizontal dropouts. I meant "modern" to not cause confusion about the 100 year old spaldings

Aeroplane

Well, if you're not buying new, you aren't throwing ton of money away on shiny decals, so I'll recind my "can't polish a turd" advice.

Another thing is cranks: If they are cottered, they may suck. And to replace it, you will need a new bottom bracket as well.

Your wheels are probably 27" wheels. You can buy tires from Nashbar or any bike shop, you just have to get 27" wheels, not 700c.