themothman421

Here in Utah, a lot of young men of the LDS religion go on missions for two years. For young men NOT of the LDS faith (aka yours truly), this means we get to borrow a buddy's bike for up to two years. That's exactly what I did with my friend's Bianchi Pista. It was a steel frame, carbon fork, fixed-gear fun machine. I rode it around Salt Lake City, UT. I even rode it to work every now and then. Very fun.

Now he's back, which means the bike is now his (and he doesn't want to sell it). I want my own.

So I would like a SS/fixed-gear bike that I could use for fun rides around town, and also commutes to work (roughly 7.5 one way). To give you an idea of what I'm looking for, the two bikes that have stood out to me are:

Wabi Lightning
IRO Angus

I like the Wabi due to the lightness/stiffness you apparently get out of the frame, and it sounds like you get some pretty nice components to go along with it. The Wabi also represents the maximum I'd be willing to spend for a bike (around $900)

The IRO Angus looks nice mostly 'cause of the price, but the steel tubed frame means it might handle the roads a little smoother than the Wabi.

Like I said in the title, my goal here is to have a quality bike to ride and enjoy now, and then slowly upgrade with better parts as time goes on. It would be nice to learn a thing or two about building bikes without actually having to build an entire bike, if that makes any sense. Besides, no matter which bike I choose, I have to install my own pedals, so that's a start right

Anyway, thanks in advance for any input, and if I need to elaborate on anything let me know.

JDMFanatic

You can't go wrong with either of those choices... The IRO with some upgrades might end up being the better bike though. You could just get a new saddle to your liking, a pedal setup, and maybe a brake setup and you're good to go for way under your budget. You could spend the other money on upgrades or tools and stuff like that... The IRO Angus is a great frame.

themothman421

Well it looks like IRO is currently sold out of every bike they carry! So that helps narrow things down a bit...

TejanoTrackie 

Have you considered the Wabi Classic? https://www.wabicycles.com/classic_bi...c_cream10.html

themothman421

I definitely will! They look to have the same geometry as the lightning...

rkd350z

kilo TT

I got it last october and I REALLY love it. good for the price of $350

Add a wheelset for 200 and you are set!

No wonder why there are sooooooooo many Kilo TTs out there.

rogwilco

"Commuter fixie I can ride now and slowly upgrade?"

Yes, absolutely! It may be hard to believe but you can even ride either of the bikes you've selected as options and never upgrade anything and still have a lot of fun cycling with them.

vw addict

you should look harder

themothman421

What? Am I just blind or are they really in stock somewhere?

vw addict

They have Mark V's back in stock right now, the Angus is still on closeout.

FrenchFit 

I don't think it was a stock Bianchi Pista if it had a carbon fork. I think you are talking about a Concept. Anyway, match the geometry, frame and fork material of that Pista, if you liked it, to whatever you're buying. Frankly, I found the Pista to be a horror to ride on the street, but each to their own. But my fg/ss that I ride on the street routinely has nothing in common with a Bianchi's ride, all of it's handling characteristics are different. Buying a different bike on-line means you may be getting something entirely different than you've been used to...

themothman421

At IROs website, when I look at the complete angus/mark v pages, both say out of stock and I see no way to add anything to a shopping cart. Now I feel slow, haha

vw addict

https://www.irocycle.com/index.asp?Pa...TS&Category=35

themothman421

Right,i go there and build up an angus...then how do I actually go about purchasing it?

vw addict

oh right, I see it now....

M_S

Surly steamroller?