Originally Posted by
Primitive Don
As a newbian LBS owner, I'm not super thrilled to see this. Given how many Mercier Kilo TTs Bikes Direct has sold to the fixed gear crowd, this amounts to fairly dangerous competition in the entry level road category. Who cares if it has no name hubs, it's a brifter bike for 400 freakin dollars.
Yeah, but Don, I'll tell ya the truth, as I see it. On my club rides, there's ONE person out of 7 or 8 that has a BD bike (a Dawes Lightning 1500). The rest have bike shop bikes...except me, although all of my bikes were shop bikes at one point in time
. I guess what I"m trying to say is that it seems there isn't much business overall from BD - at least, enough to affect a business in Culver.
And truth be told, if I was in the market right now and could find a cromoly fixed gear bike that can fit fat tires and fenders for under $400 from a brick and mortar store, I'd go for it. But as it stands, the best deal for that seems to be BD. Again, if I was in the market for a fixed/ss bike to use as a commuter, I'd be hard pressed to come up with better.
That said, I'd probably just do like I always do and build up a C/V bike to suit my needs with 27" fixed wheels out of an old dumpster bike.
I did notice that BD is selling the Kilo WT as a "5 speed fixed gear" although if you look at the pictures, the rear hub is simply a Sturmey 5 speed. Would be cool if they came up with a bike that was centered on the S3X hub though.
ETA: if I was looking at a BD bike and had the budget, it'd be this bad boy:
http://bikesdirect.com/products/merc..._serpensIX.htm
However, if I was to be buying something like that, I'd probably save my ducats and end up buying something I'd consider more versatile, prettier, and from a brick and mortar store, like the Masi Randonneur or the Surly Pacer.