Originally Posted by
Welshy
So I've been doing some research on these forums and via Sheldon Brown and a few other resources on the internet over the last couple days and have a basic grasp of the idea of converting an old road bike to a FG. That's not to say I know all the components of the bike (far from it) or that I could go out and successfully do one tomorrow without help -- I just have a basic idea of what you need to do.
Basically, my question is...if I am serious about riding a FG as my everyday street bike, should I skip looking for a conversion and just go straight into a track frame and save myself time and possibly money in the long run, or should I work on converting an old bike and then buy a new frame in the future and swap the parts from the old bike to the new one, adding things when necessary.
I don't want a Kilo TT or another complete where I would have to replace sub-par parts, but at the same time I don't know if its a good idea for a beginner to pickup a leader frame and a bunch of expensive parts with little to no experience building or riding fixed.
Also, whats a reasonable top end and bottom end price estimate for a complete bike with something like a 250$ leader frame to start with.
I apologize for the handful of indirectly asked questions, I'm just really struggling to decide what I want to do and seek the opinion of some of you bike gurus.
I seriously love this forum. Such a great resource for a beginner like myself. Thanks to all the contributors. You know who you are.
Start with these rhetorical questions:
If you could have any bike in the world, no matter how cheap or expensive, what bike would it be and why?
What are and are not important to you? (speed, looks, reliability, brand name, low weight, durability, versatility, single-purpose...)
How do you think you'll use the bike? (commuting, not really, really long miles, around campus).
What's your terrain like? (flat like Florida, Hilly like SF)
Is there a chance that your bike will be stolen? (campus bike rack, work won't allow bikes inside, bars won't allow bikes inside...)
Maybe answer some of those questions in this thread and it will help guide the discussion. For example, if brand name isn't important and your bike is in a high bike theft area then a certain type of bike might be better. But, if the bike will always be safe in your home and you simply use it for long weekend rides or commuting to work where they allow you to bring it in then something nicer might be the way to go.
As far as converting goes...
Converting was popular when there weren't any relatively inexpensive fixed gear frames/bikes available. Before 2005 or so, if you didn't get a custom frame made, pretty much the only options where purpose built track racing bikes that weren't cheap. That's not really the case anymore. Plus, people converted bikes that they already had or had access to in their parent's basement or found cheap at thrift stores.
Don't spend money to buy a frame just to convert it. That's like buying a rectangle to see of you can shave it into a square. Why not just buy a square? I'm not dissing conversions. There are some great conversions out there.
Also, buying a-la-carte will always cost more than buying a complete bike. The sum of the parts will be more than a complete bike, PLUS you have to pay for labor to build it or buy tools to build it yourself.