Before I start talking about my new bike, let me first state my goal: I wanted a cheap, ready-to-go fixie to serve as A) a bike I could leave at my office 24/7 for lunchtime and after work rides (I work about a mile from the Santa Ana River Trail, for you So Cal folks) and not have to worry about a billion dollar bicycle, and B) a fixie. I wanted something I could immediately start riding and learn fixie technology from; I did not want to convert an existing bike.
So, that's what I got. I ordered it last Sunday and it arrived last night. I was riding it last night, but I put some finishing touches on it and photographed it this morning. Here it is:
It's a Lighting SST from "Dawes USA". This bike takes a lot of heat around here, but I'll be the first to say it met my stated goals perfectly. Sure, it's a wee heavy. Sure, the wheels need to be trued. Sure, it's not the highest quality frame. But for what I was looking for? It fit the bill perfectly. It comes freewheel sided stock, so I flipped the wheel, pulled off the rear brake, and changed the bar tape (that's half yellow and half black taped together in the middle), and rode.
It took a couple of minutes getting used to riding fixed. But after a short while, I feel comfortable on the bike. Granted, sometimes I miss getting my foot into the pedal and look like a total dweeb, but the power transfer seems so much more efficient than my roadie. The only thing that worries me is that on some turns my toe-clip rubs my front wheels -- it's supposedly a 62cm frame, and it has 170mm cranks. I don't feel squished at all on the bike, so it must just be more compact than my other bike.
I enjoy riding fixed so far. So what's next? Well, I'm pretty tapped out when it comes to bike expenditures. Any more and my wife might just ensure she's married to a eunich, heh (and no, that's not just from this bike; I've been putting a LOT of money into me and my son's roadies lately). I know that I want to replace the 48t chainring with a Biopace ring, and I'm thinking of swapping the Truvativ cranks out for a really nice set of Shimano 600 cranks. I might also go Shimano 600 on the brakes, too. Although the Truvativ cranks and Promax brakes work well and match the bike much better than my Shimano 600 stuff. I *think* I want to hit up Nashbar for a set of their carbon-fiber road forks and seatpost. Which of course will require a new stem, too, heh. We'll see.