LuisB

For a lot of us, its been over a year since we've had our Langsters. Why don't we take the opportunity to tell others how we feel about our bikes?

I use my Langster on most rides 25 miles or less over a fairly flat loop course. I kept the stock 48T chainring, installed an 18T fixed cog, replaced the seatpost and installed a WTB saddle. With this setup, I find the bike to be very comfortable and do not notice any discomfort compared to my steel geared bike when ridden over this course.

I absolutely love this bike and have not experienced any mechanical issues whatsoever. Contrary to what others have said, this is a well-made bike and the 4-month wait was well worth it!

LB

akky

I know there are a lot of Langsters haters around, but I love mine. It was the only reason I kept riding over the winter, I just wanted to keep on riding it. I've use mine for up to 70 mile rides, commuting, and did some track training, and still have no complaints about it. I upgraded to a carbon fork, 50x17 gearing, carbon seatpost, selle san marco saddle and look pedals, new wheelset. Next items on the list are Nitto b125 bars and maybe a paint job.
Wow, now that I list everything up, soon enough I'm just going to have the frame from the original bike.

PhattTyre

I've had my Langster for just about a year now and I love it. It was a gift for getting into to grad school. I put a Flite saddle and a shorter stem on it. Right now I'm experimenting with bullhorns. I think I'll probably make the switch for good. With my tax return and some rolled change I plan to build a Surly/OpenPro wheelset. The stock wheels haven't been the best (they need more attention than any other wheels I've had), but I'm upgrading more because of ride quality than wheel quality. The aluminum is a little harsher than my steel road bike, but not bad. My future plans for it include a carbon fork, but not for a while. So far the longest rides have been about 2.5 hours. I plan to ride a century on it this summer.

tornado

I've been happy with mine. I've had it over a year and was fortunate to only wait 2 weeks for it. As soon as I got it I put on clipless pedals, fixed on both sides 19 and 22. After 1 ride I changed the saddle. I use it for all my training but not on group rides (too many hills on all rides in this area) or recovery rides (again because of the hills). It's my first non-geared bike in over 40 years and I'm really enjoying it. A great bike for the price ($400 at local LBS).

ultra-g

My Langster was great, the only problem I had was the BB needed to be replaced after 2 months, but otherwise, it held up and performed well. I sold it out of boredom and to get a Pista

PhattTyre

How do you like the Pista compared to the Langster? How would you rate the stock Pista wheels to the stock Langster wheels?

rlh184

I've had my langster for about a year and could not be happier. I'm riding it fixed, 48X15, but will be changing it to 48X17 this week. My knees are begging for it. I've made the following changes to it:

Brooks B17 Championship saddle
Eggbeater Candy's
Nashbar Bullhorns
Cheap BMX brake lever

The only complaint it, as many before me have mentioned is that the BB blows. I will be changing it soon. Does anyone have a recomendation?

As far as the wheels go, this is my first road bike, so I have nothing to compare them to. They seem fine to me. If someone can, please explain the merits of new "better" wheels.

For 500 bucks, I feel like I got a great bargain. I rode the NYC Five Borough Bike tours and got numerous compliments on my bike. I will hopefully be geting it powder coated soon. I'm thinking pearl white. Any other suggestions on color. Right now I got the Honey colored Brooks and brown cork tape which will certainly stay.

That's it for now.
Best,
rlh184

ultra-g

The Langster wheels are hit & miss, they're both crappy machine-built Alex rims, but the Pista wheels have held up better, they use DB spokes, rather than straight gauge spokes, and the Hubs are better.

slangjang

i got my lagnster in mid march and havent gotten off of it since. yeah im having to play with the wheels a bit but not to the point where i feel like buying a new wheel set yet. other than that, im having a great time with it. im running it fixed, 48tx16. ive only been riding fixed for about 2 months and i am already suffering from knee pain. this is weird cause i thought it took a while to start feeling that. what can i do about this?

sucka free

I got my Langster last Fall and I like it. I use it as a daily commuter. It's pretty much stock except that it's fixed (48x18), put on MKS pedals and I removed the rear brake. I don't have any complaints so far.

noumena9

I rode my langster every day to and from work, Brooklyn<->Times Square for about 11 months.

After 1 month I needed new pedals (bearing blew out in one of them.)
2 months: new BB
3 months: new saddle (the stock one is pretty bad)
4 months: broke four spokes in the rear wheel at once while I was riding on the flat.
5 months: got a new rear wheel (paul hub, open pros), got look pedals

I rode it in that state for another 6 months and I generally liked it quite a lot. It had a very technical, crisp ride and I prefer the sloping top tube because I'm tall and clumsy.

That said at 11 months I looked into upgrading the cranks, fork and front wheel. I didn't like my options very much w/r/t cranks and I had a nagging feeling that I was going to brake something and do a faceplant (was it FugaziDave that broke the langster fork?)

I opted instead to buy a Soma Rush frame, Sugino cranks and bb and nitto drops and stem for about $750 and move my wheels, saddle and front brake over. Couldn't be happier -- but that wasn't a cheap 'upgrade.' I sold my frame to dave at bike works, who said he 'wanted to put it through its paces' -- whatever that means.

But my feeling is that if you are going to puts some miles on it (i do about 4500 a year) you might consider building something up for about double the price. If you have the same experience as me you're going to spend that much anyway.

rlh184

What BB did you get?

noumena9

A Shimano one. Ultegra maybe? Can't remember. Took it to R&A for a ticking sound and they replaced it with an upgraded one for free under warrantee.

jgsjr

Langster Pro

Built a spare set of wheels
Specialized Alias saddle
Profile Design Bullhorns and Front brake lever
Look PP357 pedals
Polar 725
Tufo S33 Special tires

I gave my Lemond Victorie w/Dura Ace to my wife.

So far this year all I have ridden is the Langster 2500 miles(I split the time between my bikes last year):

4 Metric centuries (one in nunder 3 hours)
1 century (another this Saturday)
MS 150 the following Saturday/Sunday