Current project (Vanilla, lots of options) total so far: $8600. Final may push a few hundred more before it's done.

Oh boy! Can I clean it for you mister? I promise I won't put a scratch on it!

holy cow. good god. wowie zowie.

We should have a contest for who can build up the cheapest fixie possible.

Rules:

1. No parts out of your personal junk box, or taken off one of your existing bikes.

2. No gifts or 'special deals' from your friend's junk box or bikes.

3. No x-tra special employee discounts if you work at an LBS.

All parts must be purchased from somewhere. Thrift store, online store, craigslist, yard sale, etc. The point is that they have to be things that just anyone could come and buy, available to the general public.

Then you could have categories, like "Cheapest Overall", "Best bike for less than 50$", "Best bike for less than 100$", "Most Expensive Overall", etc.

could be fun!

peace,
sam

Rich people can buy bikes too. Hell, I just had dinner with a Sheikh on tuesday who is about to buy a Maybach. For the uninitiated, its close to 400,000 dollars, is 6.2 meters long and can outperform a corvette on the race track. I see no reason why he would spend any less than 10-20,000 dollars on a bicycle.

pfft. I could do it for nothing and I bet more than a few people here could if they think about it.

But the other categories are pretty nice.

A completely free fixie built up from parts available to the general public? You could get a freecycled road bike, locktite the freewheel, remove the derailleurs and extra chainring, and go. But it wouldn't be pretty. And maybe someone with a few well placed dollars could make a much better bike, and still win the "Best for less than 50$" category or something! See, it would still be a challenge to hit each of the categories, or to make some surprisingly nice bikes with surprisingly cheap parts.

peace,
sam

Look at me...REALLY! LOOK AT ME! I'm in my late 40's wearing an aerodynamic unitard with lighted wiring running throughout. And you have the nerve to think you're in too deep?!?! You're not in too deep until you have to change a fuse in your underwear because you saw a pretty girl riding the other direction!

my convsersion cost me however much a case of budweiser cost at the time...
my track i got for $500, but that was a steal, and i'm looking at spending almost half that just to get new forks soon...

What? What the hell kind of components are you putting on that thing? Even with a brand new set of disc wheels and one of those $700 dollar Hatta headsets, I don't see how this is possible.

the Vanilla frameset is prob 3 or 4k just by itself.

I'd love to tell you how much i'm spending on the new one, but since i work in a shop, it might break your hearts... Xtra special employee discounts rule.

frame, bars, stem, fork, headset, seatpost, bb-7
cheap suzue hubs- 35
rims- 50
spokes+nipples- 32
cranks- 10
bar tape- friends part bin
pedals- swap between road bike and fix
seat- parts bin
tires- 5$ from a buddy
tubes- patched old ones
da cog and lockring- 33
chain- parts bin

my damn sexy bike- priceless

Found some good deals and built up a bike.

BT frame and fork - 3G
HED disc wheel - 1G
Specialized trispoke - 500 bucks
Campy track cranks - 100 bucks
Speedplay Zero track - 165 bucks
Izumi chain - 45 bucks
Sakae FX handlebars - 60 bucks
Selle Italia Nitrox seat - 5 bucks
Campy seatpost - 10 bucks
Tufo s135g tubulars - 120 bucks
Campy record headset - free
Stem - free
Soyo keiring grips - 18 bucks
Paint - had it lying around

If i paid suggested retail for everything, it would have run me twice as much
All prices canadian dollars

my around town fixie cost me 50 bucks

I have to second hella, I really dont know how you could spend that much. With all the bells and whistles, Vanillas dont run that much. I need pics of progress...really badly

taras! that bike is sexy!!!!!!!!! WOW!!!!! I think i am in love. Why does everthing I love cost so much darn $$$$$?!?!?!

yup. the ride feels nice and level.
I suspect going from the terry wheel to 650 will require a tad more adjusting. Thanks again.

It took a while to get those parts. At 21, you're not making much money. It was all done in pieces.

Hella and Jaminsky,

Sorry to tell you, but it's true. There was a previous "spare no expenses" fixie thread that has a lot of the specs in it. But I can give you highlights.

The lugs we designed were too long to cut, carve and extend an existing set, so Sacha mated ss tubes together and then carved those up. If you go to his website and click on the process page, you'll see some unfinished lugs. Those were the basis of mine, but now modified. The BB lug has the tips extended 4". Stem and seatpost post are also custom from Vanilla. Sacha actually finished my seatpost a while ago and put it on another bike to show at the Handmade Bicycle Show. Here's a link to see my seatpost: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wbaroc...70.jpg&.src=ph (Btw, he took an existing seatpost, cut off the bottom 1/2, carved the upper to look like a lug, bonded carbon tubing up into it, and then polished the lug portion. For the downtube logo, Sacha came up with the idea to ditch the decal and instead laser cut the Vanilla script from ss and weld it to the frame then polish it.

Other stuff: PW high flange track hubs 28f/32r, new SLR version in black, Sapim CX-ray black spokes (had to be made for this application) laced to Zipp 415 carbon clincher rims. All PW hardware fully polished by PW and should have the new PW cogs by completion time. Campy Pista cranks w/ custom Brown Technologies titanium chainring, Crank Brothers Quattro road pedals, Campy Record carbon brake levers (right side pinned), Campy Record front brake (black), Fizik Arione carbon saddle, FSA K-wing carbon bars, Campy Record carbon bottle cages, CK Ti headset, Michelin pro-race tires, Cateye double wireless computer. I may switch the FSA bars w/ a spare pair of ITM K-sword bars I've got laying around.

There's a lot more to the frame than the average and that's a big part of the expense. Since the bike is a fixed gear, there was no need for a standard rear brake bridge. Sacha came up with the idea to do a pair of bi-plane looking wings between the seatstays. The wings will have the Vanilla circle w/ "v" in the middle to look like a propeller. Lots of cool stuff.

I can't post pics on the web. I've tried, but the photos Sacha sent me are "tif" files and when I try to download them to a picture hosting site, I get file too big errors. Sorry.

yup, it doesn't take long for the vanilla frame price to go into the stratosphere - of course, that depends upon what you want on it. sacha is about to start my sspeed project and we discussed various frame options. keeping it simple the frame/fork will stay under $2K, but if you go with stainless lugs plan on adding about $900. again, it's all personal choice and how much $$$ you want to sink in vs what you will get out of the bike. i had planned to go with some stainless lugs, but i've alread spent a bundle on collecting campy cobalto components - not to mention the phil wood hubs and bottom bracket.

either way, sacha's great to work with and extremely helpful.

Calfee Luna Fixie frame w/Thompson seatpost/Profile karbon lite cages from ebay: $680
Saddle: Used fizik arione that I had
New Ritchey WCS stem ebay: $55
ITM Millenium (Sp?) bar: had it.
Grips $4
Tape had it
lever had it
brake got for free
Front wheel phil hub ebay $80
Campy Record HS: $70
Alpha Q cross fork $400
HS/fork Instal: $30
Reinstal because first LBS put the bearings in reversed: $12
Brake adjustment/install: $12
Track crank & BB: $300
Chain $10
Rear rim: $27
Level Hub, cog, spokes, nipples: $190
Level Axle and three extra cogs: $120
Build: that was me
Tires: ~$40
Tubes: $5
Extra Chainring $50

Total comes to $2085. WILL SOMEBODY HELP ME PLEASE?! This is all on a credit card too and started out because I just wanted a lighter fixie. The fork was the first real sign of a deep problem.

Now I've had to change my salary election to stop contributing to my 401k for the rest of the year to pay off the $5000 in debt that I have that is all due to bike stuff.

My rationalization is that I'm in the best physical shape I've been in in at least 10 years (when I was 25), I'm finishing in the top 10 and even on the podium in races thanks to so much time fixed; so a little financial pain is worth it in my book. But that is only because I know I can pay it off by year's end. The other rationalization was that if I bought the frame alone new I'd have spent $2,000 and there are only 2 of them in existence (carbon fiber fixed gear Calfees), so the interest is an opportunity cost.

Send copies to jeremy.werst at gmail dot com - I'll run them through photoshop at work today and give you internet sized .jpgs....

" I see no reason why he would spend any less than 10-20,000 dollars on a bicycle."

I can see a reason; 20k feeds a lot of families.

I could see it if spending 2000% more increased your utility/pleasure 2000% percent more. But it doesnt (doubtful even 10 percent). In fact, in tends to DECREASE pleasure and utility because (many) people who drop that kinda cash on a bike tend to make it their sunday dandy; never using it in the rain, or a dirt path, or locked to a parking meter.

just my take...no offense to those who make choices different than my own...

It is like buying an ultimate car. People like to own the best thing. And the best bike is a dern sight cheaper than the best car (which very very few people could ever afford). But stevo has a point, of course, there is something wrong with a bike that is 'too nice' to be ridden.