Pondering what to do with this Redline of mine
 

Hello, long time lurker freshly registered. (Can't post links yet but ://imgur.com/a/Ts0MhnY , you know what to do!)

I bought this 2011 Redline 925 last summer for around 300€. It had barely been driven, was and still is, in pretty mint condition apart from a few scratches from storage. Still I thought I paid a bit much for it but hey, whats done is done.
It's pretty much stock apart from the cockpit, tyres (Schwalbe G-One 35c), BLB Superior freewheel and the pedals. The rims are Alexrims G2000 and they've been really solid so far. The ride overall is smooth, however I don't have any other steel frames to compare to. Just my 650b+ hardtail but thats a different story.

All things considered I've kinda grown tired of this ride and am constantly looking at upgrades, I just don't know what to do with it. Replace these solid wheels with a bit lighter ones? Maybe upgrade the frameset? I'm just pretty overwhelmed at the moment! :D

Also I've been playing with the idea of just selling this and spending the pot on a new complete with similar yet better performance. If I were to switch out the whole bike, what would be considered as an upgrade? Will I get something significantly better for say 600€, or will the increase in quality be marginal? I haven't set a final budget on anything, since I don't know what is up! Just wanting to get some insight from more experienced SS & fixie riders. Oh and I like clearance for at least 33c tyres and just overall functionality on a frame.

Have a great day. :backpedal:

I owned a 925 for a few years and it was a solid, if uninspiring bike. The geometry is a little strange, pretty long top tube. There's nothing wrong with it, but I would suggest selling it rather than upgrading. It's kinda not worth going much beyond what you've already done.

However if what you are looking for is "functionality" and space for wider tires, it's actually a decent bike.

I ended up selling mine and building up a Soma Rush from scratch. I found a great deal on an older frame and went from there. It won't fit 33c tires and it would probably cost more than 600 euro, but you could definitely build up something better if you wanted. Things to think about are frame geometry, do you want something with quicker handling (steeper angles) and the tire thing is definitely a consideration. There are lots of fun bikes out there but not sure what's available as a complete. Personally, I'm very happy. The Rush is much a more lively bike (steeper geo, better, lighter steel) and fits 28c tires comfortably, but don't think you could go much beyond that.

There seems to be a lot of options in the CX world though that you could probably find something interesting that will fit big tires.

Picture for OP:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...58c8748ae1.jpg

The All-City seems to have some solid and budget friendly options in this area. The Nature Boy and Big Block for example, though the Big Block takes 32c, but thats getting there! I will need to look into the CX frames more closely, can't remember anything other than the All-City from the top of my head.

For now I think I'll just continue to use the 925 as it is and just replace parts as they wear. It's great bike for what I do with it, pretty versatile indeed! What would I dare to ask for it if selling? Might just have more value for me as a beater or something like that though.

The Dolan Pre-Cursa seems like an interesting one also, especially the grass track frameset. It can take up to 32c tyres and for the looks of it seems like a great value, correct? This one has been bouncing on my mind pretty much lately. Any thoughts on this bike?


Thanks for your reply!

Woah...did not know they made such a thing....

I think you will be glad you are keeping your 9 to 5, VultureStance...

I had an '06, which, IIRC was the 1st year they made them. It was my 1st non-off-road singlespeed but the rear wheel got flipped to fixed the day after I brought it home. It came with a mustache handlebar, but for some reason I immediately swapped that to a riser, pulled off the mudguards, and sold those things; so it felt like the bike cost me practically nothing,

I beat the hell out of that bike...and couldn't break it. Did everything with it too, and I never changed much except the tires. Do you remember Fixed gear freestyle? It was just getting started around then and I had to try trickin'. Guess what bike I used? Of course it was the 9*2*5, and it held up to my lousy skills until I finally realized that I was not very good at it, and stopped.

By then I had a couple other 1-gear bikes, including a Surly Steamroller that my grown-up son still rides all these years later, so if you are looking for a new bike, you should definitely consider a 'Roller, which took the Redline's place as commuter/daily rider. So I turned it into a...FG mountain bike, and it even held up to that for a year or two. Then some guy on a full squish followed me riding it around one of our local MTB parks and was so fascinated with what I was doing that he bought it out from under me at the trailhead. End of story.

If you are comfortable with the slightly odd geometry (I was) and accept it for what it is, AFAIAC a Redline 925 is a wonderful bike. I always end up missing any bike I sell, but I remember that one especially fondly. Ahhh, memories...

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...66c13d2f2d.jpg