I'm back, I'm lost
 

After years of gears the itch for a SS/FG is just too strong to ignore any longer. As I've started my search for a new frame I checked the usual spaces, All City Big Block, Surly Steamroller, Bianchi Pista, the things I remember - but they're all gone. Wabi is still around so thats a great option and its nice to see the Soma Rush is still doing its thing. However I feel like the steno pool of relatively affordable well built steal frames has dried up. Am I right or have I not found the right port of call yet? If possible I'd be looking for something less aggressive than a full on track geometry.

What should I be looking at?

Should I just #kiloTT

Well, if you don’t want track geometry then Wabi is the way to go. The Wabi Classic frameset including headset costs $515. Or, you could try buying used.

Well theres a Handle I remember well! Glad you're still here.

I was thinking pretty strongly that a wabi might be the move. But I've also been kicking the idea of some like a Velo Orange Rando with optional horizontal drop outs. Saves room in the garage if I have a frame I can set up geared again if the urge ever strikes...A little concerned about the BB height of 270 for riding fixed though.

My commuter bike is a Salsa Stormchaser, which is a swapping-dropouts gravel frame for big tires. They launched it as a "foul weather single speed gravel bike" for some reason but it's really a 3rd generation Warbird alloy. I was running mine flat bar SS for quite a while but my aging knees turned it 1x. A few years later they also started selling a 1x version with a suspension fork. If I were made of money I'd call up Squid for a custom painted SSCX frame! But that's my taste. Surly has not had its finger on the pulse in quite a while. No one understands the new bikes they are making (Grappler, Skidloader, new Moonlander) The pandemic and the shortage, then boom, then bust it caused ate a lot of companies. It probably did in a lot of small fixie brands, if they weren't already gone, or shifted to other segments. State was a laughingstock at the time but they are somehow still there with a chromoly double butted frame and a carbon-fork aluminum model. Same for Bikes Direct.

I was shocked when I found that the Kilo TT is still available and has somehow not been marked up to the moon.

They are currently mostly out of stock, so they will probably increase in price when they are restocked.

Welcome back OP!

As you can tell, the landscape is different. Gone are the days when every manufacturer had a fixed gear model, or two. There are options still, but you have to look a little harder.

What type of riding do you plan to do? What are your goals? Frame material preference? Budget?

A thought. Look at older road frames with horizontal dropouts. A lot of them make excellent fix gears. Track ends are completely unnecessary and make pulling the wheel out harder and slower. If you always use the same gear, you can adjust the dropout screws (on better bikes that have them) to allow very fast and automatic setting of chain slack when you replace the wheel.

Fenders are now feasible as is running a rear brake with different cogs and wheel locations.

I've been doing this for almost 50 years and well over 100k miles. ON the road, horizontal dropouts win over track ends in almost every category except bling. (Most aren't as long and limit cog choice but that is just because no one makes long ones, not because the idea doesn't work. The custom dropout in my avatar photo bike can handle any cog from 12 to 24 teeth with the same chain.

Frames I've converted to fix gear

Peugeot UO-8 Not a good choice but it was my first. BB way, way too low!
A Japanese built sport Schwinn ~1980 Fun ride!
Cheap Sekine It worked. I didn't cry when it broke.
Miyata 610 Great bike, poor geometry fo rme which I remedied with a 180mm stem.
Trek 4-something, maybe Japanese built - excellent commuter/workhorse.
Peugeot `1990 sport bike. Fun ride! BB was too low but it got me in love the ride! And it inspired my

Ti Cycles custom (that avatar photo). Favorite bike of all time! Not a convert. This bike was conceived as a fix gear to ride serious mountains.

Might take a look at State Bicycles 4130 FG/SS. I've got one from 2021 that's pretty decent. The newer frames will take up to a 38mm tire now.
State Bicycle Co. 4130 Steel - Fixed Gear / Single Speed Road Bikes | State Bicycle Co.

I just pointed my son to the State Aluminum version w/ a carbon fork. he said he wanted something light to carry up/down to his apartments: https://www.statebicycle.com/collect...ed-track-bikes

And I'll promote my stuff for sale if you want to go cheaper: https://www.bikeforums.net/single-sp...sion-fork.html

or a beater that would be really cheap... i mean, make an offer...... like a bag of coffee beans is an offer.... https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...lt-12-2-a.html (if you're in S.E. Michigan....)

ps: Cinelli? I keep thinking this looks interesting / temping. A Wabi Thunder equivalent, I guess.
https://www.cinelli-milano.com/colle...r-bootleg-2024