$600 range of new fixies
 

Thinking of getting a fixed to complement my road bike. Are the bikes in the $600 range all within 1lb of each other? I'm guessing the frames are all within 0.5lb of each other? Are the components pretty much comparable?

Considering:
IRO Mark V
IRO Jamie Roy
Bianchi Pista
Raleigh Rush Hour

From some other threads, I understand that there are geometry differences amongst the frames, but from this thread, I'm trying to get a handle on weight and component quality. TIA!

u can have all 4 for $600, they all suck.

Thanks, that's helpful. You want to loan me the money to buy a $1500 fixie?

i would go for the mark v before the other 3... iro has very good customer support from what i hear.

http://i.walmart.com/i/p/00/01/67/51...06_215X215.jpg

http://www.pricegrabber.com/rating_g...2638/id_type=M

Get one while they last.

I have never heard of a single one of those bikes! You'd think that on a forum like this these things would have been discussed at length! WTF?

Well anyways get GMC Denali. They make the best road bikes and conversions. Only the most elite of the elite tour de france riders use it.

$1500 wont buy u much neither.

Definitely not. You need to spend at least 10,000 or get a track bike with 24k gold tubing or get the GMC Denali to have a decent bike.

They're all the same. You have a road bike so I assume you know something about components and what not. Common sense says that a $600 bike is going to have mostly budget parts. No significant difference between any of them component-wise. Buy the one that looks the best to you.

From what I understand, the Pista comes with the worst wheelset of those you've listed but has the most "track-like" geometry (steeper angles, less fork offset, etc). If you're sold on buying complete, I would consider spending slightly more money and checking out the Jamis Sputnik.

If you're a serious roadie looking to build up a bike to do winter training, etc, and don't really care too much about whether or not the bike looks like a "real" track bike or not, then your best bet is probably to suss out a good deal on a complete, decent-quality steel road bike and then simply buy a $150 rear fixed wheel and convert it.

m.

cheap fixie
 

Well, I can tell you firsthand that the Jaime Roy is a great frame, and it feels darn light. I'm pretty sure the weights are posted on the IRO site.
Now for a completely self-serving recommendation: get a frame and build it up yourself. It's much more fun and you can get a better set of components if you start out with a frame that's the right price.
The self-serving part? I have a 59cm Jaime Roy in perfect shape that I sell you for $150.:D

iro wheels seem to be a cut above the other two mentioned. mark v if you only want fixed, rob roy if you are thinking about fixed + single speed, fenders a rack, etc. (i'm about to build up a rob roy for those exact reasons)

EDIT: i now see you only mentioned the jamie roy. my rec is still the rob roy...

Im diggin the IRO Angus

frankly, I think the king of the sub $600 completes will be the schwinn madison, when it's released. the components are just as nice, if not better than the IRO's. it also comes with pedals, cages, front & rear brakes and a freewheel. to get the same on an iro, you'd be dropping $100+. for OTR it would be difficult to find a better price/quality ratio.

however, if you're patient, craigslist and ebay sometimes have much nicer used setups with far better components. caveat emptor.

Thanks for the feedback. I probably should have described what I'm trying to achieve, which might have saved me from the GMC Denali recommendation.

Looking to get a fixie to serve 2 purposes. One is to get the benefits from fixed gear riding that help with geared bike riding (higher and smoother cadence, stronger legs, etc.). Two is to serve as my errand-beater-around-town bike (not attaching a rack or anything). And who knows, I might just fall in love with fixed gear riding the way many others have.

Since this bike will occasionally be locked outside for brief periods (in Manhattan), I don't want to get an expensive bike. Thought about doing a fixed/ss conversion with an old steel frame (which seem pretty readily available on ebay and CL), but I'll probably end up spending a lot on all the components, plus I'd need to buy crank tools (though I think I have everything else), and I don't want to spend a lot of time shopping for parts and assembling the bike.

Figured I would buy a used IRO, Bianchi or Raleigh (the ones listed above) for $400 or so. Figured a total beater may not be any fun for longer rides, while a really nice bike couldn't be used for errands. And no, I don't have room for 2 more bikes, only 1.

Any advice appreciated.

They have been, just not in the SSFG section.

Ah, I see. So searching WOULDN'T have helped then. Nevermind.

So if SSFG is not the right forum to be asking about low-end fixies, which forum is?

get a langster!

Not trolling, just love my langster. it's quite fast...and a highly upgradeable frame.

-Robb

My road bike is an alu/carbon frame with sloping top tube. Thinking about going with steel and horizontal top tube for the fixie.

This is absolutely the right forum to find those answers, but the subject has been discussed umpteen times and you'll find SOOOOO much information by just doing a search.

I'm just saying, don't be lazy and expect everyone to just tell you which bike is best. Do some research and figure it out for yourself.

If you can score a Mark V off ebay or CL, you'll have a bike that's good for street riding, training, errands, etc. Try Recycle a Bike down in the LES or DUMBO. They carry IROs too. The Mark V is something like 18 lbs I think.

if you want to get one of these used, bianchi pistas show up most often on ebay..