i have like a $300(canadian) budget... and i want a flipflop hub for my old road bike...



i have never ridden a fixed gear, but i wanna give it a go, ive been saving for a while and my bike is almost ready for the new hub/wheel... so any suggestions would be appreciated cus i just dont know anything about what hubs are out there, whats good, and whats a waste of money



thanks

I am trying to do the same. I found what looked like great deals online and at local shops. I asked a similar question to yours today b/c the deals seemed too good to be true. Folks seemed to think they were fine. Not as good as the nice stuff. But ok. Try thebikebiz.com; bicyclewheels.com; and wheelandsprocket.com. Lots of folk gave the advice that if you do buy online, take them to your local shop to have them trued/retensioned, then get them retightened after a couple of months.

I just got a Harris Cyclery hub and a closeout Mavic open Sport rim from my local LBS and laced it up. First time building a bicycle wheel (although I've built a few spoked wheels for motorcycles before) and it took a few tries to get the dishing and tensioning right. It cost less than $100 total and took maybe 3 hours. I rode it for a shakedown ride and then up 3 gap. It worked great, and having the flip flop hub was big help on the monster climbs. (16 and 18t)

Az

I am happy with my surly flip flop, although I never flip it because it's too much of a PITA. I leave it fixed. I did strip the lock threads on the fixed side, but I think that was because the dealer used a cheapo lock ring. Since I bought the Surly lock ring, my new hub has been trouble free.

It's only a PITA the first couple of times. With practice, you should be able to flip your wheel in under a minute, guaranteed.