hi. i'm new. need advice..
 

so i'm a newb and no very little about fixies and SS bikes. but i have friends who seem to love them. i've been browsing forums and websites like crazy for the past couple months. anyway, i've been wanting to get one for a while now. it's just hard to finally grab something specially when i just want a budget bike. ..enough rambling..

i found these two on my local craigslist today. would they make good fixies? anything to look out for or know?

http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/bik/429187072.html

http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/bik/442970452.html

TIA.

Mercier Kilo TT.
http://bikesdirect.com/products/mercier/kilott.htm

349.95 shipped. get it now.

if you really want to do a conversion... look for frame with horizontal drop outs and good bottom bracket clearance. i'm sure people will have more to say, but get the Mercier Kilo.

look here for a lot of useful information: http://www.sheldonbrown.com

If you want only the frames, then yes.

That's a cool bike! Thanks for the links! At 6'4" how would i know what size to get? It's probably out of my budget but it's such a good deal I may have to make it happen.

what's wrong with the rest of the components on the other ones? (forgive me if that's a dumb question.. i really don't know much. :o )

I have to echo artizzle that you'll be much better off with an entry level complete bike than you will be with a conversion, especially when you don't know much about bikes or fixed gear components to start with. The Mercier is hard to beat. You can also look for a used Pista/Fuji track/KHS. One of the best things about buying new is that you can get precisely the size you want, and won't be tempted to put up with a slightly ill-fitting bike because it's a good deal. A good fitting bike is more important than any bling components.

Also, put a front brake on it, no matter what all your cool fixie friends say.

do a search!






hehe just kidding :)
I would go with the KILO

well, i'm really diggin' everything i'm seeing on the KILO (minus waiting a month for shipping). sounds like a real nice starter bike. i love the way it looks in black too. i'm assuming it comes unnassembled and i have to put it together? how difficult is that to do? i'm pretty mechanically inclined, it can't be that hard, is it?

In the build thread there are pics of what exactly comes in the box. A monkey could put it together. The hardest thing for you will be putting the front brake on (and you should definitely do that), but even that's not all that hard.

not sure about the kilo but a lot of bikes ship with the tricky stuff already installed, which is basically anything that needs to be greased up. you could probably figure out the rest. if you are really worried about being able to assemble a bike, then i don't see why you would be planning to build a bike from one of those cl frames. and if 350 is out of your price range, i assume you wouldn't be doing anything to those bikes other than putting a fixed wheel on the back? if you do much more than that, you'll quickly be approaching $350, in which case you may just want to buy the kilo.

good luck on your decisions.

thanks for the advice guys.

and that puts it into perspective sieze.

i think i'm going to go ahead get the kilo. I just need to decide if i like the green or want to wait a month for the black one.. hmm..

You may want to visit your LBS since this is about that time of the year where the 07's and 06's complete bikes are on sale-

I was wondering about sizing (I'm am also about to get my first fixie). I am 5'8", 30" inseam and currently ride a Specialized 54cm road frame, but on the Specialized webpage, it says the seat tube lenghth c-t is 500mm with a standover height of 767mm. Does this mean that I should get the 50 cm Kilo frame? I just want to make sure that I understand the geometry correctly. Thanks!

thanks again for the advice, guys. i went for the 60 cm KILO in green. that's a killer deal on a complete bike and after seeing the thread with all the green ones, i was sold on the color. the site makes it look like a highlighter color, but on the actual bike, it looks nice. guess i'll head to the LBS once it come in to find a front brake. any recommendations? i also hope my size 13 shoe doesn't cause an issue..

alkaline: i hope you enjoy the bike. i was about to hop on that deal last month, but decided to get a new wheel set for my conversion.

mcmcayuki: i think maybe a little something bigger than 50cm, maybe the 53cm? the best way to find the right frame size would be to try out a bike with a geometry similar to the bike you want to buy (kilott) at a lbs or a friend's bike. other people who bought the kilott maybe able to help you out with sizing, but you won't know for sure unless you hop on one.