Anyone with more experience than me (aka anyone) have any feelings about the Scattante Americano road bike? Link here. I'm thinking of getting it as I currently don't have a commuter.

It's probably fine for a cheap, entry level single speed. Wouldn't go for it myself though. Nosir.

Looks like a pretty good deal to me. The price is competative with BikesDirect's offerings, which are just about the best deals going out there for singlespeeds and fixed gears. Its looks like its speced out pretty smart in comparison to many singlespeed or fixed gear offerings...it has front and rear brakes, road geometry, threadless fork/headset, and a reasonable gear ratio.

My only serious concern is the rear hub...its not clear if its a SS only hub, or if its a flip flop with the option of setting up a fixed gear on the other side. if its SS only, I'd say Performance made a big mistake, because its going to limit the number of people who want to buy this thing.

Like most of these lower end models, the wheels are probably undertensioned and will last much longer if you bring then into the LBS after a few hundred miles and have them properly tensioned.

I just came from a Performance bike store that had one in stock. I had a hard time leaving the store without buying it. The most bizarre thing I noticed was that I'm 6'1" and the 54cm wasn't too far off from fitting me top-tube wise. It rode really good, but as expected at this price point ($350, and I coulda got 10% off that), the bars, stem, and seatpost are junk. The hubs looked just like the Formula's on the Fuji Track Pro sitting next to it, down to the red cartridge bearings.

Also, it does have a flip-flop fixed/free hub.

Now, I've checked out the size chart and it's completely funky. From the 49cm to the 61cm sizes, the top tube length goes from 54.6cm to 57.8cm. WTF is up with that?

Edit. Now that I look around a little more, this seems to be mostly the same as the SE Lager and Dawes SST.

Hmmm. I need another bike (rain bike, extra bike, etc). This looks like a good option to think about. I already have a Lager on its way (and carbon forks), if I don't like it, maybe i'll consider this as another alternative. I only need a frame. Does it have a sloping toptube (ala langster)? I don't like those.

Are those brazed-on cable stops along the underside of the top tube? This would stop me from buying an otherwise pretty decent bike at that price point.

The name kills it for me.
"$hitante".

I got their SSR frame since I wanted something more "performance" orientated, no pun intended. This one has a sloping top tube and no braze-ons except for water bottle mounts on the downtube only. I'm building it up with much nicer parts than the Americano.

the name does it for me.

There's a pun in here?

scat is "performance bicycles" house brand.