BlakeyD

Alright I'm going to get to the nitty gritty. I have been lurking around this forum for the past few weeks trying to decide what I wanted to buy from bikes direct and went ahead with an Hour. Boy am I impressed!

I'm 5'9" and approximately 140 so, I'm considerably lanky. I have a pant inseam of 30 differing from my measured inseam of course. I ordered a 54 cm after taking measurements from the fit calculator from https://www.competitivecyclist.com/. The measuring was awkward, but it turned out to recommend a great fit. I also took the standover height into account before ordering. The bike has no toe overlap and the seat post was rather nice. Replaced the front wheel with an aeromax set that I have from my wrecked road bike (victim of a hit n' run). Wheels were trued rather well. Chain fit great. Everything was sufficiently greased and lubed. Very minor defects in the paint (I'm somewhat ocd), but other than that this bike is a blast to ride. I had the rear brake package come with this, but I went ahead and ordered this:
https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...T#ht_536wt_958

Riding brakeless may seem like suicide (because it is) but for now I'm only going to be flat landing it and doing it later at night while there are few cars out. I commute to college via bike so, I don't think this thing will be a bad fit at all. I already learned how to track stand. This bike is rather light. I will get it weighed as soon as I can with mostly stock components on it. One hell of a buy

Measurements
-------------------------------------------
Inseam: 31
Trunk: 24.5
Forearm: 13.5
Arm: 24
Thigh: 22
Lower Leg: 21
Sternal Notch: 56
Total Body Height: 69.25


The Competitive Fit (cm)
-------------------------------------------
Seat tube range c-c: 51.0 - 51.5
Seat tube range c-t: 52.6 - 53.1
Top tube length: 54.0 - 54.4
Stem Length: 10.7 - 11.3
BB-Saddle Position: 73.4 - 75.4
Saddle-Handlebar: 50.8 - 51.4
Saddle Setback: 2.5 - 2.9


The Eddy Fit (cm)
-------------------------------------------
Seat tube range c-c: 52.2 - 52.7
Seat tube range c-t: 53.8 - 54.3
Top tube length: 54.0 - 54.4
Stem Length: 9.6 - 10.2
BB-Saddle Position: 72.6 - 74.6
Saddle-Handlebar: 51.6 - 52.2
Saddle Setback: 3.7 - 4.1


The French Fit (cm)
-------------------------------------------
Seat tube range c-c: 53.9 - 54.4
Seat tube range c-t: 55.5 - 56.0
Top tube length: 55.2 - 55.6
Stem Length: 9.8 - 10.4
BB-Saddle Position: 70.9 - 72.9
Saddle-Handlebar: 53.3 - 53.9
Saddle Setback: 3.2 - 3.6

BlakeyD

I love my bicycle!

aMull

Fix your bike.

BlakeyD

How would he go about doing that?

Brian

Flip the stem, adjust the bars and seat. That would be a good start.

Scrodzilla

I usually don't like being overly critical of other peoples' rides but I see no front brake (break?) or foot retention either.

bryyando

Man I kinda miss my old bike. I think when I go custom I'm getting something similar to this geometry. It just fit sooo perfectly.

Mos6502

I'd probably fix the brake first, but I dunno much about bikes so...

TejanoTrackie 

I think you can blame BD for that. Ships with rear brake but no front brake. >>>> https://bikesdirect.com/products/windsor/thehour.htm

Scrodzilla

Yeah, that's pretty dumb on BD's part.

mistahdabolina

hey im completely new to this forum and i want to get a fixed geared bike. i know this prolly isnt the place to ask this
i wanna know the difference between the Hour and the Clockwork bike

Brian

No, blame our government for that. The CPSC specifies that if only one brake is supplied on a new bike, it needs to be a rear brake.

Scrodzilla

Now that you mention it, I do recall reading that somewhere. So stupid.

Brian

Yeah, I've mentioned it before. Too bad he can't supply the longer nut to run the brake up front. A complete set would have been better, but then he probably would not be able to meet his price point, and some people would end up removing both if riding fixed, while those riding single speed would probably upgrade the brakes.

foofmaster

Anyone have full fenders on this bike?

Im really urging to get full fenders and some beefier tires...

wedoboop

what size should i get 52 cm or 54 cm? i'm 5'6 1/2 someone help please ): i want the windsor hour in white <3

Brian

The 54 will be too big.

wedoboop

so your recommendation what would be a good size?

Brian

Well, are you interested in a Windsor, or some other bike? You need to check your actual inseam, (not your pants inseam) and then check the standover. Find a nice (or bad) girl that can help you measure from nutz to the floor in your cycling shoes. Give yourself an inch or so for clearance (less if you ride in cold weather) and that's your standover height.

BlakeyD

I just noticed one thing with my bike. When I hit the front brake and put a little pressure forward, I notice a little play in the headset. So when I push forward on the drops while holding the brake, I can feel the fork move backward (as if I'm bracing myself while riding).

Brian

So adjust your headset. Five minutes with one or two allen wrenches.

BlakeyD

Done, just making sure it wasn't a huge problem. I'm getting more and more savvy with bikes thanks to this awesome resource. I get tired of people posting in forums and not providing helpful information, so if anyone has any issues with this, here is a link to help you all.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRFqU07u8DE

wedoboop

just bought mines (: can't wait <3 , what are some good clipless pedals? looking for colors in purple or yellow

brooksilg

I love my hour! Next step is some deep-v's

BlakeyD

Before you do that you may want to think about a new bottom bracket. My bottom bracket has started to do wear out already. It's rather squeaky and I am not happy with it. It has only been around 30 miles of riding and I'm already going to have to throw down some cash for a new one.