shortshorts

Hi fellas.
I'm buying my 1st fixed gear bike, & I could use some purchasing advice, please.

I plan on using this as my daily commute bike, its about an 8 mile ride one way. I won't be do any track racing or what not, but I do ride in the street and I like to try to go pretty fast. No toodlin' around on the sidewalk for me.

I'm eyeballing these two bikes on that bikes direct site.
https://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...st_al_carb.htm
&
https://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...cane/track.htm




My main things are:

1. weight.
I thought that aluminum bikes were much lighter than steel ones, but I emailed bikesdirect and they said the moto track is about 20 lbs too, so thats awesome. Right now I'm pushing around an old schwinn sprint 10 speed, it weighs a ton. I've read around online a bit, and figured out to stay away from hi-ten steel, but other than that I'm not sure what is good/light.


2. I don't know hardly anything about component quality. Is there much of a difference between the two bikes? I saw that the sst-al has sealed bearings in its hubs. Are those something that affects how smooth & fast it rides, or is it more for longevity and lack of maintenance?


3. The dawes is pretty ugly with those big ol' logos, and I really like the look of the no decals on the motobecane. I guess I could just rattle can the dawes, but I'd like a white bike and since the moto already comes in white that'd save me some trouble.
But I'd prefer the better bike, regardless of looks.


So, are these pretty much on par with each other, or is the dawes noticeably better?

I've seen how popular the kilo tt is, but isn't that more of a track geometry than a road geometry?
I figured I'd need a road once since I intend to, you know, ride on the road.
I'm a bit clueless how to tell which bike has which type of geometry.
Also I saw that new kilo stripper comes in a sparkly white, & that might be kinda snazzy.
Or is that basically the same kilo tt, but with fancy paint?
https://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...t_stripper.htm



I'd really appreciate any tips & advice, thanks so much.

-mike

jack1212

The most expensive things on a bike are the drivetrain, wheels then brakes. The Dawes SST Al has brand name brakes, crank and good wheels and will ride for a while without "upgrades". The Motobecane Track has a no name crankset, 1 no name rear break pad and a heavy cheap wheelset. All three of which will probably have to be replaced/upgraded. However it does have a nice steel frame and is $100 cheaper so its not a fair comparision.

All in all, if you want to get a nice bike, for the price of the dawes sst al you can get this one:
https://bikesdirect.com/products/merc...t_stripper.htm

tFUnK

dawes al is the better bike in terms of performance and value. but for a getting-around-town beater i wouldn't mind the motobecane.

and a kilo really isn't that different from a "road" geometry bike. the kilo stripper looks like a good deal too.

but yeah, if it were me, i would get the dawes sst al between the two.

ADSR

agreed, except a steel frame will not be as stiff as an aluminum frame, so if you like to sprint aluminum may be just the thing. If aluminum rides too rough, just put some bigger tires on and problem solved.

shortshorts

I don't know about sprinting or what not,
its just there are no bike lanes around here and i've got to pedal like hell to keep up with car traffic.
Crazy drivers, man.



Also, In the pics it looks like the dawes wheels are snugged up tighter to the frame than the moto track's.
Is that significant in anyway, or just maybe they used a photo of a small frame on one, and a big frame on the other?