Great Thread! I have been riding a hybrid for years and getting bored with it. I live in flat SW FL.. no hills but LOTs of older snowbirds that drive by "touch"...they only stop when they hit something. Thinking of going fixed gear... Question is whether to buy a "built" FG, buy a new "store model" (Kinda like the Schwinn Cutter).

Any thoughts? Oh yeah, Im 62 and in good shape (relatively speaking).

Tks in advance!

I love this!

Meh I just bombed 550 miles on the Dawes SST AL. From Jan 28th to Feb 21. In South Miami.

While I didn't care for the fixed gear, I loved freewheel 48/17 eventually I had 48/16 because the dicta 17t blew up in 200 miles.

I liked it so much I shipped it home to Ohio. The SS gets here tomorrow, so today I rode my hybrid. Yuk!
I am for sure hooked on single speed fun!

Friends don't let friends ride Dicta freewheels... Shimano is probably the best deal while White Industries are the shizzle.

The ACS Crossfire is also a good modestly priced single freewheel.

I have not tried that one... I don't ride much singlespeed and when I did the Shimano freewheels were the best bang for the buck unless you could find an old Suntour.

The coolest Suntour freewheel had a lockout to allow it to be run fixed or free with nothing more than the small turn of a set screw.

It is all new to me.... I came home (complained) my LBS said to do Shimano. So yeah thank you.

Now it is just figuring out what gear combo I want for our smaller hills here.

Next newbie question what do you lube free wheels with?

A few drops of machine oil, spun in.
Whatever works in a lawnmower engine is good but I use Phil tenacious oil.

-Bandera

Stump pulling low for winter riding... 59 GI.

I turn 40 in April but the miles on these bones are well beyond that. I've found velodrome and I'm anxious to try it!
Currently only have a budget bike but am already looking at something better suited for track! This is gonna get good!

Must be something in the name Sheldon, yes thats my name too

I gave $280 for that dawes sst Al. Shipped. It was a return so I got it from Bike Island.

Cheapest bicycle I've ever bought new and probably the most fun. I think I want to sell my 29er and replace it with a 650b SS.

I could be happy with just 4 bikes, my alloy 105 synapse, a gravel grinder Ti. Volagi, the al. Dawes and a 650b ridgid SS.

While I might not be a fixed fanatic I love simple.

This is awesome.

I have my WT with me and the snow is supposed to melt tomorrow. I entered Ride the Rockies for the hell of it, a lottery so we will see. Not sure if the old bones are up to doing it SS.

Bump. It's been awhile, so I'll just repost my new Soma Rush built that I just completed. Many of you have seen it posted elsewhere already, so I'm just posting it here to keep this thread alive.

Fisrt post. Love this bike! It's the inspiration for my single speed right here.

No point sucking up to TT, we're all rude to him

Welcome to the asylum.

What tires are those sir?

TT, info on the grips on your soma please.

They are OURY grips in the "muddy light brown" color.

Thanks! Building up a ss and besides the frame color (black), looks like my bike has a sibling.

The tires on that 42 Below bike are Kenda Kwest. They seem to ride fine for my needs of riding around the neighborhood.

Is that 42 Below bike one of those Iros they used in their goldsprint promos around the county?

Have the same tires on my mini-velo. It is my beater bike, they are one of the very few tires that come in the right size and were the cheapest, so I had little choice despite my initial reservations against them. But I have to say that I am extremely impressed at how tough they are. I ride this bike everywhere, often on terrible roads and thru neighborhoods where residents seem to view bike lanes as garbage cans. I have plucked pretty sizable pieces of glass and metal out of them and (hope this doesn't curse me) not a single flat.

I've been a tire snob my whole life - always went for nothing but light, fast, racy tires on my road bikes but now that it is getting close to new tire time for my good fg bike, I am seriously considering a set of Kenda Kwests for it.

I found it on CL this winter. A guy that cleans out abandoned apartments found it and I picked it up cheap. It looked unused. One of the guys at my LBS said it looked like a "polo" bike. Perhaps it was, but I ride it with my kids in front of my home or on the MUP to my local bar.

I am thinking of picking up a rear brake and switching to a single-speed. I like to be able to freewheel.

Interesting thread. I turn 40 in a few months.

I've had a few back surgeries at L4/L5, with the final one being an L4/L5 lumbar fusion 4 years ago. Doctor has suggested against jogging for exercise as there is too much compression on the spine. I bought a recumbent exercise bike for the basement and started using it daily. Found I really enjoyed it so I decided to buy a bike last year......my first one in 25 years. Ended up with a Cannondale Quick 3 hybrid. Found I only used 1 or 2 gears at most and was getting frustrated with a noisy derariler and a chain that kept popping off. Plus, it had carbon front forks which I manged to ding which concerned me. With my back issues, I didn't want to risk the forks breaking on me.

Sold the bike a few weeks ago and started looking for a CroMo single speed. Since I live in Canada, it's not easy to order the "darling of the forum" the Kilo TT from Bikes Direct.

Locally, there were slim pickings at the LBS, but I did find a Specialized Globe Roll 1 at a bike shop that had some paint defects when they pulled it out of the box. THey offered it to me for 30% off MSRP and it just happened to be my size. I've been riding it daily for the past 10 days and really enjoying it's simplicity. I have it on the SS side of the rear hub as I'm not interested in riding on the fixed cog. It's quiet, simple and forces me to use my legs vs gearing down on slight hills. I have encountered a few steep hills that required me to get off and walk, but I'm fine with that.

Because I wanted a bit more of an upright seating positing, I have the handlebars set up a bit higher and the seat is down quite low (only 2 inches above the seat clamp). It probably looks odd, but it's working for me.

Looking forward to daily rides on it this during the summer. I might add a quick release skewer for the front wheel to make it easier to get in and out of the car. Other than that, I'm happy with the mediocre, stock components that generally come on big brand bikes. I know many on these forums don't like the big branded, mass market overpriced single speed bikes being pumped out as a trend, but they do serve a purpose for people like me who don't have the knowledge and skillset to build their own for less money. Also, I'm so new to this that premium components would be wasted on me as I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

James

Hey, folks. I started racing on the track last week. I'm going back tonight for some more torture. I came in dead last. I had a blast!