I was thinking of buying a langster because I would seem that if someomne spent $600 on a stripped bike with no deraillers, no shifters, 1 chainring and 1 cog that all the other components would be high quality.

However all I hear is that the langster's parts are low quality:low end hubs, low end BB, crappy seat.

Where is this $600 going besides Specialized bank account.

The langster should be cheap to make.

Riding steel makes you a better lover...

There is a big difference in the price Specialized pays for components and what a mere mortal pays. The part of the price going down in the wallet is big in comparison to the cost for parts.

There is only one cheap way for You and me and that is to convert an old but high quality bike where the parts have lost their value. And even in that case the cost for new wheels are significant.........

Everything cool and trendy is expensive. When no-one was doing it, and there weren't many parts available, it was expensive, too. Deal with it.

Not to steal the thread buy Jeremy...have you switched from Jameson to Jaun Valdez?

Every once in awhile I'm broke for a week. Anybody want to pay-pal my whiskey fund?

The Langster is so expensive because while it's a bottom of the line street track ride, it's still not Wal Mart quality. Really, what is it you're saving on? An extra chainring or two (which will probably be stamped on anything costing less than $500), a rear cassette (like $20), and some derailleurs (another $20 or $25). Grand total in savings: less than $50.

$600 is overpriced for the Langster, by the way. At the more realistic $450 or $500 it's not a bad price for what you do get (apart from the rear hub which apparently has some real issues).

Other than that, I get the impression that people hate it because not only is it an inexpensive complete street track ride (thus making it easy for the novice to bite some cool) but they're ridiculously late to the game. They'd be bandwagon jumpers if the bandwagon hadn't already passed them by.

I think the real answer here is this:
capitalism

something is practicial, then popular, then mass produced, then scorned by some, then forgotten by some, then revived again, etc...ad nauseum.

I put together my current sled for about $700 and I built it the way I wanted. No corporate lap-jockey will decide which parts are "usable, yet profitable" on anything I ride.

I looked at building verses buying and it seemed like buying made more sense.
I looked at Langsters and decided no, maybe a Pista.
How did you choose your frame?

My first frame was a surly - durable and steel, plus I really liked their no frills approach. Found it on eBay for c-h-e-a-p (I used to scour eBay for frames and parts).

Had that for a while, wanted to get another. Hm...went to LBS (Yojimbos) and saw what Marcus had. And then waited for $ to build up. Skitbra went and got a DeBernardi from Marcus after much frustration in geting a Soma. I really liked the frameset upon seeing it built up, as well as the materials (Thron tubing). The paint, well...not the best. Whatever, that is a small thing for me. I had also been buying parts here and there off of eBay. So there you have it. The evolution of idea, design and implementation for building vs. buying.
On the other hand - if you do not have the time to do this, go with a prebuilt, like the bianchi. Most people I know that have them really like them.

What I don't understand is I can buy a raleigh sport with 24 speeds (sora) for $375 on sale and I don't hear it trashed as far as being low quality like the langster is. Nobody complains about Sora BB like they do Langster BB. It almost seems like langster BB is below quality of Sora.

Anyhow. How about the Pista (bianchi) "the cool kid's favorite".Is that bike a POS.

About building your own fixie, all you need is the rear hub to do a conversion right, everything else is recyclable (even the crank?)

What is more important: riding a bike in the configuration YOU want or some two-bit ******bag calling you a poseur?

Why did buying make more sense? Converting an old road bike will get you there cheaper and with better quality parts. My conversion gave me hand built wheels with good hubs, good tires, bullhorns, plus a new powder coat job for less than any off the shelf track bike. Plus when you build it yourself, you'll know the bike intimately and won't be afraid of tearing it down to get it running just perfect.

Probably everything is recycleable but the rear wheel. See Sheldon: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/fixed.html

You may want to swap out wheels for 700c if you have 27" wheels (some people build around a 27" wheelset, me, I'm face to the future in that sense). If it's an old cup&cone bottom bracket, it may be easier to swap it out with a sealed unit since it should probably be serviced anyhow (unless it's a well-maintained bike). But in the minimal sense, you can probably get away with just a new wheel, yes.

Me, my first frame was a Fuji racer from the late 80s. I bought it as a complete buildup on ebay because my other bike had just been stolen, so I was in a hurry and besides, the price was right and the quality pretty good. Later I came across a stripped trackish frame for $90 on Craig's List in otherwise good condition (just a little dimple on the top tube--maybe it's been wrecked, who knows). It turned out to be a Fuji Track (year unknown). I built it up with mostly a selection of new parts.

Seems like this is a reoccuring thread here, build vs buy. If you have the capabilities and the skills to build one up yourself, then by all means do so. If you are just getting into bikes in general, i would say buy. The labor cost on assembling a bike at the LBS can get prohibitively expensive, but then again so is the initial investment in a good set of tools. Myself, my next bike is gonna be the new Bianchi P.U.S.S.

https://www.bianchiusa.com/594.html

You're getting a pink MTB? Are you sure you're stone cold sober?

Edit :

I kind of like the look of this one:

https://www.bianchiusa.com/591.html

You riding and how you ride is always more important than WHAT you ride.

My plan is buying a Pista, then building something, getting the parts cheap and learning
and then having a bike friends can ride and have a spare.

My local bike shop which I don't consider especially friendly or helpful would have
to order the Bianchi. I would almost as soon consider mail ordering it from someone like Sheldon Brown or some other bike shop that's trustworthy. I could drive somewhere like Indy or Detroit.
Any suggestions would be appreciated

Love the Avatar RJ.

We have 3 BTs.

My suggestion would be to work with your LBS. Is there a reason you don't think they're friendly? I agree that it's a problem with bike shops in general (and I have a long winded theory on why that is that I'll spare you the agony of reading), but it's probably worth developing a relationship with them. Go in, tell them that you're thinking about getting a fixed gear ride, this is your budget, and see what they suggest. Ask about alternatives. While you're at it, if you haven't been, you can probably be fitted too. They'll probably comp you some free service for the first 6 months or so and you'll be on better terms since you just bought a new bike from them. Sure, they don't make a ton on new rides (it's much easier to hide profit in accessories and other aftermarket items), but the gesture on your part is good.

Buy from Harris and you lose out on the good will and free service. At that point, any net retailer is the same as any other, do a little shopping around to see if anyone can give you a better price.

the first comments in this post were about singlespeeds-a simple and inexpensive conversion by stripping off useless parts and adding a bmx freewheel in place of the cassette-have done this with both a peugeot and a schwinn traveller, the hardest part re-dishing the rear wheel and the most expensive the new 1/8" chain (not much). Both these bikes were toss outs I found on garbage day.
To convert to a fixed gear is more expensive because of the rear wheel, but again not a huge expense, cost of hub, rim, spokes and building, and the cost of the cog. 165 cranks are inexpensive and track or BMX chainring bolts the same.
As with all interests, you can spend as much as you want(or have, or can borrow).

I have no hate for the Pista-I just thought the saying "cool kids favorite" was kind of funny. I think the Pista looks awesome and is affordable (langster looked good visually). I'm just wondering about the quality of parts on Pista compared to langeter.

Now to address Build vs. Buy.

I have another road bike that I'm building up with an ultegra group from performance that I got with 20% coupon. Instead of taking it to bike shop to have them build I'm hiring a private guy who will teach me how to build it and make wheels!! The cost for his labor and the bike shop's labor is the same.....the difference is after he teaches me I'll have the bike done and I'll know how to fix it from head to toe. In that case building it myself is expensive, but an educational experience that will save me money down the road.

Ultegra 9 speed group with STI (less headset, hubs, brake calipers) was only $322.

Yeah stone cold sober, off the sauce. I just figure it would be fun to school Rob and Fat Lenny on their bikes while riding a pink ss mountain bike. I can see the anger collecting in Rob's face now, it would totally be worth it...

Too bad you can't see his eyes well....he is a cutie.

I bought a Pista and I am happy with it. I rode it all spring and summer. The only thing I did to it was cover it with tape to keep the chrome from getting banged up, and added a front brake with a BMX lever.

For a low-end street fixed gear it is a reasonable value. The drivetrain is loud and it is comparatively heavy, but it is relatively inexpensive and widely available.

Building a fixed gear up from an old road bike is not something for everybody. I didn't really want to do that job.

I looked on e-bay for a few weeks and found that something in the right size , built using a proper track hub instead of something just spun on and held in place with loctite, was more or less the same cost as the stock Bianchi.

Dan

I'd like to see the two of them try the wed night rides here - single track through the city, pretty much a derby the whole way. Don't take the Bianchi. It's all bike shop employees, so they don't care what they break on eachother's bikes!