Charge SS / Fixed

stickman

Anyone got any experience or opinions of these?

JonEdwards

The plugs look lovely. However I tried picking one up and nearly gave myself a hernia. They must be 25+lb, which is ludicrous for a SS roadbike. My hardtail mtb weighs less! Really quite shocked. Must be a really cheap tubeset combined with heavy finishing kit.

stickman

Yes the Plugs look great - but what you say about the weight is not encouraging!

stickman

I was looking at the website today, the tubing is described as 'plain guage', what is this, does it mean it has nothing about it to give it any lightness?

redvee

Whern they describe it as plain guage it means the scaffold tubes are the same internal diameter all the way along the tubes

GaryGkn

Give it a miss!

stickman

Yes, i've heard enough to avoid them - shame though, beautiful bikes.

GarethPJ

To be entirely fair to them (and I do have to try quite hard given that they are more fashion accessory than bike) they are not bad bikes even with that hefty plain gauge tubeset. The problem is that they cost far too much for what they are, but then so do some other fixed/SS bikes on the market at the moment.

stickman

If I had piles of money i'd get a Tricross Singlecross for performance and a Charge for cool cruisin'

cougie

My winter fixed does weigh a ton. Its not really a problem though - I dont race on it and whatever doesnt kill me only makes me stronger. In the scheme of things - a few lbs wont make that much difference really.

edhornby

trawl around the bike shops that have second hand stuff and you'll probably happen on a 531 frame, and build one up yourself, they're not difficult

GBH cycles in manchester are experts in this :-)

Tail end Charlie

Quite agree with the last poster. Doing this gives a lot of satisfaction knowing you have re-cycled a bike and I also like messing around with them. It makes the bike yours (ie individual to you).
I picked up an old Dawes for £40 and started with that.

stickman

Would that be the same Dawes Galaxy that I saw for £40?

Captain Turok

I've really enjoyed "messing around" with my very cheap road bike (shown in sig).
I paid the grand sum of £29.99 for it, from my LBS, and I was able to ride it home! I chanced across it whilst buying a single tyre for my MTB, costing £36..

Since having it I've been given the mudguards, Weinmann brakes, Simplex rear mech and some non-rusty pedals. I've only had to purchase tyres and bar tape for it so far.
I'm considering painting it baby-blue, or just leaving it duct-tape silver?

GarethPJ

I never manage to hang onto my fixie conversions for long. I always start with the best intentions, but it's always tempting to sell them to some sucker. Last one I did was a Raleigh Criterium 12 that I bought for a fiver, restored and converted for just under a ton and sold for almost twice my total outlay.

Unlike some of the ones you see on ebay mine always have a proper fixed hub and a straight chainline. Really helps with the price when you mention that in the listing. Never did see the point of those "bullhorn" bars you see on almost every fixie either. They rob you of 50% of your hand positions and don't give you anything extra. Fashion is a terrible thing.

Captain Turok

Fashion is a terrible thing.
Personally I like the bullhorn thing. I never really got on with drops, plus its nice and CHEAP just to flip and cut them.

GarethPJ

Captain Turok wrote:

Fashion is a terrible thing.
Personally I like the bullhorn thing. I never really got on with drops, plus its nice and CHEAP just to flip and cut them.

But surely all you get is the same two positions as you would on the hoods and the flats with drops?

Tail end Charlie

Bullhorns give a slightly different position in that the brakes are very very easy to reach, if you mount them at the end on the turned up part. For commuting they can't be beaten and probably even for touring. Try a pair and see.

GarethPJ

Had them on my Langster and I couldn't get on with them. I kept wanting to reach for the drops whenever I put the hammer down.

Captain Turok

I guess I prefer them because I come from a "flat bar background", if that makes any sense? An the afore mentioned ease of flipping them, whilst keeping the same levers.