Fixie

Sewinman

I am thinking of signing up the cycle to work scheme. Rather than get a better road bike I am now thinking about a fixie.

I have been looking around and have fallen in love with the following:

http://www.condorcycles.com/classicopista.html

Any views on the bike? And will i be able to get up Brixton Hill on it?

roger_merriman

looks lovely, well one could always lower the gearing if need be, depends if your a spinner or masher what with stop start traffic my knees would want a lowish gearing so that i didn't keep hoofing it away from the lights in silly gear inches...

lost_in_thought

It's very pretty...

Looking at the pictured spec, I'd say that you should be looking at what exactly they plan to do with the brake lever position on those (very pretty) bars, and whether they'd do a front and back or just a front brake. Personally, I don't think that putting both brake levers right next to the stem is a very stable position for an emergency stop!

Also, and others may disagree, I'd prefer to have a new-style stem rather than a quill stem as pictured - less pretty but a LOT easier to replace/modify.

As for whether you'd be able to get up a hill, that's more about the gearing, which they don't mention but should be fully customisable.

Feltup

Lovely bike, my mate has one. He did the Dunwich Dynamo on his which has a couple of hills but he is a climbing fiend!

roger_merriman

yup i have some interupters while fine for pottering shave a bit of speed off now, or going down carefully some steep greasy lanes, i'd not want to do a full on stoppie with them. far too twichy.

gtvlusso

Very nice looking bike, personally, I would go with a Bianchi Pista......but thats just Aestetics...!

Sewinman

gtvlusso wrote:

Very nice looking bike, personally, I would go with a Bianchi Pista......but thats just Aestetics...!

Yeah but they are ten a penny in London. This one will stand out a bit. It is a beauty!

Thanks all - had not even considered such practicalities as brakes... I don't really have any concept of gearing ratios either.

Think i will go and have a chat with them at lunch.

lost_in_thought

Sewinman wrote:

gtvlusso wrote:

Very nice looking bike, personally, I would go with a Bianchi Pista......but thats just Aestetics...!

Yeah but they are ten a penny in London. This one will stand out a bit. It is a beauty!

Thanks all - had not even considered such practicalities as brakes... I don't really have any concept of gearing ratios either.

Think i will go and have a chat with them at lunch.

One thing you can do for the gearing is figure out the gear you use most on your current bike...

Count the teeth (or they may be stamped) on the chainring, and do the same for the sprocket you use most, and (presuming your wheels are 700c) put those numbers into this table to see what your current preferred gearing is.

Once you've got that number, I'd shoot for a chainring around 46/48t, that gives you a decent amount of flexibility, and aim to replicate that gearing number - you may find that you want to move to a bigger gear after you're used to the bike so go up rather than down.

However, bear in mind that freewheel sprockets only go down to a 16t, so if you want a freewheel you may want to go for a bigger chainring, eg a 50t.

Sewinman

lost_in_thought wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

gtvlusso wrote:

Very nice looking bike, personally, I would go with a Bianchi Pista......but thats just Aestetics...!

Yeah but they are ten a penny in London. This one will stand out a bit. It is a beauty!

Thanks all - had not even considered such practicalities as brakes... I don't really have any concept of gearing ratios either.

Think i will go and have a chat with them at lunch.

One thing you can do for the gearing is figure out the gear you use most on your current bike...

Count the teeth (or they may be stamped) on the chainring, and do the same for the sprocket you use most, and (presuming your wheels are 700c) put those numbers into this table to see what your current preferred gearing is.

Once you've got that number, I'd shoot for a chainring around 46/48t, that gives you a decent amount of flexibility, and aim to replicate that gearing number - you may find that you want to move to a bigger gear after you're used to the bike so go up rather than down.

However, bear in mind that freewheel sprockets only go down to a 16t, so if you want a freewheel you may want to go for a bigger chainring, eg a 50t.

Thanks v much. I am now getting distracted by the Cinelli Supercorsa Pista. Check out this thing of utter beauty -

http://up.picr.de/1786838.jpg

Christophe3967

Would have thought a Pista might be a more practical option, but why not try both? Looks aren't everything you know.

gtvlusso

LiT is right though - ratio is all important......

Assume Condor will put the ratio you desire on the bike? I think you are stuck with 48 x 16 on the Bianchi....!

Easy enough to buy new sprockets and chainrings and change I suppose, but do you want to be bothered with it?!

Try a fixie first - makes for interesting riding in traffic when you are not used to it!

lost_in_thought

Sewinman wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

gtvlusso wrote:

Very nice looking bike, personally, I would go with a Bianchi Pista......but thats just Aestetics...!

Yeah but they are ten a penny in London. This one will stand out a bit. It is a beauty!

Thanks all - had not even considered such practicalities as brakes... I don't really have any concept of gearing ratios either.

Think i will go and have a chat with them at lunch.

One thing you can do for the gearing is figure out the gear you use most on your current bike...

Count the teeth (or they may be stamped) on the chainring, and do the same for the sprocket you use most, and (presuming your wheels are 700c) put those numbers into this table to see what your current preferred gearing is.

Once you've got that number, I'd shoot for a chainring around 46/48t, that gives you a decent amount of flexibility, and aim to replicate that gearing number - you may find that you want to move to a bigger gear after you're used to the bike so go up rather than down.

However, bear in mind that freewheel sprockets only go down to a 16t, so if you want a freewheel you may want to go for a bigger chainring, eg a 50t.

Thanks v much. I am now getting distracted by the Cinelli Supercorsa Pista. Check out this thing of utter beauty -

http://up.picr.de/1786838.jpg

Very pretty, again! My poor ugly Bowery is starting to feel rather self-conscious

Bassjunkieuk

That's some high quality bike pr0n Sewiman!

Both look very nice and I think a fixie is certainly doable heading out through Brixton.......Brixton Hill isn't to much of a climb so I wouldn't get hung up on getting a low gear that could cope with that, as LiT says work out what gear you favour on your current steed and work with that!

I used Sheldon Browns gear ratio calculator on my Giant and (rather geekily) printed out the GI table and have it on my top tube! This means I've become rather familiar with the GI of my favourite gears!

If you want to add a little variety and some extra SCR action you could always do what I've done now and re-route via DDD's "drag strip" to avoid Brixton Hill on the outbound journey - the extra SCR action along there is well worth the small extra distance, I usually turned off opposite the Waitrose and cut through to Streatham from there if that helps for routing advice!

wgwarburton

Sewinman wrote:

.... I am now getting distracted by the Cinelli Supercorsa Pista. Check out this thing of utter beauty -

http://up.picr.de/1786838.jpg

Interesting dual freewheel setup on that, but both it and the Bianchi are Italian. It's one thing to use Italian or French parts but I reckon British bikes (preferably with Reynolds tubing!) have more classic appeal.

These are all gorgeous bikes, but I would want at least the option of mudguards on a commuter, and they don't look as if they cater. Raceblades could work, but arn't really adequate, except on a summer-only steed.

Cheers,
W.

spasypaddy

suggestion for you - pearson or the north london variant in the shape of the Premier from the cyclestore in friern barnet.

I got a steel frame, carbon forks, front and back brakes, full guards. £400

crosstowncommuter

What about the normal Condor Pista in white:

http://www.condorcycles.com/pista.html

Someone just got one of these on the bike scheme at work and it looks the business.

System_1

That condor is lovely, but I did prefer the gold colour of last years model, tart that I am. I'd still have one over a Bianchi Pista any day of the week, they're heavy, cheap, common as muck and quite frankly a bit crap in comparison to the Condor.

I've loved the Cinelli Supersorsas for years too. It'll be the first bike I buy if I win the lottery. But at £1500 for frame and forks and so beautiful, deserving of at least another £1000 spent on wheels/cranks etc, I can't imagine getting one on cyclescheme.

symo

Brixton Hill is barely a hill.

Sewinman

crosstowncommuter wrote:

What about the normal Condor Pista in white:

http://www.condorcycles.com/pista.html

Someone just got one of these on the bike scheme at work and it looks the business.

Thanks but I don't like the sloping frame.

Jay dubbleU

Still haven't made my mind up but now gravitating towards Pearson - one question though - on the Pearson site they give the rear cog number - ie 15,16,18 etc and the crank length but they don't give the front ring number - any ideas as to why they do this ?

steve-m

gtvlusso wrote:

Try a fixie first - makes for interesting riding in traffic when you are not used to it!

Don't let 'interesting' put you off though, you soon get used to it, then when having done nothing else for 4 months[1], your usual bike is equally 'interesting'

[1] Bought mine in September, rode nothing else until late January