New singlespeed or fixed road bike

Ross-Frammo

HI
I have been thinking of buying a fixed gear road bike for a while, with at most £650 to spend,and I have been doing some reseach and at the moment I have come to the conclusion of ever a Kona Paddy Wagon or a Surly Steamroller both have had good reviews and I was wondering whether or not anyone had any thoughts?
Also I was thinking of importing a Schwinn Madison across the pond and was wondering if anyone had an opinion about the brand?
Many thanks
Ross

hugo15

No experience of the bikes you list, but I got a Pearson Hanzo earlier in the year. It's my first ever fixed so nothing to compare it to, but I am enjoying riding it. It's well within you price limit too. The guys at Pearsons were also very helpful with getting the size right and specing the bike, all of which I had to do over the phone.

djaeggi

What are you going to be using it for? The reason I ask, is because I looked at both of those bikes and they fell slightly short of what I wanted for my two main requirements:

1. A commuting hack. Thus I wanted a rack. I believe neither of those frames has the mounting points.

2. A winter trainer. Both hit the spot with wide tyre clearance and mudguards. But both are quite beefy bikes compared to what I ended up gettting which was...

a Pearson Touche. Which gives you a nice light aluminium frame & carbon fork - and it's genuinely a nice ride - rack and mudguard mounts, wide clearances, a good selection of components, plus basically a fully custom build. Pearsons are super friendly and can and will built the frame up with exactly the bits you want. It's a good package, the only thing I'd say is that the standard FSA crankset (or rather the pressed chainring) is a little nasty, and this is definitely something I'd upgrade. And spec the saddle according to taste.

If you don't need a rack, I think the Paddy Wagon looks quite sweet.

Alternatively, build your own. Suitable secondhand frames (typically 70s/80s steel, which have horizontal dropouts) can be had on ebay for well under £100 and it's not too hard to cobble together the rest of the bits.

Have fun!

Monty Dog

Don't discount the Planet-X Pompino either

Mister W

If you've got the spannering skills then it's much more satisfying to build your own. Having said that, I was tempted into buying an On-One Pompino which is a lovely bike.

Tail end Charlie

I built my own by visiting a bike shop (the sort of shop in "Open All Hours" which I know isn't a bike shop) and asking if they had anything suitable. There was a Dawes Horizon with horizontal drop outs probably mid to late 80s which I got for £40 and then had a rear wheel made up and along with some other bits I had a bike for well under £200. Since then I've only had to replace chains, tyres and pads. Perfect for hacking to work and back and very satisfying to build up. It's has even encouraged me to dabble at building up wheels.

Carlos13

I have a Specialized Tricross Singlecross, which I use for commuting in Peterborough and London. It's ideal for that job. Comfortable, sturdy yet pretty light (miles lighter than Charge Duster for example). I changed the freewheel from 18t to 16t, but other than that it's fine.

It's not cool though.

I think you can get them for £450.

nielsamd

re: Schwinn Madison
IMHO, when it was 2:1 Dollar:Pound it might have been worthwhile, but I don't think the value with the current exchange rate justifies the spec. on the bike you'd get via personal import compared to whats available locally.

Anthony_r

Bought a Langster two years ago as an in-betweener after a fork-lift sat on my Sigma.

£400 then and have since spent more than double ditching every component… but it's a sweet-riding, very stiff and fast single-speed bike. Takes endless abuse in winter and flies through traffic.

Buy one second-hand. Ditch all the spec-kit and upgrade. Guarantee you'll be happy.

billy whippet

both pretty heavy - go for the pearson touche instead

Ross-Frammo

Tkanks to all the people that replied, much appriciated:D To be honest im not overly keen on carbon forks and i really dont know why. I will certainly check the pearson website for ideas