£185 Singlespeed at Costco

tyax

Spotted many "Create Track Bikes" in my local Costco (Edinburgh) for £185 inc VAT.

Didn't see much of the spec, but it was a singlespeed (forgot to check for a flip flop hub :oops: but assume it had one), flat bars, plastic pedals with straps, 700c wheels, caliper brakes and skinny tyres. Looked like a steel frame and fork with incredibly funky colours, and felt fairly light. My fave was a dark grey frame with red tyres, saddle and red anodised hubs

There was a luminous green one what looked a bit like of them Charge fixed thingies 8)

I've been fancying trying a fixie for a wee while, anyone got any experience of this Create Track Bike? My worry is it's a tarted up BSO... :arrow:

bails87

I thought BSOs were fake MTBs with full suspension and cable disc brakes?

It's not going to be great, but at least it's been kept simple, so what little money has been spent could have been spent well, rather than making it look "gnarly" to appeal to 13 year olds. cough Apollo cough

_Brun_

The Creates are what were Unipack bikes, and have a fairly horrible reputation. Whether it's deserved or not I dunno, but if you don't expect anything too decent for £185 you might not be disappointed.

amnezia

apparently they are fine as long as you replace the chain, crank, pedals and wheels

il_principe

Leave it well alone. MY GF's flatmate had a Create branded SS and it was a complete piece of junk, he ended up spending more than he had on the bike replacing parts that appeared to be be made out of cheese. As for weight, his weighed a tonne compared to my Kinesis Decade SS - in fact it weighed nearly as much as the missus' Spesh Vita which has a triple ffs.

Here's a place that sells them - not a bike shop, 'natch. http://www.urbanexcess.com/c-1228-eco.aspx

tyax

Thanks folks, my resistance to buying one on impulse seems to have been justified :shock:

10.9kg according to that Urban Excess website... Pretty sure my Spesh Sirrus Pro weighs less than that, it has a triple AND 10sp 105

I'll go back to cooing over Langsters for now, and keep making excuses not to buy one as it has drops

Clever Pun

I saw the same bikes at my local costco and my missus was quite interrested (probably the pretty colours).. I had a bit of a look at them and it's not a good quality build... you'd be replacing a lot of components very quickly.

By a lot I mean anything that moves

but £185 is very cheap for a bike... I'd pay a little more and get yourself a more reputable entry level bike

amnezia

tyax wrote:

I'll go back to cooing over Langsters for now, and keep making excuses not to buy one as it has drops

all proper bikes have drops

Clever Pun

amnezia wrote:

tyax wrote:

I'll go back to cooing over Langsters for now, and keep making excuses not to buy one as it has drops

all proper bikes have drops

all proper bikes shops will allow you to choose either regardless of how wrong flats are

Matt.K

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/urban/product/fixed-10-35593

I've not re-read it, but from what I remember it says it's not very good, but if you appreciate that it is cheap and basic then it is actually quite good for the money.

Personally, I'd stay well clear.
Be better (and more satisfying) to build your own. Which is something I'd love to do if I had any spare money.

biondino

I think the SE Lager single speed bikes are good looking and cheap but not ridiculously so. Maybe investigate them?

oscarbudgie

Fixie fashion 2005 -2010. RIP
"They're selling hippie wigs in Woolworths"

mrc1

Matt.K wrote:

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/urban/product/fixed-10-35593

Ouch - I hope the bloke in the picture was adopting the method acting approach to the review and doesn't actually own that facial hair, sunglasses and chubby body/skinny jeans combo in real life.

lae

Doesn't look great to me. If it's a cheap weekend 5-miler then that's fine, but if you're gonna ride it in anger like a proper fixed-gear rider would, then it'll probably fall apart.

You'd think that being simple would allow them to spend their budget on quality parts, but actually, with economies of scale, a halfords special road bike or even (whisper it) a hybrid will probably be better built.

One thing I like is the aesthetics - there aren't enough good looking bikes out there. Hardly any, in fact, as they mostly suffer from Power Ranger Syndrome aka Techno-Bling.

oscarbudgie

mrc1 wrote:

Matt.K wrote:

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/urban/product/fixed-10-35593

Ouch - I hope the bloke in the picture was adopting the method acting approach to the review and doesn't actually own that facial hair, sunglasses and chubby body/skinny jeans combo in real life.

He's a regular Cycling+ reviewer. He's got the common touch.