What would you do?

TommyEss

lost_in_thought wrote:

TommyEss wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Chains (I use half-links) tend to cost me upwards of £25.

Just out of interest - why are you using half-links? The Bowery's got track ends, so you can tension up the chain that way - I thought half-links were the God-send to people converting road bikes to fixed with vertical drop-outs and looking for the "Magic Ratio".

They seem to stretch slower and run a wee bit smoother.

Might give one a go when I finally get round to sorting mine out!

edhornby

as the others have said - try and do as much home fettling as you can and ebay it, a badly fitting bike won't be any fun to ride

also, a lot of the components won't be brilliant quality (they'll be ok, but just ok) so messing with new forks frames is wasted effort (and it will handle like a dog)

the bowery is a great way to get used to working on bikes and when it goes you can get a new singlespeeder - fuji would be a good inexpensive one or you can build one up with components as and when you happen on them

lost_in_thought

TailWindHome wrote:

Haven't read the full thread but it's blindingly obvious

Bowery=Winter Fixie
??????=Summer Fixie

Interesting idea...

But then I still have to spend the cash to stop the Bowery grinding and creaking... AND buy another fixie...

wgwarburton

lost_in_thought wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

Haven't read the full thread but it's blindingly obvious

Bowery=Winter Fixie
??????=Summer Fixie

Interesting idea...

But then I still have to spend the cash to stop the Bowery grinding and creaking... AND buy another fixie...

Well, kinda... what happens is that you either buy a new fixie, or build one up from the good bits you already have. The Bowery frame goes to the back of the shed/garage/ loft/cupboard/underthebed. You ride the shinynewbike for the summer, and maybe through the first winter, and then decide it's a waste to thrash it when the weather's all wet and mucky and horrid (and besides, you don't really want to put mudguards on it).. so after a while you pull out the old Bowery frame and an old front wheel and decide that it would only cost a few quid to get a new back wheel, chain & sprocket off ebay...

Two weeks (and a bit more money than you had first thought) later and you have a Winter Hack...

Now. If you are objective and detached then sure- you've just bought a new bike and fixed up the Bowery.... but N+1 rules apply, so objectivity is deprecated.

Cheers,
W.

PS. Don't forget the Bullhorns.

wgwarburton

MrBlond wrote:

Fuji track.

Cheap and cheerful, steel, awesome fun.

There's one of these at work today- nice looking bike! Light, steel, proper curved forks, frame drilled for F+R brakes (though this one only has a front- I'd want both).

Cheers,
W.

lost_in_thought

WGWarburton wrote:

MrBlond wrote:

Fuji track.

Cheap and cheerful, steel, awesome fun.

There's one of these at work today- nice looking bike! Light, steel, proper curved forks, frame drilled for F+R brakes (though this one only has a front- I'd want both).

Cheers,
W.

Oooooh interesting!

D'you mean this one? 'Cause if it's got brake drilling I like it even more...

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/fuj ... e-ec022190

EDIT: Hmmmmm. Another site tells me that one's 'Cro-Moly'. That's not steel, is it?

rjsterry

Looks like a pretty good replacement for the Bowery. Time to put it out of its misery. Just make sure you get the right size.

jonginge

lost_in_thought wrote:

WGWarburton wrote:

MrBlond wrote:

Fuji track.

Cheap and cheerful, steel, awesome fun.

There's one of these at work today- nice looking bike! Light, steel, proper curved forks, frame drilled for F+R brakes (though this one only has a front- I'd want both).

Cheers,
W.

Oooooh interesting!

D'you mean this one? 'Cause if it's got brake drilling I like it even more...

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/fuj ... e-ec022190

EDIT: Hmmmmm. Another site tells me that one's 'Cro-Moly'. That's not steel, is it?

Frame:
Fuji Elios 2 custom butted Cro-Moly with outer butted seat tube, Double water bottle mounts. Fuji Elios 2 custom tapered Cro-Moly with track dropout, bridge drilled for rear brake
Fork:
Fuji 1 1/8" Custom Triple Butted Cro-Moly, crown drilled for front brake

Looks like it's good to go.

Cro-moly is steel but may not be the lightest or highest quality. (Not really expected to be at that price-point)

TommyEss

lost_in_thought wrote:

WGWarburton wrote:

MrBlond wrote:

Fuji track.

Cheap and cheerful, steel, awesome fun.

There's one of these at work today- nice looking bike! Light, steel, proper curved forks, frame drilled for F+R brakes (though this one only has a front- I'd want both).

Cheers,
W.

Oooooh interesting!

D'you mean this one? 'Cause if it's got brake drilling I like it even more...

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/fuj ... e-ec022190

EDIT: Hmmmmm. Another site tells me that one's 'Cro-Moly'. That's not steel, is it?

Cro-Moly - Cromium-Molybdenum alloy - it is a steel - but not too dissimilar to pig iron! It's a bargain basement steel frame - we have a few as hire bikes at Reading. They're perfectly serviceable, the fork takes a brake, but there's nothing for mudguards or anything like that, so they're not great for commuting.

And there are far prettier fixed wheels around
http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/FROOLIPO/on-one-lincolnshire-poacher-frame





http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/FRGUPI/guerciotti-record-pista-frameset

lost_in_thought

I fell in love with the Lincolnshire poacher sometime last year, then fell rapidly back out of love with it!

And I am not a fan of the guerciotti... for starters I could buy two fuji tracks for that price!

EDIT: The Bowery doesn't have mounts for 'guards or a rack either. It's not an issue.

wgwarburton

lost_in_thought wrote:

D'you mean this one? 'Cause if it's got brake drilling I like it even more...

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/fuj ... e-ec022190

Yup. That's the fella.

EDIT: Hmmmmm. Another site tells me that one's 'Cro-Moly'. That's not steel, is it?

Again, yup- as JonGinge said it might not be the highest quality steel but the tubes are butted and it felt pretty good when I picked it up to check the weight.

I would hope the brakes from the Bowery would transfer. You'd need to check the geometry, of course, but a decent bikeshop should be able to let you have a test ride, and would probably swap in the bullhorns for you, too, for a small fee....

Cheers,
W.

rjsterry

Whilst a pretty frame, the dropouts on that On One look a bit flimsy for commuter duty. I think to describe CroMo as pig iron is a bit of a sweeping statement. It's a fairly general term from what I understand, covering a number of different alloys. A lot of Reynolds tubesets are cromoly - 500, 501, 525 & 725 ranges. Most of the difference is in whether the tubes are plain gauge or butted.

lost_in_thought

Cheers guys.

I've found the 2009 track on Fuji's site, I'm guessing the 2010 is the same with a new paint job.

Now, I should have a top tube (thanks to Epic's fitting) of 530mm. Looking at the geometry on the page, it seems the 49cm would be a better fit than the 52cm, no? Or am I being a muppet again?

http://2009.fujibikes.com/Specialty/Track/Track.aspx

Also, 9.71kg... is that good? I seem to recall the Bowery is over 10kg...

lost_in_thought

WGWarburton wrote:

I would hope the brakes from the Bowery would transfer. You'd need to check the geometry, of course, but a decent bikeshop should be able to let you have a test ride, and would probably swap in the bullhorns for you, too, for a small fee....

Cheers,
W.

Well, I've found it elsewhere for £10 less than evans, with free brakes!

TommyEss

Re. dropouts - they're not that different looking to those on the Pompino, and I've flogged the crap out of that.

True re. the pig iron comment - but this isn't a named Reynolds cromoly alloy - it's a very low grade on those Fuji frames - that's why they're cheap.

They're good as hire bikes at velodromes because they're cheap, and when people drop them they don't grumble much.

Maybe that makes them a good bike for London town?

Really depends on what Liv wants from the bike.

wgwarburton

lost_in_thought wrote:

... 9.71kg... is that good? I seem to recall the Bowery is over 10kg...

It's good for the price... Lighter than the Bowery, I would think, and lighter than the revolution track IIRC.

I think you'd need to spend quite a bit more to get a significantly lighter bike, unless you got lucky on ebay...

Cheers,
W.

lost_in_thought

TommyEss wrote:

Really depends on what Liv wants from the bike.

I don't really want an expensive bike that I've got to worry about.

If it looks nice, that's a bonus, but I'm really after a hack. Something slightly lighter than the Bowery would be nice.

TommyEss

lost_in_thought wrote:

Cheers guys.

I've found the 2009 track on Fuji's site, I'm guessing the 2010 is the same with a new paint job.

Now, I should have a top tube (thanks to Epic's fitting) of 530mm. Looking at the geometry on the page, it seems the 49cm would be a better fit than the 52cm, no? Or am I being a muppet again?

http://2009.fujibikes.com/Specialty/Track/Track.aspx

Also, 9.71kg... is that good? I seem to recall the Bowery is over 10kg...

Yes - 2010 models now have three colourways, 2009 was just gunship grey. Still quite smart, in an understated way.

Sizewise - correct - the 49cm frame has an effective tt length of 52cm - whereas the 52 has an effective tt of 54cm - I would go with a tad too small rather than a tad too big, given what we've learnt about the Bowery and your "short back" (and sides?!)

9.71kg - um - well the UCI weight limit for male bikes is 6.8kg, so it's no lightweight - but for a cheap steel frame bike, not too bad - I'd imagine my Pompino's in that ballpark, perhaps a little more.

Not sure weight can ever really be high on your list of priorities at this price range. Truly lightweight steel frames can cost more than that Giercotti!

rjsterry

TommyEss wrote:

Re. dropouts - they're not that different looking to those on the Pompino, and I've flogged the crap out of that.

True re. the pig iron comment - but this isn't a named Reynolds cromoly alloy - it's a very low grade on those Fuji frames - that's why they're cheap.

They're good as hire bikes at velodromes because they're cheap, and when people drop them they don't grumble much.

Maybe that makes them a good bike for London town?

Really depends on what Liv wants from the bike.

By the sounds of it, LiT doesn't mollycoddle her commuter, so farm-gate-with-wheels is probably a good bet. I'm sure it is fairly basic steel at that price, but I suspect that the whole Reynolds thing is as much clever marketing as actual difference in quality over unbranded steel. 531 and 753 is a different matter as that is manganese/molybdenum rather than cromoly (manga-moly?).

lost_in_thought

rjsterry wrote:

531 and 753 is a different matter as that is manganese/molybdenum rather than cromoly (manga-moly?).

Holy-moly.

TommyEss

rjsterry wrote:

531 and 753 is a different matter as that is manganese/molybdenum rather than cromoly (manga-moly?).

Manga-moly is standard issue on Keirin bikes...! :oops:

I like the farm gate with wheels analogy.

LiT - get the Fuji '09 in size 49!!

jonginge

lost_in_thought wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

531 and 753 is a different matter as that is manganese/molybdenum rather than cromoly (manga-moly?).

Holy-moly.

Yeeers, my red and white commuter is holy-moly

lost_in_thought

Done.

Fuji Track 2010. Orange. 49cm.

TommyEss

lost_in_thought wrote:

Done.

Fuji Track 2010. Orange. 49cm.

Purdy - when does she arrive?!

Dalton

lost_in_thought wrote:

Done.

Fuji Track 2010. Orange. 49cm.

Very nice too!! Saw picture in gear thread.

Got a feeling you are going to be fast on that.

WesternWay

lost_in_thought wrote:

Done.

Fuji Track 2010. Orange. 49cm.

looks lovely... Very nice indeed

lost_in_thought

Well, the cheapo site's free delivery option is 'up to 10 days' so sometime in the next 2 weeks.

As for me being fast on it, well, we'll see! It'll be nice not to creak any more... nobody will hear me creeping up on them... :twisted:

And it's got a 48t chainring, which I appreciate. And it comes with a 15t sprocket, which is almost a proper gear! :P

MrBlond

Good choice ;-)

biondino

Good choice There's one in our garage (in grey) and it never fails to attract my attention. It's not stupidly heavy (like the Bowery ) - are you going to swap the bars over?

lost_in_thought

biondino wrote:

Good choice There's one in our garage (in grey) and it never fails to attract my attention. It's not stupidly heavy (like the Bowery ) - are you going to swap the bars over?

I'm toying with the idea of bullhorns, seeing as I have (potentially) a whole cm in credit as the effective top tube is 520mm, I may try the bullhorns and see how I go with those.

If I don't like them the compact bars will probably go over to the new one! I will, however, replace the brake levers as they've started to fall apart and are held together with tiny pieces of gaffer tape... :shock: