Fixie / commuter

theboybuchan

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum.

My work/town commuter bike was stolen last week and I am looking to replace it with the insurance money.

I have narrowed it down to these two but am not sure which to go for.

http://www.bikes2udirect.com/B3874.html

http://www.bikes2udirect.com/B4013.html

I have a Felt Z85 road bike so am used to the drops but am not sure whether to go for a bike with flat bar or drop in the day to day traffic.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers
Russ

antikythera

Looks like the flat bar bike has a slightly different geometry, with a more upright position.

If that's true then it might provide more visibility, but this depends on what your more familiar and comfortable with.

But w.r.t your question, it depends on the width of the bars and your riding style? Do you move in between traffic and/or tight spaces? if so you might prefer narrower bars. You can cut straight bars down to ridiculous widths (to look "cool" I guess :roll:) or whatever works for you. Obviously you don't have the same option on drop bars. But having said that I use 42cm (c/c) drop bars and get through plenty of tight spaces without any problems.

theboybuchan

Thanks for the reply antikythera.

The visibility point is a very good one. I'm not really weaving in and out of traffic too much I guess.

If you were to choose between these two which would you go for?

antikythera

Hard to say.... looking at both suggests there's a margin difference between them; different gearing, position, (probably) geometry. All these things lead to a very subjective conclusion.

I'd review how, where what etc. your commute is like?

If you want a more upright (and presumably better visibility) ride and aren't looking for SCR scalps then the flat bar. If I were in the market, I'd seriously consider the flat bar, simply because at the end of a long day I think I'd like to be more relaxed getting home.

theboybuchan

It's a city centre commute mainly. With some tarmac trail riding occasionally. I use my road bike for the longer out of town rides and training.

majormantra

I wouldn't buy either of those. They have hi-ten (i.e. heavy crap steel) frames and almost certainly have shite components. They don't even give the geometry. If you don't want to spend more than that I'd buy used or do a cheap conversion.

Or how about a Pompino frame for £75?:

http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=40f ... 08dbc9e2c2

If you are prepared to do a bit of bargain hunting I'm sure you build something MUCH nicer than the bikes2u options for under £200.

theboybuchan

Thanks MajorMantra. I'll have a look at this. :-)

Butterd2

As above, half the fun of a FG is building it, I made mine out of a 20 year old Pace MTB and I love it for London commuting.
As for bars, I also have a "proper" road bike and find bullhorn bars on the FG similar to using the hoods on the roadie, so my suggestion would be bullhorns with a TT brake lever(s) on the end of them.

theboybuchan

This is definitely something I will consider as my last one was a Carrera Subway 2 frame that I made into a single speed.

thespanishadam

Bullhorns are the way forward. They make not look the greatest but give you a lot of leverage to get yourself up steep hills. I found using drops near on possible to find a comfy position to get up a hill.

majormantra

thespanishadam wrote:

Bullhorns are the way forward. They make not look the greatest but give you a lot of leverage to get yourself up steep hills. I found using drops near on possible to find a comfy position to get up a hill.

Drops are great if you've got brake hoods (like a standard road bike) but I agree they suck if you don't.

smeat

ive tried drops and drop bullhorns as well as a flat bar and 1" risers are dope, i havent switched since i got em. theyre about 2" shorter than my shoulders