Charge Plug 1 (Pursuit)

dyrlac

Finally getting around to giving my fixie the YRB treatment....

Back in October, as a present to myself I decided that I needed a fixie for N=3. Evans had the Charge Plug 1 on deep discount, and after flipping the wheel and giving it a quick spin round Richmond Park (that was my first time on a fixie: not very sensible), I was sold. I've put some 2600km on it since, and it has become my go-to commuter bike. SCR on a fixed gear bike is a revelation: there is nowhere to hide, so you default to giving it some welly. The Plug does have a taste for blood though: within a month, I crashed it twice, both times resulting in significant injury; and just before Christmas, my 6yo stuck his hand in the spinning chain when it was on my workstand, cue a trip to A&E and loads of stitches. It's also pretty heavy, but it is my baby and I love it significantly more than the various pets in my household.

Allow me to therefore present my Charge Plug 1 (Pursuit):



Frame: 2014 Charge Plug 1 (Medium, cro mo)
Fork: Charge Wisk (Steel)
Headset: FSA TH-882
Seatpost: Shield (Alloy)
Saddle: Charge Spoon (swapped the original black for brown)

Chainset: Shield track, single ring 42T
Sprocket: 15T fixed (16T freewheel on t'other side)
Brakes: Promax RC482 (front *and* rear because I am useless at skip/skid stopping, but these are awful, awful brakes)
Levers: Tektro 4.1
KMC 1/8" SS chain, kept tight (slack SS/FG chains make me want to cry)

Bars: Cooper Sunset 44cm
Tape: Deda faux leather
Stem: Shield road 100mm

Pedals: Shimano SPD M540
Wheelset: Charge Urban (flip flop)
Tyres: Vittoria Rubino Pro
Guards: SKS Wide Road

Weight as shown: 11.2kg

Changes from stock:
- Switched fixed sprocket from 16T to 15T, giving me 74 gear inches. I can make it up Broomfield, but not very quickly, and my effective maximum speed is 50kph, because I'm not very spinny.
- Swapped the Charge Slice bullhorns for the Cooper Sunset lo-drop pursuit bullhorns. For aero reasons.
- Replaced the tops-mounted brake levers with pursuit levers. Note that Tektro 4.1s and the Cooper Sunset bars are not compatible. Internal diameter of the bars at the bar end is 17.5mm (at best). The diameter of the Tektro bung (and as I found out to my dismay, that of every other widely available pursuit/tt brake lever) is closer to 19.6mm. Judicious application of a dremmel tool on the bung was required.
- Bits o' bling from BLB: anodised red sprocket lockring and chainring bolts
- Chain tugs after a scary dropped chain moment going down Putney Hill
- Rear mount bottle cage because the Plug doesn't have cage bosses on the frame
- Clipless pedals because riding fixed on flats is suicidal

Gb_Rae

Nice, how do you find the change in bars?

I love my Plug.

Photos straight after it was put together, so Reflectors now removed, bars rotated slightly and seat aligned. :roll:

dyrlac

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19635020#p19635020]Gb_Rae[/url] wrote:

Nice, how do you find the change in bars?

It feels about halfway between the hoods and the drops on my other road bikes. So it is a way more aggressive daily riding position, which I find myself relieving by coming up out of the saddle. On a fixie, though, this (d)evolves very quickly into a standing sprint. So it looks like I'm (and I guess I am in fact) attacking all the time, even though I'm just trying to ease some of the pressure off my back. Fantastic for fitness. The alternative is of course riding with no hands, but that is the opposite of aero.

dyrlac

New bits:


Now rocking the Dura Ace 7710 for Reasons. 45x15, which is probably too tall. 165mm cranks. Thinking that the promax brakes really have to go for aesthetic reasons, if only they made DA long drops.

Gb_Rae

Looking good!!

Made a few changes to mine as well.

Went from this....



To this...



Pretty happy with it but will be changing the wheel shortly to 50mm deep profile wheels with red hubs 8)

dyrlac

You sir, have excellent taste in tyres. Tell me more about these wheels, have been looking at a set with red hubs...

edit: and those drops are pure murder. Chapeau.

Gb_Rae

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19730426#p19730426]Dyrlac[/url] wrote:

You sir, have excellent taste in tyres. Tell me more about these wheels, have been looking at a set with red hubs...

edit: and those drops are pure murder. Chapeau.

Yeah the drops can get a bit tough going on some steep hills and on long rides, but I love the look of them.

Seen a set on ebay, just cheapish NoLogo ones, probably similar to these....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Black-Single-Speed-wheelsets-Fixed-Fixie-700c-flip-flop-hub-wheel-set-/331609947358?hash=item4d357e3cde:g:ZnsAAOSwDNdVrSGB

Not the best but will do for the winter I'm sure!

dyrlac

Now that the Charge Plug has passed the 10,000 km milestone, it has earned a life a leisure as a shops pootler and spare bike. In recognition of its new role (and because I needed to parts for my FXE), I've made a few changes:



Chainset: Miche Xpress Track Chainset 48T
Sprocket: Sturmey Archer 1/2 x 1/8" Freewheel 16T
Wheelset: Charge Urban (Flip Flop)
Pedals: Shimano Click'r T420 (single-sided SPD)

End result is that civilians can now ride this (assuming they can cope with the still pretty aggressive riding position, I may flip the stem and/or change to riser bars).

curto80

This is not a thread it's a massacre.

What did Charge ever do to you boys?

rolf_f

Dyrlac wrote:

Now that the Charge Plug has passed the 10,000 km milestone, it has earned a life a leisure as a shops pootler and spare bike.

How has it earned anything when it has hardly been run in surely?! 10,000km is a milestone for miles ridden in one year - not a milestone for a bike earning semi retirement! My Ribble must be on close to 50,000km and it's no where near earning an easy life!

dyrlac

Rolf F wrote:

How has it earned anything when it has hardly been run in surely?! 10,000km is a milestone for miles ridden in one year - not a milestone for a bike earning semi retirement! My Ribble must be on close to 50,000km and it's no where near earning an easy life!

It took a tremendous amount of self restraint to wait as long as I did: not that I didn't love it, but the Plug's a starter fixie at best, bought on a lark as an experiment: the crankset alone was worth 3x what I paid for the whole bike.