# This fixed wheel "craze" and silly prices for "bitsa" fixies



## Sheffield_Tiger (29 Apr 2010)

Not suggesting it is just a craze, but FW does seem to be in vogue right now.

Can't help noticing a proliferation of "fixie" bikes on fleabay which are essentially old bitsas in half-decent nick that have been converted and thus listed at significantly more than if they were left as a 3/5/10 speed...


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## Sheffield_Tiger (29 Apr 2010)

..or not all that decent nick

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250622116323

Humbrol paint slapped over rust, and pretty obvious too. If this guy is selling these hacked-down old things that I bet come straight from Gilbert Baitson's auction house, he has found a way to print money!


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## Rob3rt (30 Apr 2010)

You only just noticed?


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## Landslide (30 Apr 2010)

> frame has lock built into headset,no keys are present but i hear keys are easy to find for these locks



No doubt an effective security feature then!!!


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## raindog (30 Apr 2010)

Sheffield_Tiger said:


> ..or not all that decent nick
> 
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250622116323


Good grief, what a heap. There can't be much seat pillar left in that seat tube.


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## fossyant (30 Apr 2010)

It's an open market - if you are stupid enough to pay that price for a bit of junk..... TBH looks just like 90% of the bikes riding up and down Oxford Road in Manchester.....


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## RedBike (30 Apr 2010)

I need a new set of wheels for my fixie. 

The front rim is so badly worn it should have been scrapped months ago and the back is buckled and constantly breaking spokes.

Sadly everytime a set of 'track wheels' appears on ebay they seem to go for stupid money. Tracks wheels seem to be at least 50% more expensive than 'normal' wheels for no real reason. 

So far these seem to be my best option. 
http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/WPOOPOMP/on-one-120mm-clincher-wheels-(pair)


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## dave r (30 Apr 2010)

RedBike have a look at these

http://www.velomax.biz/content/vm-displaydetail.php?product_id=812

http://www.velomax.biz/content/vm-displaydetail.php?product_id=1002


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## RedBike (30 Apr 2010)

http://www.velomax.biz/content/vm-displaydetail.php?product_id=812

Ooow, very nearly ideal! 
They will be perfect if I can I fit a BMX freewheel to one side of a double fixed hub?
(I think the planet-x is double fixed too). 

I want to do a little tour / commute on the fixie so i'm after well built but reasonably light wheels. ie 36 spoke handbuilt wheels rather than 2kg+ low spoke count areo wheelsets.

(I wont be carrying much luggage, 10kg max, or I will never get the fixie up the hills!)


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## Landslide (2 May 2010)

RedBike said:


> They will be perfect if I can I fit a BMX freewheel to one side of a double fixed hub?



Aye, no problem.


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## palinurus (2 May 2010)

This fixie craze has lasted so long, it's only a matter of time before my mother hears about it. It'll make it's way into one of her weekly telephone monologues.

- have you heard about these new bikes they're all riding? fixties they call them. They can't stop pedalling so they have to go through red lights. It's only a matter of time before one of them kills an old person. It was in the paper. -


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## montage (2 May 2010)

Tempted to make a few and flog them on fleabay this summer - not sure how much of a profit it really will give though


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## Goldie (5 May 2010)

I know I'm going to make myself look extremely unobservant and / or behind the times, but what's the deal with fixed / sngle speed bikes? I saw my first one about six months ago (which I'm partly blaming on my route to work being muddy, bumpy knobbly tyres territory) but now they're everywhere. Harry Hall's in Manchester would happily have half a grand off me for one. but the only advantage i can think of is marginally less weight and no feelings of panic brought on by the possibility that I've done something expensive to the gear change mechanism. Can anyone set me straight?


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## 4F (5 May 2010)

Goldie said:


> I know I'm going to make myself look extremely unobservant and / or behind the times, but what's the deal with fixed / sngle speed bikes? I saw my first one about six months ago (which I'm partly blaming on my route to work being muddy, bumpy knobbly tyres territory) but now they're everywhere. Harry Hall's in Manchester would happily have half a grand off me for one. but the only advantage i can think of is marginally less weight and no feelings of panic brought on by the possibility that I've done something expensive to the gear change mechanism. Can anyone set me straight?



Virtually zero maintainance, with a fixed once you have got up to speed you almost glide along in a silence with the forward momentum helping you keep pace, bloody good fun down hills.


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## palinurus (5 May 2010)

It feels good.

After a few hundred miles it does anyway.


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## Big John (5 May 2010)

Those that are already converted will wax lyrical over the virtues of riding fixed but in the end it's just a feeling that is hard to put into words. You have to try it yourself and see. They genuinely ARE different.


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## 4F (6 May 2010)

User3143 said:


> Doing over 180rpm? I must confess to unclipping and just resting my feet on the down tube when it comes to some downhills.



I live in Suffolk Lee , not many hills round here where you could get near that rpm


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## longers (6 May 2010)

^ I get the chance every day on the commute, sometimes I take the opportunity, sometimes not.

I'm in Oldham Goldie and if you wanted to have a test ride of mine, it could be arranged no problem.


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## fossyant (6 May 2010)

Goldie said:


> Harry Hall's in Manchester would happily have half a grand off me for one.



 I spent double that....... (CTW scheme)...

Pros - bugger all maintenance compared to a geared bike...(from someone who does lots of maintenance/cleaning), good training, can climb better than a similar gear on a road bike (limitations though where I live due to gradients), mine looks like a road bike, not a 'fixie'....so lack street cred, but who cares.

Cons...no gears....may have to pick routes..... ahem but the CC fixie ride in March wasn't flat was it folks.....

Parts wise in a year....

2 chains, 1 sprocket, 2 sets pads, 1 rear wheel rim/re-build (I still brake with the rear/also hit a pot hole) and a new tyre...., 1 set rear bearings that's it....

Cost per part.... £89 for rim/spokes and rebuild, tyre £35, sprocket £15 (ish), pads £14 set, chain £13, bearings £5.


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## hubgearfreak (8 May 2010)

fossyant said:


> Pros - bugger all maintenance compared to a geared bike...(from someone who does lots of maintenance/cleaning)
> 
> 
> Cons...no gears.



the ebay bike at the very start of this thread (was it a rudge?) would have had bugger all maintainance compared to a d*r**ll**r geared bike, and yet not suffered from the cons of having no gears.


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