On One Pompino owners...

£500 is perfectly doable but you'll always forget to budget for things like cables, tubes, bar tape etc. I know I do.

I recently built up a Caad10 with fairly nice parts, however I'm thinking of dismantling and selling it as I still prefer riding the Pompino I've had for 10 years. The 'dale feels dead in comparison, making me wonder how nice a 'good' steel frame would ride.

Also, after so long on a SS, gears just seem like a complete PITA, anyone else have these thoughts?

Agree. I much prefer riding my Pompino to my road bike.

I've got that rack on the previous version of the Pompino. I mounted it using the two holes on the seat stay supports that are furthest from the end and have lots of room left to slide the rack further back on these supports. Doing so would stop the rack being parallel to the ground though.

I'm not sure if that helps. I could take some photos if you wish.

Also, after so long on a SS, gears just seem like a complete PITA, anyone else have these thoughts?

Once you get used to variable gears, not really.

I went the other way and don't regret it.

why's that?

44-17 for me, anything about 70 gear inches is good for road riding.

I'm not used to the ss gearing yet! Does this allow decent enough speed but still able to climb the odd hill or two encountered on commutes etc?

don't get the shimano freewheel its crap!

Why's that? What should I get then? Planet X / On-One only sell Shimano bmx freewheels!

I fully expected my Shimano SF-MX30 to be crap, but it's been pretty ace.
Ordinarily I prefer a loud freewheel but the silent almost friction-free nature of the Shimano is so damn smooth that it's impressed me.
I've yet to put it through a shitty rainy winter, but it was so cheap (and I was so unsure of what size I wanted) that it was worth a gamble for the price.

Ive had two that have broken very quickly, both times the outer black casing has come loose. might just be unlucky, but I feel a little cheated.

not sure what would be any better, White Industries?

WI are known (and proven) to be leagues better, but at a far higher price. They're what you buy when you've finally decided what size cog you like.

You don't need to spend more, hell, you only need to spend a tenner on a cheaper BMX freewheel that'll last a lots longer, like a Dicta;

Or the Halo Clickster if you want money.

I've had at least one Shimano freewheel which was perfectly fine. No issues at all commuting in all weathers.

halo has 6 pawls! nice

They're nice when you're going slowly.

Consensus in my circle of friends seems to be that the quality of Shimano freewheels has dropped off a cliff in recent history. My own experience corroborates this, had one on a bmx ages ago and it was solid and became outdated tech before it stopped working, had one on my Pompino last year and it was shite.

Dictas can be found on ebay in most sizes for around £5, Shimano ones are around 5x that cost so my choice would be to run a regularly replaced Dicta.

My choice actually *is*to run WI freewheels though. I have 2 of them, bought used, each for a similar cost to the Shimano unit's rrp.

I've been running a shimano freewheel for a year now. Still works perfectly well. It's easy enough to strip,clean,grease and reassemble, which I tend to do every 3-4 months.
The dicta is really cheap, note there are no notches in it to fit the removal tool. You'll have to strip it and either use a vice, Stilson wrench or hacksaw to remove the inner part.
The white industries freewheel is the best on the market, a freewheel for life. Definitely worth the money once you've played around and found what gearing best suits your needs.

Yeah for me it works. No hills on my commute now but it was OK getting up the hills in Hampstead. Do you have a geared bike? Try sticking it in a single gear and not changing.

And some dicta freewheels do have the removal slots, mine does.

I've run a shimano for a few months and it is clicking already.

possibly stupid question alert

can I put a freewheel on a fixed/fixed hub? or am I gonna need too get a new hub/wheel?

I want to singlespeed my Pomp

You need a new hub/wheel. The thread is different. For fixed it's a "stepped" thread with two different sizes for the cog and lockring, but for a freewheel it's one longer thread.

And some dicta freewheels do have the removal slots, mine does.

And mine

awesome, cheers!