Wanted: single speed for two years’ commuting (~£250)

Hi all

Just moved to London and looking for a reasonably cheap single speed to see me through a couple of years commuting (when my visa will expire). Would love something with a bit of charm and character - a nice paint job, belt drive or other unusual features would go a long way!

The Wishlist (all totally negotiable!):
Price: £250? Or more for the right piece!
Frame: steel or alu, 58cm
Forks: cheap and cheerful
Bars: flat, bull or drop
Rims: deep profile, sealed bearings. Not hugely fussed about size, weight, spoke style etc
Brakes: anything decent
Tyres: anti-puncture (not a deal breaker by any means)
Pedals: I’ll be riding both with and without clips, so either touring style or clipless with a bit of platform to put a regular shoe on.
Saddle: Leather ideal, but anything will be fine really
Misc nice-to-haves:

1. Decent D-lock
   
2. Helmet
   
3. Floor pump
   
4. Rear mudguard
   
5. Bell
   
6. Multi tool
   
   

Thoughts welcome! I don’t want to spend ages hunting down the perfect solution, so I’m also considering just hitting up Goku, Re-Cycle or Camden Cycles for whatever they’ve got in stock. Any helpful hints would be appreciated.

Cheers
Rory

Would definitely avoid Goku and the like (no-logo, teman), you will get a lot more for your money second-hand. Check the classifieds on here and Gumtree/eBay - although you may have to sift through pages of Goku ads on Gumtree...

Yeah, I’ve found gumtree a real hassle to filter out the noise (especially as I don’t have a real computer at the moment, living off an ipad until I start work). I was hoping to shortcut all that effort by posting here... maybe a bit optimistically!

Yeah it's really annoying, takes a lot of trawling. Maybe, as you have fairly specific requirements, you might be better off building something up? This would be a good start https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/313397/#comment13964748
Depends how urgent it is I guess. Problem with the cheap Chinese brands is they seem to be assembled without any lubrication, so if anything fucks up a year down the line you end up having to saw it off

Yeah, I did consider building myself as well, but am short on time, tools and experience. And although I posted a specific set of wants, most of them are by no means needs; I’ll settle if something passable drops into my lap :-)
Thanks for the helpful advice!

Best bet is keep an eye on the classifieds and Gumtree then. If you do find a frame and components for cheap I'd be happy to build it for you for a case of beer! My living room looks like a workshop anyway...

Decent wheels for cheap here https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/313417/ could be rattle canned or leave as is for theft proofing. See, got the main bits of a bike together already!

I have an old raleigh frameset, a record sprint, paint is pretty bad, but it has cranks,bb, pedals.
I can supply stem, handlebars, brake calipers and levers all for maybe £60 or something. Its a beater for sure, but it would start you going for much less than £250.

Pics are in this album: https://imgur.com/a/bBfZx

drop me a pm if your interested

I have a Fuji feather 2017 black edition which I've added some drop levers to (kept the crosstops) and fitted a nitto stem (the old one had so much flex). I think it's a 56 but I'll have to check - I remember it feeling quite long. Rear mudguard and bell included message me for price if you're interested!

You can have this: https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/312762/#comment13941716 either geared (as is) or converted to SS, with lights, an Abus D-lock, helmet, bell, multi-tool and bigger rear 'guard... but no floor pump, for well under £250... and a choice of bars (depending on whether you keep the gears).

Have a Charge Grater with some upgraded parts that I need to get round to selling which is mostly new or has done less than 10 miles. Fails the charm and character test, but ticks the functional boxes. If you're interested I'll post more pics and list out the parts.

Thanks guys!
retrodicorsa- looks like a nice F+F, but yeah I think I’d want to swap out a fair bit of the componentry (ideally single speed, different saddle and bars, ideally SPD clips). Is that more trouble than it’s worth for you?
cookiemonster- I’d be interested to take a look. Where are you based? Free this afternoon/evening?

I was assuming you would want to make changes and that would not be a problem. PM me if you want to take it further.

Still looking?

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/314339/#comment13998904

Hi Joe, thanks but I managed to figure out a deal with @retrodicorsa (thoroughly recommend him for anyone else reading this!)

Looks like a nice ride you’re letting go, though! GLWS