Frame for Life! (Dolan, maybe)

Frame is steel with columbus tubing. Whole bike weights just under 9kg.

Short-term I'm just going to change the grips. Otherwise I've very happy!

Total cost to me was about £600!

looks great mate

i thought it was gonna be closer to a grand?

lpg i thought it was gonna be closer to a grand?

That's what I'm paying through CycleScheme! Cost of bike is about £870 if you're just a normal punter!

interesting frame is it 2nd hand?

for their 10%, get BLB to set the brake pads up properly ;)

You paid too much. Frame and wheels £550? What exactly are they?

That bike could be built for about £450 - £500.

Frame is 2nd hand and been resprayed. The brake pads have been done!

The wheels are velocity's clicky!, which I thought were a well know make.

If you got a cheaper frame and cheaper wheels, then yes! About £550!

"you paid too much"
i wanted to say that but didn't know how to do it politely!
for that money you could have a condor pista with a hub upgrade to goldtec and open pro rims or numerous other bikes. RPM is fsa's budget line of cranks
105 is middle range (still good) but condor sold me a dura-ace bling brake for £50
velocity rims are nice but the hubs are formula which aren't the best.

i don't want to piss on your chips but for £1000 (£650? with cyclescheme) you can get a really nice bike with top notch bits, you have a nice bike but some bits are bargain basement.(like the cranks and hubs) plus the frame is 2nd hand.

I'm worried about this 2nd hand thing...

how old is the frame?
do you know it's history?

these things don't matter with a £25 ebay jobby..

but seriously man,

I'd take it back. You can get a condor potenza for £899 or a pista for £699

AND you're advertising for them, bricklanebikes.co.uk on the chainstay! They should knock £50 off for that, alone.

Mr Smith! I have no doubt you are correct and as a newbie I expected not to get it right first time! I did try to get more info through this thread, but it wasn't really forth coming!

How much would a condor frame and fork have been?

I like how the bikes turned out and how it rides, which is the most important thing!

Looking forward to leaning more as I go!

RPM I'm worried about this 2nd hand thing...

how old is the frame?
do you know it's history?

these things don't matter with a £25 ebay jobby..

but seriously man,

I'd take it back. You can get a condor potenza for £899 or a pista for £699

Yeah, for real. Get you're £650 back...you can get something amazing for £650...

Talk to Jos (he's on the forum), or Roberto (also on the forum). You could just give them the cash, they'll build it for you if you wish.

Twice the quality, half the price.

they don't do cyclescheme though.
i can't believe they charged you £14 for 2 tubes! and £40 for a 105 caliper that is £20-£22 everywhere else?
it doesn't show BLB in a very good light ATM. normally if you pay full whack for bits you don't pay for the build (i think?)

You were saying earlier that you haven't got your voucher yet, that your boss hasn't even paid it yet. It's not too late to get this sorted out and not get ripped.

Also if you want advice it might be easier if you were to find out specs of some options, post them up here and then we know what sort of things you're looking at.

wappingwarrior After picking out the frame and wheels, it was already £550! 10% to build it and the rest of the bits soon mount up! £30 saddle, £20 leaver, £40 caliper, £24 tyres, £14 tubes, £18 chain, £40 chainset, £15 bars, £24 pedals, £15 straps, £15 seatpost, £25 headset, plus grips, wheel tape and you've got your price!

£38 for a pair of Rubinos plus inner tubes? You've been had!

MrSmith they don't do cyclescheme though.
i can't believe they charged you £14 for 2 tubes! and £40 for a 105 caliper that is £20-£22 everywhere else?
it doesn't show BLB in a very good light ATM. normally if you pay full whack for bits you don't pay for the build (i think?)

they were guesses!!!!! Don't take them at gospal!

caliper was £30, lever was £15. Tyres & tubes where £20 each! Saying that, I've paid £8 for an inner tube before!

Anyway, this is the sort of info I ask for before taking the easy option and getting BLB to sort it! Bit late in the day! I did email and txt'd the guys at LondonFixed and got no reply, so it's not as if I didn't try!

As mention! I was charged for the build cause I went through CS, they charge the bike shop, so they pass it on! No charge if it's not on the Scheme!

I got the bike I wanted, even if it cost more than it should or could have been spec'd higher!

Remember, it's only money! And money is worth less to those who have it! And now I have less ;-)

i got a set of rubinos and innertubes for £18 at blb, the extra £2 might have been for the rim tape? another reason for the extra money might have been because the inners have to be the long vavle ones which normally cost a bit more. actually, mine cost less than £18 becuase i showed them my messenger id (i got over the summer working for excel.) but they said it should have cost £18.

listen it's cool your stoked about the bike but ask 'em for a breakdown of exactly what cost what. You shouldn't be paying that much for what you got and having cheaper parts on it now only means your going to have throw more money at it later.

Point BLB to this thread and they themselves should realise they're not doing their image any favours. They should sort it before they start losing business.

When i first looked into getting a fixie i went to BLB and really nearly got a bike from them. I was obviously a real beginner but had heard good things about them and presumed they would play fair.

They had a dolan frame already built up to a custom build for about 800 quid. I basically nearly bought it and then started feeling wierd about it and realised they might not be playing fair. Now, a LOT of research and reading up later i realise BLB were fully prepared to absolutely screw me. The frame was an old dolan one from last season and was kitted out with the cheapest components they could find. it was only worth about 500 odd quid and they were happy to watch my newbie knowledge drown. When I started asking more questions, just as I was about to buy it, they got really aggressive and just tried to intimate me into buying it. Walking out of BLB was one of the best things I ever did.

On a more positive note, more research and buying the separate components from hubjub, condor, bike magic, london fields cycles and brixton cycles has been an absolute pleasure. Nice people, really helpful and full of advice.

I would never go near BLB ever again... (but that is just my experience).

exactly. i've always thought that BLB are really steep on their prices.

i'm with RPM with the frame. what is it really?

know what, i saw a reynolds 501 track frame there with my friend who's looking for a bike and he's interested in it. whole bike is 650+ and they tell me the frame alone is 350. for 350 you can get a bob jackson with 531, or even a keirin frame from keirin culture + the tax and all that malarky (the pound is strong!). pay that for a heavy 501 frame? no friggin' way.

condor won't ever do you much wrong apart from a lack of colour choices for 699. brixton cycles can build you a probably better bike from a steamroller frame for not much more than 600. if i spend a grand and build it myself i can have a full NJS bling bike, or get the lavoro from condor.

honest, those cranks you have there on your bike costs only 30quid from kiwi. you have an idea how steep they are now?

the frame by the looks of it is bottechia and is pretty good quality columbus sx tubing and more than likely has cinelli drops etc. but for example i got the road version on ebay for £165. i bought some robina's for £15 delivered (ribble does tubes, long or short stem for £2 extra ;). sorry to be the harbinger of bad news, but agree with people above, that you've paid top dollar for everything, which at times is lowest quality. We're not dissing you, we are merely trying to stop you getting ripped. my 2cents.

if i remember rightly, wapping warrior, you got tons of advice from people on this forum and you didn't seem to really take to it, re: get a starter bike first. lots of people also advised you to go to BLB as well, so in this respect it's probably a bit late for any post-advice hindsight.

isn't this the same bike you posted up earlier in the thread?

without wishing to sound too harsh, i think you made a mistake, not BLB. you didn't know what you wanted, and any advice you received as a result didn't mean anything - otherwise i can't see why you would have ended up with RPM cranks. what's wrong with starting slowly and workign out what you want, then buying carefully later? there's no substitute for experience here. i have a condor acciaio steel frame racer that cost me an arm and a leg, 4 figures. i saved for two years to buy it and in the time before that rode a totally awful old nishiki with dt shifters, and then a decathlon 7 series. after 3 years of that i knew EXACTLY what i wanted. i sold the other bikes having rode them into the ground.

similarly, when starting out on fixed, i got a fuji. i thrashed that for a much shorter period of time and immediately loved riding fixed. knowing what i now know about bikes, first geared racers, and now fixed, and with the amount of riding that i do i became quickly aware of the limitations and as a result i was clear in my mind that i wanted a new frame, for all sorts of very precise reasons. now i have a shiny bob jackson, and no concerns, and i knew the pricing because i 'd spent time upgrading prior to this and researching things myself.

this is why i think you made a mistake. nonetheless, i am sure you will enjoy your expensive new bicycle and it looks nice.