Advice please...

RPM [quote]OCD CONdor sale CONdor sale.

06 PISTA £700.00 > £650.00
07 PISTA £700.00 > £675.00

Grab yourself a bagain!

despite the piss take we sometimes dish out to those posh condor owners, you'd be hard pushed to find a better riding machine than those, at that price.

as I'm sure you want to ride the bike, rather than post pictures of it all over the internet and walk it to coffee shops?[/quote]

Quite right i only ment it as a joke. I personally would take great pleasure in using everysingle one of those 800 ppounds in building myslelf up some thing purdy. Why not buy a piece of shit to ride around on till its built (as opposed to public transport)

If i had to go off the peg i'd defs get the condor. There are plenty of owners on here and im pretty sure they would tell you good things about em!

I bought the CONdor a couple of months back, and been very happy with it.

Despite our Colonial Cousin's assertion, it's not exclusive to "pink shirt city boy wanker" owners.

mashton - where are you?

Even he has one!

http://www.tvscoop.tv/ianstinkingbeale.jpg

would build something but havent a clue where to start so in some ways i feel that the best bet is to find my feet with a good off the peg bike and learn my way around rather than jump into a world of parts that i dont have a clue about... feels more honest.

Hands on is the best way to learn.
Buy a bunkie and learn as you buy a frame and the various parts to complete a good bike.

You don't want to do a Wapping Warrior...

kowalski You don't want to do a Wapping Warrior...
what's wrong with post a semi naked picture of yourself on a forum?!?

its good fun building one. found it pretty easy and i enjoyed every bit of it. if ever you're stuck, loads of advise here and plenty willing to help out...

for £800, you can get a pretty good custom painted frame + hand picked components

if time is a factor, i think condor's got a few (3-6) weeks waiting period? so that option's not that instant either. correct me if im wrong

paul74 I just have to get off the tube asap.

the man needs to get on a bike and quick.

why do people keep encouraging him to build up from parts? when he has expressed no great interest in doing so.

yes yes, it's "better" in the long term.

but even as a seasoned bike mechanic, if I had my bike nicked, I'd go straight out and drop 400-600 sheets on some generic thing, with a credit card, just to get back on the road, then start building something up over time, because whatever you get, there's always issues and even if you buy every single part from the same shop, you're going to be waiting on something.

then you can sell the off the peg afterwards for a decent price on egay

or keep it as a back up.

FWIW, when i first started out i was on an £800 bianchi which i eventually singlespeeded, i put it back together and flogged it for £600 which fincanced a shitty £100 SS and then freed up the rest for a project which i'm close to finishing, it's been so much more fun sourcing the parts myself, i don't think i would ever buy off the peg again, even if i was totally minted. I'd be like tommy and buy a Bob Jackson then build it up slowly, there's plenty of people on here that will help you out, the choice... is yours! Oh, and i think people admire your bike more if it's unusual too ;)

Good luck :)

Call Putney Cycles, they have built Bob Jacksons in there for about £800. You will not be disappointed!

RPM [quote]paul74 I just have to get off the tube asap.

the man needs to get on a bike and quick.

why do people keep encouraging him to build up from parts? when he has expressed no great interest in doing so.

yes yes, it's "better" in the long term.

but even as a seasoned bike mechanic, if I had my bike nicked, I'd go straight out and drop 400-600 sheets on some generic thing, with a credit card, just to get back on the road, then start building something up over time, because whatever you get, there's always issues and even if you buy every single part from the same shop, you're going to be waiting on something.

then you can sell the off the peg afterwards for a decent price on egay[/quote]

FWIW, I meant: buy the cheap 2nd hand, but usable bike from 'egay' (nice, BTW)or where ever, and then build up a sweet bike over time. If the budget is £800, 4-600 takes a big chunk. also, you still have a back-up, or one to flog when you're finished, like you say.

RPM [quote]paul74 I just have to get off the tube asap.

the man needs to get on a bike and quick.

why do people keep encouraging him to build up from parts? when he has expressed no great interest in doing so.

yes yes, it's "better" in the long term.

but even as a seasoned bike mechanic, if I had my bike nicked, I'd go straight out and drop 400-600 sheets on some generic thing, with a credit card, just to get back on the road, then start building something up over time, because whatever you get, there's always issues and even if you buy every single part from the same shop, you're going to be waiting on something.

then you can sell the off the peg afterwards for a decent price on egay[/quote]

RPM rules!

why don't you sell him the ralaeigh hippo! then he can have change to repray the frame :p

you could do a lot worse than one of the sale condors, they will still measure you up and swap the stem length to suit you, anything else that is easily changed like tyres/chain/saddle/seatpost/crank length they will change if you want to upgrade (i would get the izumi chain/carbon post and whatever saddle you like). if you want a wheel build though you will probably have to wait unless they have anything on display that you want.

i had a look at the willier pista and it seemed way overpriced for the parts spec, probably a harsher ride than the pista too, after all it is a track bike rather than a road going fixed/ss

Yep - what RPM said.

I have a Pearson - it's great (well - it was till some twat rolled an industrial wheelie bin into it and cocked the front wheel.) Got mine on bike-to-work, so half price too.

Marginally preferred the Condor on trying both, but didn't want to spend too much first time out. Will no doubt go for nice frame and fancy build next time (though should really finish paying for this one first).

soooo...pop out, try a couple & buy one.

off on a bit of a tangent but I'm in a similar position so thought I'd hijack here...I've been doing too much thinking and not enough pedalling already..... but.... to think some more...my budget is half paul's at £400 and I only have room for one bike so cant spend time building one up and need to be on the road evey day so can't wait either.

'm thinking of a sale 07 langster from Brixton Cycles at £320 and then swapping some bits from my SS MTB - instantly rideable and still with a few bits of my own.... OR....stick around and try to pick up a pre-built custom fixed from someone here/ebay/.... Would prefer the second choice but it always seems to be frames only for sale and I dont have the time/tools/skills to do a build myself at the moment.

Any thoughts or or offers of complete bikes?! (know the usual feelings about langsters, OTP etc. but if I'm not bothered as long as it rides good.)

make the student an offer on the complete, avoid the wrongster at all costs!

chris crash make the student an offer on the complete, avoid the wrongster at all costs!

Looks like he'll want to split now!?

Condor.

Re: the built Bob Jacksons at Putney Cycles - does anyone know if they are just fixed-gear? what are the chances of finding one built up with a flip-flop hub?

give them a call, it's very possible.

you can actually still thread a freewheel on most fixed hubs too, BTW

RPM give them a call, it's very possible.

you can actually still thread a freewheel on most fixed hubs too, BTW

on the off chance... how about the other way round? can you put a fixed sprocked on the freewheel side of a flip-flop hub. I;m gussing 'no' as the lock ring won;t fit and if it did, the threading is the wrong way - right?