Help me choose

Hi all, Iam a geordi in the market for a £400 single speed (may go higher to pose), Ive asked for advice from both my local shops, neither of which stock any, but they both basically said check out what the cockney couriers doon south are living and working on, so here I am, the bike will probably come from Evans on the bike to work scheme so my shortlist is Kona paddywagon, pinnacle bachelor, specialized tricross ss, lemond fillimore, genesis flyer, Langster, and the mad charge plug or freestyler, oh and Iam also pretty smitten with the gt peace 29er,(anybody in the big city use a 29er on the roads?) problem is, I love the look of all these bikes and should probably try ride before you buy but that is pretty much out of the question. My bike is a Reynolds 531 millenium tubed Cougar with track wheels, (mavic gp4 rear with 6speed dura ace cog and ambrosia front) and a late 80s shimano 105 groupset, but I got Bikehut flat bars and levers on it.I love it to bits, its steel, very light, got awsome acceleration and speed but Iam totally restricted by the wheels as they take tubs and punctures have bin costing me £16 a shot, I know its cureable, but I like it as is, so I want this other bike for work and back and chucking about abit. A single speed is definately what I want, I cut my teeth on a fixie when I was a young teen on vintage lightweights (Viking and Ephgrave) courtesy of my dad, Iam 40 now and want back to me roots (dont know if I could still do fixie, but the option would be nice). I would love any of the bikes I listed above, they all seem simarly specced but with price differences of up to and above £100, so Iam askin you guys as you all seem to make your livings on these buggers, I will take value for money and performance over designer label every time. Oh, and it wont get stolen cos I got an m16, and all our local chavs know it. Oh, and I really really love the Cannondale Capo but is it really worth £200 more than the above bikes?

Hi, sorry boot me english, I got a problem with testing above bikes, see, I need to narrow me shortlist doown to about 3 which is where I was hoping you could help, do I write off the Pinnacle cos its aluminium as Iam used to steel or is it a cult legend in courier land, do I write off the Kona cos its a designer thing, do I write off Charge cos they just mental?, wot you got? wot you riding? did you buy it or make it? eh eh! I know these bikes are on the streets of our Capitol,(and probably courtesy of Evans cycle to work scheme), which one is best, go on, have an argument, diss some and rav some up, have an argument, just let me sit back and pick out the surviving bikes.

If you can ask a simple unambiguous question I am sure there are lots of people here willing to help, but laziness dictates that people aren't going to dig through a half thousand word paragraph and attempt to answer numerous unrelated and abstract questions. !

:)

Sounds like you want to search for a 'best OTP bike' thread (?)