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?

People here rip the piss outta me for not being able to structure sentences/paragraphs,

and insistently separating every line.

However my friend, I think you have a far more serious problem.

slow the fuck down, jesus you don't stop writing without paragraph do you?? it took me *age *to read it with difficulty.

you have to test ride each of those bike, choose the one that you find the most comfortable and relaxing to ride, we can't just choose a bike and tell you to buy it since we've no idea if it is as comfortable to you as it is to us.

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.

All the bike you mentioned is good, they're very decent bike, the choice is really down to you I'm afraid, The Kona and Charge one are great bike (bit heavy but that didn't put people off really), I don't know much about the Pinnacle, but I do know is that the Langster would be a better buy than the Pinnacle.

Charge Plug a better deal than the Freestyler really.

if you can stretch it, Surly Steamroller's the best choice.

my bike is a Bianchi Pista with some compound change to make it a bit more comfortable, it's differ to the other OTP (Off the peg) because it's a proper track bike, so the geomity are less relaxing, and the ride is much stiffer, the BB (bottom backet) is higher off the ground etc. it's a great bike but take a while to get used to due to the track geomity.

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 (?)

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.

all the possible dissing, arguing, raving up etc.

Has already occured. There is even a purpose made 'off the peg' bikes sticky, and many many comparison threads with heaps of advice.

At the end of the day, they are bikes that will do the job fine.

Go pick one you like the look of, like the ride of and can afford. They are all specced very simarlary so theres not much to compare other than ride. So go do it!
And theres nothing particularly "designer" about kona ( I would say the opposit in fact), and nothin "mental" about charge bikes.

I dont really see what your getting at, but you seem way too excited.

Charge Plug a better deal than the Freestyler really.

That may be your opinion Mr Scoble, but what he wants to know is does he "write off Charge cos they just mental" ?

that was ridiculous.

Now your talkin, see, I like the Surley, they got old school vintage attitude about them, its a bit out of me price range but I could do it, only one question on the Steamroller though, is it only fixed? I have been the victim of a nasty downhill shin battering out of control feet off the pedals and panicking like Amy Whinehouse in rehab type accident, slamming on the front anchor and wotchin me ass pass me nose,(20 year ago but remember it like it twas yesterday) is it flip flop? I dont really have a problem with a fixie, just a bit scary, it is a nice bike though, and if any of our local idiots up here did nick it, I would probably find it 200 yards down the main road next to the ambulance, mmmmm see where your coming from now. How do you cope with them black cabs slamming the anchors on if front of you on a fixie?

honestly mate, I'd think you would have learnt your lesson not to go too fast at a low gear ratio after your crash?

what give you the impression that you have to ride fixed gear without brake? a lots of fixed gear rider have brake for emergency really.

Tynan, thanks for that thread, I have checked all these bikes out on reviews, none of em got bad reviews, and their owners are all very defensive of their particular rides and rightly so, I just wanted to narrow the field down a bit, obviously cant cos they all appear to do wot it ses on the tin, obviously no duffers amongst them which was my biggest worry, ok £400 is cheap for a bike nowadays apparantly, not for me, I just didnt want to make an expensive mistake, sorry for my long winded writing questions and answering, but hey, its 0120 am, wot else you got to do, you love these big long essays, exercise the mind as well as your legs eh eh. I like them wheels on the Charge freestyler, but I likes the bars and saddle on the plug, do you think they do it deliberately in the hope that we would buy both? I think I got to have the charge, the surley and the tricross in me list, the tricross looks like a jack of all trades, the surley looks the buisness, and the charge is unique, 3 bikes one speed and all completely freekin different and mad in their own ways, arent mountain bikes really boring? Eh EH!

want the best, get the Surly, best thing about Surly, is that it'll feel like it's the last bike you'll ever own.

think about the Charge Freestyler - would kids nick them especially in the north? hence the standard Plug, a bit more low-key.

the surly is a lovely bike and certainly my choice if you go off the Peg

Well you lot, after a few weeks research on various sites, I learned more in this last half an hour than in two weeks, me mind is almost made up, Surley always stood out a bit for me anyway, the thing with the breaks stems from me dad, if the bike didnt need it, it didnt have it, he once went to whitby and back in a day on an Ephgrave with no gears (have you seen them hills?), I have to thank you all, see, all this long winded stuff doesnt put people off at all, infact, you all love it, still like them green wheels on the charge, see them little chav twats up here, they would nick a manual qualcast lawnmower if it had half decent wheels on it, I know you all suffer at the hands of light fingered twats down there, strap a BSA Meteor (22) to the underside of your top tubes, sends a message doods, again thank you all, Iam gettin a Surley, maybe a tricross or possibly a mental charge.

the thing with your dad, cheap (or even reasonably priced one) bike back then weight a tonnes, so removing compound is essential if you want to save weight.

Nowadays bike are quite light, so having a front brake isn't that bad (it's sensible really to be honest), a front brake is all you needed on a fixed gear bike, even thought I live in London and there's almost no hill there, it's still useful to have it when a taxi jump out in front of you.

Hey dood, your very enlightening, but your English seems to be deteriorating, Iam getting stick here aboot me English, are you suppin some vodka n stuff, smokin summit strange or just typing on your bike trainer? Always wondered why fixie riders got such a bad reputation for being mental, its all becoming clear now. I was gonna check out redtube, but this is more entertaining.

See that Bianchi, it got no brakes, but I got shimano 105 breaks, does it have holes for breaks, I like that Bianchi, just never assumed it a road bike, looks awsome. Did it come with pedals?

yeah it does have holes, I have mine fitted since it didn't came with brake, even for £425.

no pedal either! it will take you a while to get used to it, literally, a while.

my english isn't that great since I'm profoundly deaf.

sorry if that sounds like Iam dissin u, iam not and Iam grateful for your advice, just didnt know wot to expect, makes me laugh when my local shop said have a look at wot the cocknys are on! Alway a good sign, he said.

nah mate, I know you're not dissing me, it almost sound like that bloke in your local bike shop was being sarcastic!

mind you! high on weed reads much better, Bianchi, mmmmmmm lot of history there, me dad would definately have heard of em, Surley, mmmmm. Bianchi is a good price though. A real bike, real heritage, like it, and I had totally written it off, think Iam gonna have to clean me 105s up. Just out of interest, wot tyres you got on it? Sorry for all the pestering, thats definately me last question, cos in all the review sites Ive visited, it seems the first thing fixie buyers do to their bikes, straight away, is change the bloomin tyres, so wot is the ultimate city tyre? saying as you all live in the ultimate city? I thank you all, especially edscoble, and goodnite.

expect the Bianchi frame is made in tawian, doesn't necessary mean a bad thing mind, but when you put 'heritage' and 'tawian' in the same sentence, it's sorta an oxymoron you know? Surly are built more or less locally in the U.S. rather than a company in Tawian building the frame they designed.

tyres are the same as it came with the Pista, continental ultrasport, not the most grippy, but nice to skid and doesn't seemed to wear out that badly, if you were to get Charge Plug - change the tyres, the one that came with it is too slow (quite fat last time I check!).

I never had a problem with Tawian, most of our coveted bikes are designed in their indigenous lands, England, Usa, Canada, even Italy, then they send all their paperwork to Tawien, there is a reason for that, they are obviously better at it than us, oh to be spoilt by Reynolds, Columbus and Dedacciai and the likes, eh? Thats progress for you. How many family businesses has this Country got to lose? And whatever happened to fancy lugs, you should have seen the lug work on me dads ephgrave, Les Ephgrave used to be Claud Butlers apprentice you know! you dont get that nowadays. At least nowt us mortals could afford.

Is this a joke? Has anyone read this veritable essay and if so, can you give me a two line jist of what sidney is saying?