Advice for a newbie

Hey guys,

I'm new to the forum.. I've been riding around London, commuting to/from uni etc for a little while now on a cheapo geared jobby and have been looking into getting a fixie.. Also did the Dunwich Dynamo the other week and after reading some blogs on that I saw mention of this forum and thought this would be the right place to come..

Essentially I'd just like to hear a few opinions on what to do.. Should I attempt to convert my cheapo geared frame to keeps costs down? Should I buy off the peg? or should I give into my urges and invest in a build that could take a while?

You all started somewhere with fixies, what would you do if you had to start all over again, knowing what you know now..

Cheers, I look forward to hearing from you

Welcome!

IMO OTP is a good place to start. You can buy cheap, and if you don't like it/wanna trade up, you can off load on ebay. Then when you're hooked you can build your dream machine; knowing exactly what you want and need.

Put OTP in the search function to see what's out there, recommendations and prices.

Imo Otp Ftw

Norwich

start by calling it a fixed not a fixie. go down to your local shops and try some bikes, then figure out what you want and how much you want to pay for it.

Hey guys...
...what would you do if you had to start all over again, knowing what you know now..

sniff ...I wouldn't change a thing man...
How mechanically minded are you / do you want to be?
You got £$£$£$s or ££s to spend?
What kind of bicycles have you enjoyed riding / looking at?

Should I attempt to convert my cheapo geared frame to keeps costs down?
Should I buy off the peg?
..should I give into my urges and invest in a build that could take a while?

ermmm.... I give up. whats the right answer?! ;-)

I'm all for a good conversion. Your learning curve (I imagine) is steeper and your knowledge of bling (or just what makes you drool) and sourcing components grows very rapidly. Plus your eye for a bargain on ebay is attuned and you can feast on geekery, enjoying every package that arrives through the post.

The process takes about two-three months if you want to relish it and want to come in at a good budget. And best of all you build it and feel a massive connection with it.

and get it all over your white trousers

euuuwwww.... nasty.

Chris.............you require a new repertoire.

Get him Pajim-jams!

During my primary school years, my mother, bless her, was still locked in her drug-addled summer-of-love days - for some reason she'd remained hippy and dippy way into the early 80s when most of her friends had sobered up and settled down. When I knew her she was smitten with some Californian shoe-designer - one of those cringing dudes who talks a good game and has a way with the ladies that no man can understand. She bought into his ideas for a new type of kid's shoe, which was the result of years of ergonomic design research and a real orthapaedic knowledge gained through Med school training, all filtered through the vast array of hallucinogens he was imbibing.

The result? I had to wear one of four prototype pairs of these godawful shoes to school - for three terms straight. My mother eventually tired of the Shoe Nut and saw him for what he really was - a loathesome little oik who masqueraded as a troubled genius - but only after I had had the piss ripped out of me by everyone at my school, including teachers, dinner ladies and deputy head, for a solid year. I wore those shoes because I loved my mom - and in wearing them to test their comfort, durability and aid to growth I was helping her do what she could to help the man she was in love with, and in this way I was making her happy. But eventually I could stand to wear them no more and, in the ensuing rows at home, the Shoe Nut's frenzied rages at my refusal to publicise his product among the kids of the neighbourhood betrayed the first signs of his overindulgence in mind-expanders. My mom dumped him at the start of the summer recess. She threw the shoes out after him onto the street, and all the kids on the stoop cheered.

That was the last time I ever bowed to other people's ideas of what I should wear.

it shows :p

During my primary school years, my mother, bless her, was still locked in her drug-addled summer-of-love days - for some reason she'd remained hippy and dippy way into the early 80s when most of her friends had sobered up and settled down. When I knew her she was smitten with some Californian shoe-designer - one of those cringing dudes who talks a good game and has a way with the ladies that no man can understand. She bought into his ideas for a new type of kid's shoe, which was the result of years of ergonomic design research and a real orthapaedic knowledge gained through Med school training, all filtered through the vast array of hallucinogens he was imbibing.

The result? I had to wear one of four prototype pairs of these godawful shoes to school - for three terms straight. My mother eventually tired of the Shoe Nut and saw him for what he really was - a loathesome little oik who masqueraded as a troubled genius - but only after I had had the piss ripped out of me by everyone at my school, including teachers, dinner ladies and deputy head, for a solid year. I wore those shoes because I loved my mom - and in wearing them to test their comfort, durability and aid to growth I was helping her do what she could to help the man she was in love with, and in this way I was making her happy. But eventually I could stand to wear them no more and, in the ensuing rows at home, the Shoe Nut's frenzied rages at my refusal to publicise his product among the kids of the neighbourhood betrayed the first signs of his overindulgence in mind-expanders. My mom dumped him at the start of the summer recess. She threw the shoes out after him onto the street, and all the kids on the stoop cheered.

That was the last time I ever bowed to other people's ideas of what I should wear.

lie! he wears a medicinal cod piece that his doctor told him he needed to

nearly right - it's a medicinal piece of cod

lie! he wears a medicinal cod piece that his doctor told him he needed to

Would that have something to do with you kicking the crown jewels?

I would forget about riding fixed (yawn), and get an expensive geared jobby. Or some fancy orthopaedic shoes.

Buy an overpriced Kalavinka and pose around town on it.

Thanks for the input guys (and also a few snide remarks, but all in good fun I'm sure)..

I'll take a look at some OTP stuff and, thinking about it, will probably go with that for my first fixed gear..

I'd love to do a conversion or build deep down but I'd prefer to be without a usable bike for as little time as possible (I'd rather not have public transport prices factor into my conversion) or have half a bike in my room whilst I scrounge some pennies to complete it..

Also, I'd just like to apologise for bringing up a topic that's been brought up countless times I'm sure..