Charge Plug

im afraid youve mistook my up north speaking for your name
i meant come ed
as in Come on andy
im into that seat
cant wait to pick it up

Guys, not all of us have time to chase second hand component after second hand component to build an "interesting" bike.

you mean you don't have the patience or inclination. I spent six months getting my first bike together. it's nothing remarkable. It ain't a track frame. but the frame's 531 and the components are better than an OTP will ever be coming close to for the price I got it together for. On the way I learned a lot about what I was going to be riding, the quality of different components and how the market was changing.

For most of us, it is about having something that you can ride, brakeless or not, and enjoy. So as long as it doesn t fail, it does the trick.
I don't get this bit. You're stating the obvious but at the same time your statement will be read in several different ways by people on here. For example, I just wouldn't enjoy riding a Langster or indeed the majority of the OTPs half as much as the bike I assembled and put together with hillbilly one evening. Handing my cash over in one go at a bike shop to get something that has been formulated by a company wouldn't mean as much as sorting out an old frame for a good price and putting together an aesthetic of my own. I love the aesthetic element of people's builds.. I wouldn't have got as excited about it at the start if it wasn't for people's enthusiasm going into their own builds. The fact is the OTPs that are sold for the street market are for the most part only existent as a result of people back in 2005 / 2006 etc. building their own bikes out of old stuff. Charge's style decisions can be traced directly to the aesthetics of messenger and fakenger builds from certain years (eg the bullhorns giving way to 'track' drops and risers)

And in terms of it failing? It seems to me that almost everyone I know with regular OTPs feels the need to start upgrading components soon after they get it. So there's some sense of an OTP not doing the trick there or this wouldn't be happening.

And if the color scheme appeals to pedestrians on King's Road, all the better, they ll come to the beauty of your painstakingly reconstructed vintage parts track frame eventually...
I wouldn't really care about that to be honest. If you feel like a million dollars riding your bike who cares what the colour scheme is and whether pedestrians notice?

And in terms of it failing? It seems to me that almost everyone I know with regular OTPs feels the need to start upgrading components soon after they get it. So there's some sense of an OTP not doing the trick there or this wouldn't be happening.

this isn't necessarily true, many OTP buyers enter the fixed/track world with little knowledge about parts. Once they start riding and getting more involved many of these people are drawn to 'bling' parts, replacing barely used components for one with much trendier logos.

or just components that will do a much better job of things than the ones in the original spec..

but again, time and application give you the knowledge you need about parts. Then it's a budgeting matter - you get the best stuff you can afford. Again, my personal opinion is that your own build will achieve a far higher level of quality than an OTP costing the same amount, markedly so if you start with a second hand / "vintage" frame.

... this is fixed gear I'm talking about here by the way. A lot of considerations come from that. But if you're marketing a bike with a fixed gear capability - and at the moment that will be a massive part of the sell - the stuff you include in the build must be robust enough to deal with the demands fixed riding places on certain components.

oooo, & no cages & straps...

I saw John Torode (off Masterchef) riding one in Kennington.

'Nuff said really

I saw John Torode (off Masterchef) riding one in Kennington.

'Nuff said really

really hope that's true

lol, i reckon it looks nice at least

I saw John Torode (off Masterchef) riding one in Kennington.

'Nuff said really

Peddlin' DOESN'T get tougher than this!!!

Ha ha

true story honest!!!

I saw him before I knew these vomity lookin plugs were an off the shelf item, and I nearly fell off my bike. I thought he'd paid special money to make it look that wank

fixed or coasting? lycra? skinny jeans? cycling cap? NEED MORE INFO ON TORODE!!!

Coastin' (sigh). Baggy shorts. Retina burning lumo yellow jacket. Messenger bag of some sort. No lid.

Looked a lot better than half the people I pass on Ken Park rd every day. Me included so I can't fire too many pot shots.... apart from at people riding a charge plugs ;-)

trackstand comp - John & Gregg, to the bitter end. that'll be the new Charge Fixed video, mark my words.

you mean you don't have the patience or inclination. I spent six months getting my first bike together.

Bully for you, maybe other people want to get riding straight away. Think this a 'you're not a proper fixed rider unless...' if it's a London thing you can keep it, I just ride a bike.

British company & design... not frame builder.

Given the cost of manufacturing in this country you can't blame them. I read with some depression the efforts Howies go to to produce their merino base layers, sending them from NZ to China to be spun, then back to NZ and to Fuji then all round the houses till eventually it gets back to h'inglan for us to fork over our folding for it. Amazing it's so much cheaper for companies to buy their stuff abroad, manufacture it abroad (somewhere else) and then ship back here then actually make it here.

Orange make a lot of their bikes abroad, as do DMR and Planet X/On-One. Curtis handbuild theirs here, but have prices to match.

Given the cost of manufacturing in this country you can't blame them. I read with some depression the efforts Howies go to to produce their merino base layers, sending them from NZ to China to be spun, then back to NZ and to Fuji then all round the houses till eventually it gets back to h'inglan for us to fork over our folding for it. Amazing it's so much cheaper for companies to buy their stuff abroad, manufacture it abroad (somewhere else) and then ship back here then actually make it here.

They mentioned that in the new Howies catalogue, they talk about this problem, and they realise how much carbon footprints has been wasted despite saving a few pennies, so they're right now trying to get the merino to be spun in NZ instead, or if that fail, China make more sense (according to them).

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/8648/image398.jpg
http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/image398.jpg/1/w1600.png

They mentioned that in the new Howies catalogue, they talk about this problem, and they realise how much carbon footprints has been wasted despite saving a few pennies, so they're right now trying to get the merino to be spun in NZ instead, or if that fail, China make more sense (according to them).

Yeah, I read that too, I didn't mean what I said as a criticism of Howies (I love them), but an observation of how fucked up the world is that British companies have to go to the other side of the world to get their products built

mick i cant remember the last time i saw a bike i wanted to ride less

hahaha

Jesus fucking H Christ it's like that prick FlechmyFix who started slagging off OTP owners as high-street cruising twats all over again except this time it's the old timers.

Let's reset the fucking clocks shall we:

+1

+1 Super Ted's advertising strategy in action :{)

Charge bike = ford mondeo

+1
fiesta/ka/astra etc. :{)

Given the cost of manufacturing in this country you can't blame them.

I understand the wide issues with getting designs manufactured in the UK, and why no large output bike company does it.

That's precisely why I think it's important to recognise the builders that are left, and not roll them in with the mass produced stuff and vice versa.

Bit of apples to apples needed here, the Genesis is a geared bike isn't it?

Still also seems to be some thinking that heavier tubes are by default stronger whereas in reality cheaper/heavier tubing will have a lower strength.

there is geared, single speed and fixed version of genesis if we are talking about "flyer" model... it made by ridgeback...
"What started out as one model in the Ridgeback range is now a fully fledged brand. Ridgeback forged its reputation making mountain bike-inspired, flat bar road bikes under the Genesis name. That was five years ago, and in 2006 the Genesis model transformed into a proper brand."

my bike and any bike i will ride in the future ever is nicer than any of yours. there i said it.

mick: i quite like that.