Charge Plug

It was from edinburgh bikes and my work has an account set up with them for Bike to work scheme. I got a surly steamroller complete from them for less than the charge was anyway, which i'm now selling the frameset of to get something more british haha!

anyone got a plug/free styler for sale?

I have just bought some Major Taylors from these guys

For my Cutter :)

there is a set on ebay now.

Can you even get those bars separate from the whole bike?

Hey, if anyone wants a set, I think I'll have some in a few days...

Rode the Plug Freestyler tonight. It is schweee-eeet. But it's f'ugly. It's so f'ugly, it's almost "pengy". But compared to the crap that's been between my legs lately**, it was like an orgasm with spokes.

And the racer is really nice with the white and chrome, so I want that. I hated the ride with the drop bars though, so I'm just going to change them for straights. Leaving me one old-skool set of drops surplus to needs...

**No, not you honey.

sell it to me?

I keep seeing a bloke on one of these charge mugs, riding on the drop part of those bars.
Looks really wrong and uncomfortable IMO, looks like he's pushing a wheelbarrow.

whoever thought that bar, grip and brake combo was a good idea needs to learn a bit more about cycling, and a bit less about fashion.

although compared to all the idiots riding with their hands on the stem by their knees on the low pro with the way-too-high saddle, it's an improvement on the hipster bike-fit shambles.

I'm with Ed, if anyone has a spare set of Plug Racer bars in good condition I'll buy them.

anyone got a plug/free styler for sale?

Search Charge on this forum, i think there are a couple for sale.

In terms of Charge Plug's in general; i bought a racer a few weeks ago. It's my 4th fixed gear bike, and my first OTP. I absolutely fucking love it! Can't recommend one more. I did change the bars, stem, brake, lever, and pedals as soon as i got it. But everything else remains stock.
The geometry is great for around town, plus nice for tricks. Although i was surprised at the weight (much heavier than my Mercian, though that was to be expected), it took me all of 3 minutes to get used to it. Also, IMO the extra weight is balanced out by the fact that the bike is indestructible!
The only thing that i'm not keen on, is the fact that other fixengers look at me like i'm a novice whose just jumped on a band waggon and bought a Charge (which to some extent i am, i just jumped on the bandwagon a lot earlier than a lot/most of them). This is not so much a problem with the bike, but rather with me. I just want everybody to respect how cool i am!! :)

My mate (who came into his inheritance the other day and was feeling flush) went straight out and bought a Langster. So he has a similar set of reduntant bars going spare too. We both did identical things to our bikes and ripped the drops off, sticking straights on, for a more upright riding position and better traffic handling.

Anyone interested, or they not so cool as the Charge bars?

you can try and sell it in the classified section mate, worth a few bobs.

Absolutely love those bars, they'd look great on a nice retro town bike, in fact if you took a Plug Racer, swapped the fork for a lugged threaded one, quill stem and paint it balck or cream with Brooks seat + tape you'd make quite a nice bike out of it without spending an arm and a leg! Maybe a rim swap would be in order also...

not possible to have a quill stem on it, since it's an 1 1/8 steerer, and it got an intergrated headset (I think).

you can use those Nitto stem thought to keep it's classic appearance;

RIGHT..!!!

I decided that as the base plug has non-sealed bearings and someone at SE beers told me that a couple of months of winter riding had built up loads of junky shit etc. I decided either the Freestyler or the racer with their sealed bearings are where it's at.

So I rode the Freestyler. And fuck me, it was SEX. Not just grunty and sweaty, I mean the kind that you get after a few weeks with someone, when all the bumps and the grinds are in just the right places and you both move together beautifully and stylishly. Seriously, I almost did a sex-wee in the middle of Tooley Street.

BUT...

It has shitty messenger-style bars and brake levers that are a mile from my fingers - probably so you don't twat knuckles when you do tricks and stuff. So despite it riding like a dream, I was going to have to change some stuff anyway and I seriously couldn't handle the narsty snot-rims.

So I tried the racer and HATED the splayed drop bars. But it's shiny and chrome and silvery and lovely. So I just changed the bars and bought white grips and it looks classy but quite punchy at the same time. Bars are too wide and probably need a little trim with the old hacksaw, but it gives me control and a fatter road-presence, so I'm growing to like them.

Charge Plug = deep joy + happy Tim.

I've got a plug freestyler! And apart from being abit pissed that when it turned up it had some shitty type offset under the plug sign...Its a nice bike. I never really wanted to build a bike (what for when you can buy one?) but now i've got the bug and now want to change stuff on my bike.

I think no matter what bike you ride, you feel tight eyed when someone pulls up next to you on the same bike? We all want to be one-offs but then again we also have to start somewhere. Lets just stick together rather than spliting into builders and riders? Afterall we are disliked as it is... :P

it is a freestyler after all, I've been seeing several people on the same bike everyday, my recommendation? forget about the other and just enjoy riding your bike!

fuck off if you dont like plugs sick of all the wank on here about dissing otps
ive had one and ive got a self build i had for two years
i bout a plug cus i wanted see what that shit was like and dont tell me
that its ok for newbies or people who dont know shit about bikes
its just fucken pretencious bollox
when half of the haters epnd most of their time on here chatting geek shite rather than
out riding
.

I can't tell you how much I love this. I want to get it on the back of a t-shirt. On the front what I want is:

"If you can read this then you're a cunt"

then underneath:

"yes, you. Cunty."

then a picture of a charge plug...

wearing a bowler hat.

i come from many years of riding BMX, but i wanted to get a bike to mess about on and get me to work and back. i know loads about BMX but dont know shit about anything else so just wanted an OTP. i fucking hate gears so wanted a single speed and coming from BMX i appreciated the beauty of simple, uncluttered lines on a bike.
so after taking a few out for a test ride - normal plug, freestyler, SE something, steamroller - i went for the freestyler because a) it felt fucking great & b) straight out the box its pretty much set up as i want it.
all i did was change the shitty WTP grips to some longnecks and add some Iron Maiden stickers and thats it, job done.
ok, so i fucking hate the stupid green rims - but thats just cosmetic and nothing that cant be sorted with the use of a permanent marker - i love my bike, and it rides absolutely brilliantly. and i LOVE the bars.
i came from sitting on my arse on a train everyday to now doing the daily 20ish mile round trip commute, and that cant be a bad thing.

RIGHT..!!!

I decided that as the base plug has non-sealed bearings and someone at SE beers told me that a couple of months of winter riding had built up loads of junky shit etc. I decided either the Freestyler or the racer with their sealed bearings are where it's at.

So I rode the Freestyler. And fuck me, it was SEX. Not just grunty and sweaty, I mean the kind that you get after a few weeks with someone, when all the bumps and the grinds are in just the right places and you both move together beautifully and stylishly. Seriously, I almost did a sex-wee in the middle of Tooley Street.

BUT...

It has shitty messenger-style bars and brake levers that are a mile from my fingers - probably so you don't twat knuckles when you do tricks and stuff. So despite it riding like a dream, I was going to have to change some stuff anyway and I seriously couldn't handle the narsty snot-rims.

So I tried the racer and HATED the splayed drop bars. But it's shiny and chrome and silvery and lovely. So I just changed the bars and bought white grips and it looks classy but quite punchy at the same time. Bars are too wide and probably need a little trim with the old hacksaw, but it gives me control and a fatter road-presence, so I'm growing to like them.

Charge Plug = deep joy + happy Tim.

Mate, I saw you on Commercial Road in the Shoreditch area yesterday. Your bike looks wicked. I was on my blue "ford mondeo" plug. I am getting a bit narked seeing 2/3 identical bikes a day! I am planning to put some White wheels on, maybe a white chain too. Maybe even a white saddle and bars... Make it a bit different.

I locked it to one of those 'sandpaper lampposts' on Oxford street yesterday and came back and some cunt had obviously pushed it I'd knocked it and there are some massive scratches on the top tube. Might even get it resprayed/painted. How much would that cost??

Mate, I saw you on Commercial Road in the Shoreditch area yesterday. Your bike looks wicked. I was on my blue "ford mondeo" plug. I am getting a bit narked seeing 2/3 identical bikes a day! I am planning to put some White wheels on, maybe a white chain too. Maybe even a white saddle and bars... Make it a bit different.

I locked it to one of those 'sandpaper lampposts' on Oxford street yesterday and came back and some cunt had obviously pushed it I'd knocked it and there are some massive scratches on the top tube. Might even get it resprayed/painted. How much would that cost??

Not me mate!! ;-) I think that might be Dammit's bike - think his is a Plug racer with straights on. I actually wanted chromed bars with it but you don't seem to be able to get them off the shelf, so I'll either have to get some aluminium straights (which won't be as shiiiiiny!!) or drag a set of steel bars off an old bike and get them chromed. But that will be spenny and it's purely cosmetic, so I'm in no rush - still getting the feel of the bike for now. And getting my fitness up too. I got badly trousered going up through Greenwich Park last night!! Was tailing another single-speeder all through New Cross and Greenwich quite happily, hit the hill through the park and could only stay with him for the first third of the hill, was badly losing ground from there all the way to the top, where we went separate ways. And I don't think he was trying. I know... HTFU. I'm trying, ok!! ;-)

there are quite a handful of Plug out there with riser instead of drop nowadays!

there are quite a handful of Plug out there with riser instead of drop nowadays!

Just bought risers for my Mondeo :-)

Charge have missed a trick IMHO:

I ride a plug freestyler for my everyday rides..I just use it allot and it really does not get any compassion from me..untill now it has proven its stifness and strongness(or how do you say it)..so it's a bike where i can count on every minute of the ride..

one minor thing..the innertubes are rubbish..

you can try and sell it in the classified section mate, worth a few bobs.

Nah. Bob is cheap as chips. He did my missus for free the other night.

If anyone wants some of the racer bars mmcarthy has some he might be interested in a sale or trade.