Best Cheap and new single speed bike

My friend is thinking about this http://www.evanscycles.com/products/se/draft-lite-2009-single-speed-road-bike-ec018020

There has got to be something better? Or should I just tell him to get a unipack!

Please no "just spend an extra £100 etc"

Cheers,

Emil

Emil. Tell "your friend" to head out for a test ride. If thats all they can afford - and they like the way it rides, who gives a rats ass? Its all about A - B.

Please use the search to locate the thread containing the words 'OTP list' (stands for off the peg). There's good comparitive info about complete bikes and you're welcome to ask questions about them there, rather than starting another OTP thread.
Cheers

EDIT: here's the thread.

Find an abandoned 531 track bike in a skip,
Build your his own wheels from a pair of mint Phil hubs from ebay for a tenner,
Beg for some other bits in the classifieds,

Cheap singlespeed bike is yours for £18.

Todays optimist award goes to Villa-Ru.

Build your his own wheels from a pair of mint Phil hubs from ebay for a tenner.

ha, ha

My friend is thinking about this http://www.evanscycles.com/products/se/draft-lite-2009-single-speed-road-bike-ec018020

Wow that chainset looks bad.

http://biddlebikes.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=162
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=13607
http://www.parker-international.co.uk/1823/Miche-Fixed-Sprocket.html
http://sports.shop.ebay.co.uk/items/Cycling__brake-lever_W0QQComponentQ2520TypeZBrakeQ2520ComponentsQQComponentQ2520SubQ252DTypeZBrakeQ2520LeversQQ_catrefZ1QQ_dmptZUKQ5fsportsleisureQ5fcyclingQ5fbikepartsQ5fSRQQ_flnZ1QQ_sacatZ7294QQ_ssovZ1QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em282

If your friend has a fixed budget (excuse the pun), then it may be worth looking for a 2nd hand bike - some come up on ebay which had very little use.

But either way, go and look at the bike before buying it. Up close it may not look such a good deal...

My friend is thinking about this http://www.evanscycles.com/products/se/draft-lite-2009-single-speed-road-bike-ec018020

There has got to be something better? Or should I just tell him to get a unipack!

Please no "just spend an extra £100 etc"

Cheers,

Emil

the draft lite is a bit of a dog, being hi-tensile steel. better off with a nearly new langster or fuji track for that kind of dollar

Thanks Skully: http://www.londonfgss.com/thread9085.html

VB can we bring back the SINK function please?

Emil. Tell "your friend" to head out for a test ride. If thats all they can afford - and they like the way it rides, who gives a rats ass? Its all about A - B.

Lol, yep I'm really tempted to swap my Dolan fixed for this evans bike. What do you reckon?

I'm actually considering building up my old peugeout carbolite frame for him, though it would be my first build, and I'm worried about lack of tools: for cranks, etc. I was planning to build them up gradually!

Your Dolan is almost certainly better than an SE lager.

always good stuff on ebay...

Your Dolan is almost certainly better than an SE lager.

Ok, maybe I should trade in my mercian then

When will the killing commence? I'm gettin' twitchy...

Lol, yep I'm really tempted to swap my Dolan fixed for this evans bike. What do you reckon?

I'm actually considering building up my old peugeout carbolite frame for him, though it would be my first build, and I'm worried about lack of tools: for cranks, etc. I was planning to build them up gradually!

If its your first build just get the BB, cranks and headset installed, and the rest is pretty easy/difficult to mess up, if you're really unsure i'm sure there are plenty of people on here that would be more than happy to help out, i'd be more than happy to lend a hand, oversee the build if you want.

If its your first build just get the BB, cranks and headset installed, and the rest is pretty easy/difficult to mess up, if you're really unsure i'm sure there are plenty of people on here that would be more than happy to help out, i'd be more than happy to lend a hand, oversee the build if you want.

Cheers for the offer, if I build it, I will be taking you up on it! I guess the labour to do what you mention would be about £30 or so.

Might be closer to the £50 mark I reckon depending on who you go to, the reason I would recommend doing those two things professionally (especially the bottom bracket) is that they both require specialist tools that aren't cheap,
(good quality torque wrenches for use on BB's to apply the correct amount of torque are big bucks!), and not so much with a headset, but with a BB there is a possibility if you don't know what you're doing (and over tighten the cups for instance) to fuck the threads in the shell, and subsequently ruin the frame, I would rather leave that kinda responsibility down to a shop, who would then have to replace it if this happened, whereas if you mess it up yourself, you're pretty much screwed.
Headsets are really easy to install, but a proper press to install it with is not cheap, if you can borrow a decent press off of someone, and look up how to ream and face a headtube (if you need to), then by all means do it yourself or lend the tool to a mate etc who's done it before and its a straightforward job, but if not then a shop can do it pretty quickly for you.

CJ, torque wrenches aren't that expensive. I now have the sockets to go with mine so if any sluts out west need a torquing to.. bring ya bikes over..

Well they're not exactly cheap compared to the labour costs of getting it installed professionally, from what I remember you're talking £40-50 plus for a decent torque wrench, then whatever it costs for the specific socket for your BB cup.
Awesome of you to offer the use of yours though dude! Thinking about it, I think my flat mate has one as well! can't believe I forgot!

If it happens to be the right size, what about the SE that spaghettihoops (IIRC) is selling at present? £300 for much better wheels and crankset and a spare fork thrown in. Failing that, S/H Fuji.

I didn't think they were that much but I got them as a gift anyway so no biggie. I just paid 70 squid for the most over-the-top collection of sockets ever.. fuckit.. at least I'll fail to have the right size. :)

As posted by Edscoble on another thread, how about this??

For £250 you can get a Carrera Subway Zero, which despite coming from Halfraud, seemed like a pretty good starter (and it's alu);

http://www.halfordspressoffice.com/C...2&NewsAreaID=2