A Bicycle nightmare

So I bought a bike from a respected builder I thought, it turned into one hell of an adventure: both dangerous, disappointing, frustrating, yet also educational.

The story begins after I sold my road bike and finally settled on a fixed gear that I liked, it arrived and looked the dogs bollocks, ah how appearances can be deceptive! (note unipack)

The seller had suggested making the bike "stealth", I agreed

Due to new components being ordered the bike did not arrive with a chainring, and I was told this would be "no problem", and the seller sent me a link from where to buy one. (I actually bought it as a favour as he said he had spent extra on the cranks)

When putting it together, for some reason the chain would not stay on for love or money, I tensed it so much that it finally did, however I knew something was wrong.

I took it to my local LBS, they couldnt believe how tight it was, and realised that the chainline was nearly an inch out!! (I have pics) They spent ages trying to fix it, had to get a new BB specially ordered, and shedloads of spacers/filing, MTB cranks dont work well on some bikes.(now on KhorKnight's polo bike)

The seller only agreed to pay for the BB, not the work. Not sure how as a novice I was to fix a BB? (he did offer my money back, I should have listened!)

However the LBS also said the chainring was dangerous, LFGSS community laughed at me when I asked, I listened to collective wisdom, and this is what happened: http://www.londonfgss.com/thread22240.html
I like it when my chainring melts on Shaftesbury avenue.

After that I bought proper track cranks, job done, problems over, so I thought.

Riding home my chain snaps by Mi6, clearly a piece of cr*p or the abuse of being on a bad chainline shafted it. A new chain improved my life so much.

That wasn't it.

Then the wheels: the lockring went after it had been tightened by my LBS (it had orignially been sold loose),
This is what happened even after tightening http://www.londonfgss.com/thread24287.html#post799419

I showed it to JD who saw the tiny amount of thread on there, not suitable for commuting & weak he said, unipack was the suggestion, the front wheel was a 16 spoke road one.

To add insult to injury, the spoke went on the front on my ride back from JD and the front wheel got mashed, it was a nice walk carrying my bike.

(I shifted these as SS/pub bike wheels and explained their history)

All in all a learning curve. chainline, BB, chainring, cranks,chain, wheels. All fun and within a couple of months!

For the seller who may not be a bad guy, but hasnt replied to my last few messages about the BB and refunding the money for it (I did call him a douchebag)

1) Dont sell bikes you have half built and which have no way of being built up right
2) Dont put cheap sh*t unipack components on bikes, if you do, tell people they are cheap sh*t unipack components.
3) Apologise properly if you have f*cked up

To noobs buying

1) all that shines is not gold
2) components are important
3) test it first, do your research

On a positive note, I have now rebuilt my bike to my specs (only the brake calipers, headset & frame remain from the original!) I have also learnt a lot, got some good banter/abuse, and met lots of forumers.