14bikeco custom bike

I have come to a conclusion that £700(This is due to the fact that the pound has weaken significantly) is the bare minimum you need to build a **new **bike with new components by sourcing your gear from online retailers. This bike will have the absolutely cheapest bottom of the line generic recommended components. The cheapest decent track frame I found is the BLB frame(IRO?) coming in at £199, the IRO Mark V around ~£220 which is hard to come by. Then you have your standard formula/ambrosio/system kit and some rigida rims. And this is building it yourself. And NO this would not be a very nice bike, it would be a nice basic custom cheapo bike.

It is possible to build it cheaper by using 2nd hand gear, but it needs a lot of patients and time to constantly hunt down parts on ebay and various other places. Unless its a pet project or time is cheap for you, it may not be worth the time.

Looking at the BLB OTP bikes at £675 and Condor bikes certainly looks like a bargain. Maybe I can even buy these bikes break them down and sell the parts on ebay, it would be a profitable business.

Anyways, I still haven't gotten a bike. :(

I do wonder how responsible lfgss has been over the last couple of years in helping to create a situation where this kind of ill-informed calculation exists. I also wonder if this is a London thing. currency fluctuations and import craziness notwithstanding, it seems to be accepted wisdom round here that this kind of budget is required.

it is utterly ridiculous that you think £700 is the bare minimum you need for a 'not very nice, cheapo custom' bike. i feel sorry for you mugs who are desperately chucking nearly a grand at your first fixed bike (or your second or third), I really do, I've no idea whose hype you're listening to but stop rushing headlong into it and you may save youself a few (hundred) quid. Oh and when I say "nearly a grand" I mean "700 quid" so you do the math (s).

This current "fixie scene" was built as much off the back of people experimenting with colour, components, styles and builds as it was the mystical mechanics of the transmission. The hi-end bling was and remains only one approach to riding fixed gear bikes. What you have is a hi-end bling hyped mentality without realising it. In the next few weeks you will be seeing people's builds on here who have spent between £300 and £500 and they will piss on most of what's become the dull, predictable "east end fixie" aesthetic you see boring everyone to tears round Old Street. I know, cos I've been having tea round their gaffes and checking how their builds are coming along.

I don't know why I just don't care about this seeing as it's your loss not mine, but I just feel a massive part of what got people on here into riding fixed is getting lost with all the impatient prunes slinging G's here and there to ride fixed.

and lenk, I'm not saying "you" directly at you, I'm using your post to try and address the attitude you have, which is neither unique nor new.