Leader 725 black

In the process of building the 725 together. but atm it is coming to a standing holt. until my shimano BB arrives :( But knowing it wont be coming any time soon since its xmas :( :(

the original bb was a tifosi bb, and i never knew it was for compagnolo cranks, but i insisted to put on my strong light 48t cranks. As its for a compagnolo fit, when my stronglight cranks are partially fitted, they hit the frame already. so ordered a new bb and hopefully get that sorted.

anyone have opinions on 48/14 gear ratio ? planning to put that onto the 725.

it weighs 7kg without the cranks, pedal and chain. quite light id like to say for a general use bike.

heres some pics ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/hy_cupcakes/

14/48 is a big gear for rolling around

48/14 is way too heavy for street, 17 or 18

i use 48/17 which is ok for me. maybe a 18 in the future

hmmm really ??? but i would like to cruise at quite a high speed without pedaling so quick. i used to run at 44/16 and thought that was too much pedaling to maintain a good speed.
would accelerating be a myth for me LOL ?

it depends where you're riding. but IMO you need it at small enough size to set off easy enough from lights and get up hills. if you want to go faster, pedal faster. that's the idea.

44/16 is 70gi, 48/14 is 90gi

huge jump

Search for fixed gear ratio in google (or your other favoured search engine) and you'll find a gi chart and you can see for yourself the jump! People wouldn't be offering good advice on the forum if they told you that 48/14 is cool for the London streets but as always, back in the real world its up to you.

I've been using a Leader 725 for the last few months and it shipped with 46/16. You can get around town with no problems but I'm looking to switch to 46/17 or 18. As others have said 48/17 is not a bad starting point but I wouldn't go more crazy than 48/16 as a starting point. It's all personal choice though...

48/14 is - in my humble opinion - a bit of a mental gear for the street.

It's bigger than I ride on the track a lot of the time.

My 725 came with 48/15 ratio from a guy who rode it on the track. I rode the gearing for a while but found the acceleration was lacking but top speed good, changed to 48/16 which was better for street and all round flat, then dropped to 48/17 as my commute changed and encountered some hills (sydenham hill area) and found it to be good for both hills and flat.

That bike looks like its not going to get a brake.

As such, I would strongly recommend not riding 48-14. You'll either have to ride slowly all the time or you will utterly destroy your knees.

If you want to cruise around at high speed without pedalling quickly, have you considered buying a bike with gears? :-)

And, not to sound like a dick, but the chain, cranks and pedals are probably the 3 heaviest components, save for the frame and wheels. Ok, I sound like a dick. Oh well.

Also, if nothing else, 48-14 only gives you 7 skid patches on your tyre. 48-17 is a closer ratio to what you used to ride, gives you more skid patches, and will fuck your knees up slightly less.

cliches cliches cliches

agree about both of the things with regards to the chain cranks and pedals thing though

yup, i taken all your views, and tried the 48/14 and its really not ridable, so as i have a 16t sprocket ill be putting that on. but dont have a lockwhip tool, anyone have any i could borrow for a few minutes ??? but 48/16 only has one skid patch aswel :(
and after the build, it weighs 8.7kg, not too bad i guess.

andy ellis sells them for cheaps, he's andypancakes on the forum

some new pics added. and andy hasnt replied to my pm, not sure if hes selling them anymore :(

I rod 53-15 ok the street for 3 weeks, not nice.
Now on 53-18 and thinking of going up to 19 or 20.

Not bad for a leader!

Leader? Thought it was a 14r....

Not bad for a leader!

haha why does no one rate leader frames :/

still havent been able to track down a lockwhip tool, so still running the 48/14. will be taking the wheel to tokyo fixed tomorrow see if they can just tighten the lockring of the 16t for me :)

call him instead of PMing, his number is mentioned by him in his thread

haha why does no one rate leader frames :/

still havent been able to track down a lockwhip tool, so still running the 48/14. will be taking the wheel to tokyo fixed tomorrow see if they can just tighten the lockring of the 16t for me :)

get a tool from them while you are there. for fixed gear riding you really need a chainwhip and lockring tool.

http://www.tokyofixedgear.com/products/61-Tools/3765-Fixed-Gear-London---LockWhip-V2/

job's a good 'un

..but if you get one from the man himself, you will support him more directly:)

haha why does no one rate leader frames :/

still havent been able to track down a lockwhip tool, so still running the 48/14. will be taking the wheel to tokyo fixed tomorrow see if they can just tighten the lockring of the 16t for me :)

No one rates leader frames for a few reasons: Clearances and geo, manufacture and quality control and customer service but if you're happy with your frame don't let anyone change that.