Charge Plug

plugs have relatively heavy frames compared to most otp's. as mentioned this is because of the tubing used. however it is feckin strong. (30mph crash into the side of a car and not the smallest bend - hardcorehillbilly)
most of the parts are mehh. tyres, hubs (on the basic plug), stem, seatpost, wideassed bullhorns, pedals. If they sold the frame set by itself i think they would shift quite alot. imo its a nice simple frame that has a relaxed geometry (which is probably becoming more popular with tricksters)
its probably a bit overpriced now but pre credit crunch before materials went up it was worth it. as a first bike its great.

anyway, what does it matter if u ride a plug or a bobjackson with full njs. it doesnt make you anybetter of a rider. hillbilly rides one and hes a pacey mofo who knows his shit (although this point is debatable ha!) i guess what im trying to say is that obviously theres nothing wrong with disliking it for whatever reason, but most people probably just slate it because they have heard other people chatting about what thier mate said it was like when they took it on a 5 min test ride. rant over

Guys, not all of us have time to chase second hand component after second hand component to build an "interesting" bike. For most of us, it is about having something that you can ride, brakeless or not, and enjoy. So as long as it doesn t fail, it does the trick. And if the color scheme appeals to pedestrians on King's Road, all the better, they ll come to the beauty of your painstakingly reconstructed vintage parts track frame eventually...

The Plug is indeed a decent bike for the money (actually, was, didn't realise how expensive it is now!), the standard Plug especially, it got what it take for everyday riding, comfortable saddle, enough clearance for big tyres, solid frame, bullhorn for bar position (especially riding on the hood), the only letdown is simply the tyres which isn't exactly the best.

as for weight, meh, for a singlespeed bike at that price range it's heavy, but compare to OTP road bicycles of similar price, it's light for a heavy steel frame.

*Specialized Langster come to mind, weighting only 18lbs and cheaper too.

**Genesis Day01 for instance about £550, even with an alu frame and carbon fork, it's 22lbs, same weight as the Plug.

Guys, not all of us have time to chase second hand component after second hand component to build an "interesting" bike. For most of us, it is about having something that you can ride, brakeless or not, and enjoy. So as long as it doesn t fail, it does the trick. And if the color scheme appeals to pedestrians on King's Road, all the better, they ll come to the beauty of your painstakingly reconstructed vintage parts track frame eventually...

i agree with what you're saying to an extent, with the convenience thing, i just don't think otp's are really worth so many threads. as for 'painstakingly reconstructed track frame', I wish, I don't ride anything special or pretty, I just like messing around with the set up and stuff...

What chain is that?

*Specialized Langster come to mind, weighting only 18lbs and cheaper too.

**Genesis Day01 for instance about £550, even with an alu frame and carbon fork, it's 22lbs, same weight as the Plug.

Bit of apples to apples needed here, the Genesis is a geared bike isn't it?

Still also seems to be some thinking that heavier tubes are by default stronger whereas in reality cheaper/heavier tubing will have a lower strength.

Ok, it works. I get it. The Wheels go around when you push the pedals, and if your so inclined you can even do "tricks" on them

But why would you want to harp on about how great they are? They aren't great. They just do the job.

Yeah, most bikes do the job beautifully for tricks:

Bit of apples to apples needed here, the Genesis is a geared bike isn't it?

Still also seems to be some thinking that heavier tubes are by default stronger whereas in reality cheaper/heavier tubing will have a lower strength.

yes, the genesis is a geared bike, the point I was making is that even the cheapest geared road bike is going to be as heavy, or even heavier than a Plug, so for a first timer, the Plug seemed to be reasonably light, I remember lifting one and thinking "actually it's quite light" after years of riding MTB.

point is, a lots of people whose previous bike was an MTB/cheap geared road bike will find the Plug to be reasonably light (that is, until they held a Langster!).

The original plug was a decent workhorse/entry level bike.

But colouring it like sick and attaching the word 'freestyle' then bumping the price up is when Charge lost their way. This is what made them the new langster.

It is not a super awesome freestyle bike, if it was why does it have such a high top tube?
I would choose langster over the plug if I wanted to do tricks.

i love mine its sick

I hope it gets better

It just looks like a Unicack

It's just a model name. Freestyler means fuck all except for the fact it has risers instead of drops. That's it. The extra price isn't just for the paint. The wheels for example. Besides the red is amazing. I have less to say about the wheels but beats a lot out there.

Who the fuck said it was a super awesome freestyle bike anyways?
Charge didn't.
The owner didn't.
...

I do like the look of that prototype Super Ted is riding around on though, and that is designed for "freestyle"

Personnally I'd prefer my money to go toward a small British bike company that simply line the pockets of huge American ones like Specialized and Giant. And yes the 'freestyler' tag doesn't mean much, and yes they probably are trying to cash in on fashion but what about the numerous Langster special editions? What about the fact bike companies change a couple of parts, tweak the Geometry, re-paint it and call it an '09 or '10 bike, usually in the middle of the year. It's marketing, its creating points of difference. What were Charge going to do, leave the Plug blue with bullhorns and let sales stagnate? No, they found themselves with a product that was selling, and issued other versions of it, with different colours and different bars. Hardly crime of the century.

I've had Oranges, DMRs, Planet Xs and Charges, and when it comes to the next build I'll buy British again, for my planned fixed from a British frame-builder in this case

British company & design... not frame builder.

Props though for supporting a fairly new, small and different UK company.

I do like the look of that prototype Super Ted is riding around on though, and that is designed for "freestyle"

The Charge Scissor right? it look great, as well as the Charge version of the Turbo saddle.

even with the awful freestyler bike, Charge seemed to be going the right way.

Purposely trying to keep mine as shitty looking as possible, bloody great bike for 200 notes though (track day bikes also pictured)

Had they not run out of the Charge Plug last year, I wouldn't have gotten a Bianchi Pista.

Nice ride, same price as the Plug. Give it an Italian name and it's suddenly a much classier affair...

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/bianchi/pista-steel-2008-road-bike-ec000032

You mention 'utilitarian considerations' like it ain't all that. I guess with that you'd include unimportant things... like how it goes, stops, rides, handles and if it's suitable for it's intended purpose?

;-)

Errrrrr those are the 'considerations' I was refrring to I thought but Perhaps hadn't made myslef clear..doh!

The Charge Scissor right? it look great, as well as the Charge version of the Turbo saddle.

even with the awful freestyler bike, Charge seemed to be going the right way.

^Anti-porn

come ed andy lad that deffo isnt anti

eh I never said it's anti!