A newbie seeks help...

Hi all,

I'm am new to the forum and looking to make a graceful entry into the fixer world. I have a lovely Condor to ride at weekends, but get scared thrashing it through a commute. I am therefore resolved to fix me a fixer to do the job. I have a really beautiful Mercian frame to convert (not too dissimilar to this: http://www.merciancycles.com/frame_audax.asp ). There is not a lot of room to play with on the dropouts (ENO hubs solve the problem?) and would need everything overhauling. I think I could get the very helpful bloke at Kiwi cycles to do the lot for about £600. Would you do this or go to the market place and bag an off the peg number? If so what? - I am thinking perhps a charge plug / Genisi flyer / Kona paddy wagon. Any advice really appreciated.

Cheers
Joe

Using a half-link is cheaper option than ENO hub if dropouts were an issue.
Do you know the dropout spacing (width)?

That is going to be your run around! Wow.

From the photo I would say there is plenty of room on the drop outs. 600 quid sounds like a a lot of money to me but I don't know what spec you are planning on. Bear in mind a bike from mercian is prob more stealable than a bike with Condor. IMO. Any of those other bikes would be fine. Try them out at a shop and see if you like them.

I have an off-the-shelf Langster and a Gillott classic steel-framed conversion that I built myself. I get WAY more satisfaction from the the Gillott, because, well, it's a classic steel-framed conversion that I built myself. No-brainer, really. Build up the Mercian, and avoid the excellent, convenient but slightly soulless OTP bikes.

And I hate to take trade away from Kiwi, but one of the many great things about fg/ss bikes is that they are simple, so build it yourself. You might want to get the wheels built by someone else, but after that, it's just straightforward assembly. You might need to buy a few tools, but then you have them for ever, and a £600 budget for parts alone will get you a really, really sweet bike. As for which parts to pick, all the advice you could ever need is in previous threads on here.

The whole build process is even better than riding. I'm jealous.

I would say build as well but I guessed Joe.S was not interested in building himself as he had got a quote from kiwi. DIY is better though. Bikes are simple.

ive only been riding for about 6 months and with little help have constructed a classic steel framed ss racer its pretty simple

Tommy, It's not that I'm not interested, it is more to do with a paucity of practical ability! Sorry hippy, couldn't tell you width off hand. Hadn't thought too much about stealability, bike is inside at work. What I want is to be able to crash about in traffic and be confident in the bike bouncing about with no complaints...

Ouch. Go slower, skip the crashing, use the Condor as fixed, make the Mercian into the beautiful geared machine that it was designed to be.

"Tommy, It's not that I'm not interested, it is more to do with a paucity of practical ability! "

We can sort that one out for you;)

paul will be able to sort you out with a way cheaper conversion for £300-400. keep the mercian for something else, unless it's totally trashed.

if the Condor is fixed and you like it commute on it and clean it. i would fix the Mercian too so you can mix it up a bit.

oh, and welcome to the forum dude

build it up yourself. It's more fun and you can customise it to your exact specification. I love the fact that out of the 6 billion people in the world no one else is likely to have the name bike(s) as me.

i assume yours is a prototype

Kipsy / Jonny, I'n not prepared to make my new '08 condor squadra into a fixer just yet, have a few miles to ride before then! Merc is what I have just replaced ergo, a strip and convert seemed the best idea. In the quote from Kiwi, the wheels were the things pushing the cost up as I was under the impression that unless you have rear facing dropouts then the there isn't much scope for getting good chain tension - not the case? Hippy says half link instead...

fair enough joe, get that mercian out there then and be sure to post to the names and faces to bikes thread when she is ready. all the best

Joe.S Kipsy / Jonny, I'n not prepared to make my new '08 condor squadra into a fixer just yet, have a few miles to ride before then! Merc is what I have just replaced ergo, a strip and convert seemed the best idea. In the quote from Kiwi, the wheels were the things pushing the cost up as I was under the impression that unless you have rear facing dropouts then the there isn't much scope for getting good chain tension - not the case? Hippy says half link instead...

You don't need rear facing drop out but you do need horizontal or semi horizontal drop outs. The picture you posted had a frame with horizontal dropouts.

See http://www.sheldonbrown.com/singlespeed.html and scole down to pictures of dropouts

semi not ideal but exceptable
hortizontal fine
trackends best

Vertical not possible with out expensive hub.

Cheers Tommy, if I ever get home from work tonight I'll have a look and see what the deal is.