Wanted: Frame and forks

Hello, I need some help!!

I am really big into bikes, mainly off road - DH is my sin. The last few months I have had a real desire for a single speed, THEN I stumbled across this thing called a fixie and I was like "that is a road bike but it looks cool, hang on, no brakes, cool paint jobs, wicked following - im in!!"

I like the idea of an extreme road bike!!

Now this is where I need your help.

I ain't a particually big guy, 5" 10, first question is what frame size do I need? Someone I work with recons a 20 inch / 50 cm BB to TT but these seem to be fairly scarce.

Looking as a reference, Charges Plug SS road bike in small is a 56 cm so I am a bit unsure.

Also does anyone have a frame in the right size for sale? I've got around £100 to spend on either a good frame or an OK frame and forks.

Cheers

LA

I'm 5'10" and ride 54-56cm frames.
Fit brakes.

Thanks, hopefully widens my search!!

Yeah i would start off by fitting at least a front brake otherwse you'll just end up with you head through a car window!

5'10", you'll be fine as per whar hippy said... a 50, blimey, that's for the girls :)

Cheers, I certainly wouldn't want a girls bike, hehe!!

im going to have to echo the other guys comments......get brakes! a dead body is not cool(maybe warm)

Hey Jackass! Alloy frame /carbon forks. Guy had advertised it before so haggle? 56cm with semi-sloping toptube.
Frame originally cost 160, forks 80, seller has listed frame, forks, headset for 130 posted.
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/read.php?f=5&i=602840&t=602840

Charge's measurements are to the top of the seat tube - I've got a medium which is actually 56cm c-c. I'm 5'11 and it fits me perfectly.

Yea just landed myself a vintage 21" frame of ebay for 16 quid! Comes with forks, headset and seat pin!

Needs a respary which is fine as I can sort that, hopefully build up with some cool parts.

Now to pick a colour, if anyone is interested I am happy to document my progress??

LA

Oh mate, you made an absolute error. you can pick up London Langsters for not much over £400 now.

£400, wow I wished I known that before!!

[edit] - drunk

fc9k Oh mate, you made an absolute error. you can pick up London Langsters for not much over £400 now.

london langster? puh-lease

Personally I think you made a good decision, building up a vintage frame is nicer. You can personalize it so it becomes truly yours. And you can spend hours and hours googling / ebaying / reading here for parts (ask my gf, she knows....)

Thanks, I think so too. It's all part of it really. We can all buy off the shelf bikes and ride them but having a bike that you've built from scratch and is totally unique is awesome.
I love tinkering, think the wifes lucky our garage doesn't have electric / lights otherwise i'd always be out there ;-).
I had an old Pashley 24mhz which I restored, was great fun striping it down, getting resprayed and even Pashley were happy to help, quick phonecall with the frame serial number and a free set of replacement frame stickers arrived a week later!

Can't wait to get this started now, hope the guy posts it quick....

i think he was joking about the London langster...........unless 'london langster' is used in a negative sentence its a piss take.

oh whatever. does your vintage frame have a fricken tube map on? And I can still spend plenty of time googling for parts, you know how damn hard it is to get hold of pink aerospokes?!

£16 quid is cheap as chips, how old is the frame? I'd check the dropout spacing (120-130mm are easy to get hubs for, less than 120 limits your choices fairly severely), and more importantly the seatpost size. There's a chance it might be some stupid size. I guess it doesn't matter if the supplied seatpin is any good though...

and any frame on ebay below £20 you really need to make sure it's not got french threading for bottom bracket...

but the hours you spend trying to get the damn thing out are so enjoyable.

Got the frame and everything is fine, english BB, 1 inch headset, it's got a 26.6 or something similar seat post but can either shim it down to a BMX size or just use the post that came with it.

If anyone is interested, I have created a blog which I will update with my progress...

http://westcountrybikerider.blogspot.com/

If you have the time the build is worth it. Not too sure about carbon forks on a vintage frame mind you but that is personal.

those forks are horribile, i will do you the favour and pay the postage for you to send them to me in the us for proper disposal.

Well the carbon forks might not last, I have also done something rather daft, stupid me forgot to measure the headtube before buying the forks - doh! Headtube = 130mm Fork steerer = 175mm, hmm 45mm for headstem and stem, don't think that's gonna work!

Anyone wants some carbon forks, 1 inch steerer non threaded, £40 plus postage

Was hoping to pick the frame up tonight but the car failed its MOT (stupid rear fog light) so will have to be in the morning now!

£40 quid, sanded blasted frame and forks, powder coated, all done from Tuesday morning to Thursday night, not bad!! The guy does all of Curtis MTB's so he knows what he's doing too.

frame looks like a carlton, and i agree, that fork is going to look bad with that frame, the original forks maybe?

Original forks maybe, personally I prefer straighter forks and the orginial ones have a strong curve at the bottom, personal preference I know, I want riser bars and give it a more freestyle look than retro though.