Need some advice

I actually like the new Bowery.

[I][/I]OTP - lots of bike for not much money.

Thing is, you're going to start messing around with it and changing bits. You may think that you won't, but you will. It'll start with a pair of grips and end in a powder coat. Honestly. Think about that before you start spending.

Building a bike isn't so expensive and there's lots of people who are willing to help. Lots of tools to borrow, too.

Come to polo. It seems a little daunting to start with (I was bricking it the first time) but people are friendly and want to help. We're all bike nerds.

Have fun

OTP - lots of bike for not much money.

Thing is, you're going to start messing around with it and changing bits. You may think that you won't, but you will. It'll start with a pair of grips and end in a powder coat. Honestly. Think about that before you start spending.

Building a bike isn't so expensive and there's lots of people who are willing to help. Lots of tools to borrow, too.

Come to polo. It seems a little daunting to start with (I was bricking it the first time) but people are friendly and want to help. We're all bike nerds.

Have fun

Since there's offer for a Bowery for only £225, you'd still be under £400 if you managed to add some powdercoat, nitto bar, deep V, etc.

How does the Bowery compare to other OTP fixed gear bikes when it comes to Weight?

I want a light bike, was looking at the Charge Plug but heard it was quite a heavy bike.

Ed, you speak truth. I'm just highlighting the inevitable - you will want to mess with your bike.

Phix - Honestly, I don't know. Aluminium is light, but a harsh ride. Strong legs will outperform light bikes every day. The Plug is strong - check out what Superted gets up to on his.

I ride a steel Bianchi Pista, and I notice how much stiffer it is to normal steel road bike, surely the alu wouldn't felt that much different to steel due to the fact that track bike are design to be quite stiff? or is there's a logic that I don't understand yet to this?

The Charge Plug, while it's a heavy bike for it's kind, it's still a lots lighter than a mountain bike of the same price, even a £700 mountain bike cannot match the weight of the Charge Plug, so if it your first bike, you wouldn't really think it's heavy, in fact when I first ride it (my first ever test ride on a fixed gear bicycle was an Charge Plug from my local bike shop) I thought it was amazingly light compared to my Kona Smoke (rigid MTB).

Hmm. I don't know... I've only ever ridden steel bikes, but the 'Alu is stiffer' theory is what I've been told.

Condemning the Plug (and I'm not saying you did, just reflecting a common frame of mind) as 'heavy' is a little subjective – or is it objective, buggered if I know at this hour, but I'm sure you get my point. It's £400, it's great for the money and you'll have a lot of fun on it. Ditto the Pista. And maybe three or four other bikes.

I thought Steel bikes were meant to give a more responsive ride?

OTP - lots of bike for not much money.
Building a bike isn't so expensive and there's lots of people who are willing to help. Lots of tools to borrow, too.

Come to polo. It seems a little daunting to start with (I was bricking it the first time) but people are friendly and want to help. We're all bike nerds.

Bear in mind that s/he lives in Shropshire and can't just pop out to the Open Toolbox, socials or polo.

went from this to this

You swapped an Ikea Kitchen for a Bianchi Pista?

^and you've upgraded your "over-the-shoulder" satchel. Personally I prefer the yellow one..

Yeah I saw that, have you seen the new Bowery?

christ's fat cock. what in the name of fuck is that? is this a real bicycle or some kind of spasticated marketing concept? what's with the brooks saddle? oh my good lord. i think i'm going to blow chunks.

That's the proof. Reading books makes you fat. Look at him, he was just a mess reading left, right and centre, waking up covered in his own books not knowing what happened the night before. Now he is book free. And so can you.

books, bread and beer, no bike.

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

That Giant looks like an alien tyrant's attempt at a slave build based on his minions' post-earth-visit verbal report. aka a marketing spazout.

they're amusingly transparent, these otp "streetstyled" bikes. They are always limited by the marketing dept's urgings to appeal to as many people as possible - so they always end up as a mishmash of about seven elements noone building their own would put together.

It's like trying to market yourself as a trendy clothesline with a photo of a kid in an emo haircut, nu-rave dayglo, phat farm jeans and gold pointy shoes.

I thought Steel bikes were meant to give a more responsive ride?

As discussed on this forum (and many others) before, it's often a mistake to generalize about the ride characteristics of frame materials. It's as much about geometry, design, individual tubes used, and even tyre pressure.

I've ridden super noodley aluminium frames, and beat-you-up steel ones. 10psi out your tyres on an alu frame can give you a 'steely' spring, and a steel frame with an ovalized down tube and tight back end can give 'alu-ish' responsiveness.

If you had to generalize, and take example frames from imaginary mid points on the steel and alu spectrums, yes, steel is likely to be a little more forgiving, particularly if you're tired and sitting 'heavier' on the bike; and yes, aluminium will probably leap forward with more haste when you put the hammer down.

But differences in geometry, wheel build, and tyre pressure are more immediately noticable; frame material characteristics only at extremes of endurance or power production.

people are friendly and want to help. We're all bike nerds.

I am not friendly and I am not a nerd...:P