SE Bikes Good Value?

[Vikeonabike]

Guys,
I'm looking to get my first Fixie...The SE Bikes, seem much cheaper than anyone elses! Is it worth buying? I'm looking at the Draft Light Racing and the Lager Matte Black.

 

[D4VOW]

I'm sure they are stupidly heavy but I could be wrong.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Mate of mine, desperate to join the london fixie fad before it is over, bought an SE Draft Lite from Evans. Having a hi-ten (high-tensile steel) frame it wasn't the latter and immediately earned him and it the moniker "daft shite". But not such a daft shite as he managed to sell it to a dullard for more than he paid for it and now was a matte black SE Lager called 'Herold'. I still think he should have got a Kona Paddy Wagon but the Lager does have a certain 'aura' to it

 

[Joe24]

What D4VOW says, they are pretty darn heavy.
I dont like them. But thats me and my strange ways.

 

[Vikeonabike]

Just the info I needed. Cheers...
Any reccomendations on a £500 fixed?

 

[Landslide]

Bob Jackson Vigorelli, £345
Fixed hub rear wheel ~£70
Everything else out of your spare parts bin!

 

[MajorMantra]

Just the info I needed. Cheers...
Any reccomendations on a £500 fixed?

Genesis Flyer.

...but then I would say that.

Do you actually want to spend £500? For less than £300 you can get a decent designed-for-fixed bike used. Lots of people are buying them because of fashion and then finding they don't actually like riding fixed. There are also people going nuts and moving to £1k+ custom track builds and selling their OTP fixeds.

Matthew

 

[fossyant]

There are also people going nuts and moving to £1k+ custom track builds

Nuts...hardly...I like mine !

 

[MajorMantra]

Nuts...hardly...I like mine !

Don't worry Fossy, I don't think anyone's going to accuse you of being a hipster.

Matthew

 

[Vikeonabike]

The bike is going to have to be comfortable for anything upto a 36 mile round trip on slightly undulating B roads and falt A roads.
Would prefer to be able to flip between fixed and freewheel because the winds in Lincolnshire can make a slope feel like a tour climb.
Looking at Paddy Wagon, Langster, Bowery or something similar.

 

[triggerwave]

I bought one!

As an entry to fixed gear it's served me well. Needs a few upgrades... here's what Ive done.

1 - tyres
2 - saddle
3 - brake pads
4 - rear fixed cog (16 to 18)
5 - handle bars (bullhorns not ideal for nipping round trafic)
6 - ditched rear brake
7 - resprayed frame (got sick of the garish red)

I've realy taken to the fixed wheel so am doing about twenty mile a day somtimes along gravel tracks, up and down pavements and hops over road bumps and all the fixie specific stuff. Anyway the crank / bb has started to creak going up Haverstock Hill and the like - I've stripped, regreased and retourqued the whole lot twice now. I think its gonna need a better bb and maybe crank set which is even more money.

If I knew what I was doing a few months ago I'd have got somthing much better or got one built for me. Come to thing of it a cheap secondhand one would have served me perfectly ....

Triggerwave
aka Michael

 

[MajorMantra]

Anyway the crank / bb has started to creak going up Haverstock Hill and the like - I've stripped, regreased and retourqued the whole lot twice now. I think its gonna need a better bb and maybe crank set which is even more money.

Are you absolutely sure it's the BB? It can be very difficult to tell exactly where a sound is coming from on a bike. It could, for exampe, be a pedal bearing that's creaking - have you got some other pedals you could try to rule that out?

Matthew