Jixr

Hi everyone, I recently got into the bike scene, picked up a cheap hipster fixie, and its a little rough and was thinking about fixing it up a bit.


Its one of those dreaded urban outfitters/Republic Bikes, bike and while its still better than everything I had growing up as a kid, its heavy as hell, and the paint on it is scratched up pretty badly with little spots of rust in the scratches.

The previous owner replaced the front wheel with an alexrim wheel ( cheap, but probably still better than the stock wheels ) the plastic pedals were replaced with decent ones, and I put new tires on it when I got it.

I was thinking about repainting the frame myself, which I'm comfortable with doing, but its a bit costly and time consuming, and at the end, its still kind of a polished turd of a frame.

I found this on amazon, and it seems reasonable and in my budget. ( total I don't want to spend more than $400 total on the bike, and i'm already about $200 in )
https://www.amazon.com/Track-Fixie-Ro...xed+gear+frame

I just don't know if its possible to basically strip my bike down for this frame or if I would have to buy other new parts along side the frame.

TejanoTrackie 

One of the best fixie frames
Made in famous factory, although we cannot disclose the brand

Jixr

if you're going to be a d**k, don't bother posting here, or anywhere else on the internet for that matter.

I know its a cheaper knock off frame, and I'm not expecting fantastic quality.

cDiff Notorious

https://bikeisland.com/cgi-bin/BKTK_S...ramesets-Track

TenSpeedV2

You would be replacing a heavy turd with another heavy turd. Save the money, ride the hell out of it. Replace when it falls apart.

T13

Jixr

well, money is going to be spent one way or the other, since my current frame is so beat, it really does need a bit of TLC and to be stripped down and repainted.

replacing the frame will just make it much easier, but at a bit more cost. ( i'm figuring painting will run me about $50, and several hours of time )

-----

Also, is it typical for nearly everyone on this forum to sh*tpost for no reason? Seems like half of all replies I get to any post is this keyboard dribble.

Flatulentfox

Yes.

That frame is trash. It will literally be a waste of money. It will not be any better than the frame you have. Some scratches in the paint are no big deal. Just ride it. If you insist on getting another bike, then save a bit more money and watch craigslist. Be patient and you will find something worth fixing up. in the mean time, ride your bike...

Also,

Why do so many people think about swapping out a frame as if it were just a component? The frame is the bike. If you get a new frame, you are building a new bike, perhaps with existing used components.

Scrodzilla

And if you're going to be a jackass, the same goes for you.

jnep

Go to the nearest Walmart and pick up their thruster fixie it's dope af.

richietables 

I've had great luck with the conversion kit stuff from eighthinch.com. Just ordered their Amelia wheelset today for my commuter fixie. I was just tired of having such mismatched gear on my 40 year old Raleigh.....

My 2 cents.

BilbroSwaggins

Clearly its another case of Form>function. have fun buying another piece of **** frame when your "Amazon fixie" breaks.

BilbroSwaggins

It's the nature of BFSSFG, dude. Also that last part of my post is coming from experience. I did the same thing your doing now. I didn't listen, didn't know ****, and went through 2 frames in 5 months. Save your money and get something decent. Life is too short to ride **** bikes.

Jixr

what makes a frame bad? everyone is quick to say everything is bad, but with no explanation or alternative suggestions.

Obviously higher end ones are going to be lighter have more/better features, build quality and such, but it seems aside from weight differences, the return on investment seems to nose dive almost instantly.


Is there anything in this forum that does not get bashed as a **** bike, or did I just happen to stumble across the types of hobby forums where unless you have the newest/most expensive thing ever, its complete dog sh*t?

And to me, its still just a bike, if I had the choice between a $500 bike and a $1500 bike, I'd take the $500 one, and put the other $1000 towards my car/house payment.

Jared.

So then why do you want to spend money replacing a bad frame with a bad frame? Or why do you want to paint a bad frame? You obviously have other priorities in life, which is understandable, so why not just ride the bike you have as is?

You paint the frame and it'll just get scratched up over time anyway...

GhostSS

I'm all for beginners buying a cheap starter bike. Everyone likes to take a dump on guys buying junk, but I say figure out if you like riding first before spending big money. Look at craigslist and you'll see droves of nice bikes that are being sold because the owners never rode them.

That said, it's a junk bike because of the construction quality/dubious workmanship. There's a reason why an already cheap bike ($250) is being sold for over 50% off. We could list reasons on why it's bad, but it would be a long list. Common things like lack of machining quality (dropouts not lining up, bottom bracket threading, the annoying use of non-standard proprietary equipment not being interchangeable, etc.), bad frame geometry, and paying for marketing (aimed at form over function) rather than reliability.

EDIT:

I guess the take away from this is, you can spend the same or slightly more money for a vastly superior bike used on craigslist on top of being able to inspect and test ride it yourself. Most of the frames and complete bikes I purchased off of craigslist rarely exceed the $200 mark and they were top of the line models from a decade or so ago still in great condition.

Jixr

But as long as its mostly straight, i still don't see what makes it bad?

sure a perfectly made bike might roll a little better than one thats does not have a high build tolerance, but does that really make a difference? In some closed environment testing, probably. Ofc a more expensive one will be nicer, but what does nice do for me?

I've never had a bike frame break on me, so i still don't understand the hate.
what benifit does a $400 frame give me over a $200 one?
I highly doubt i'll ride faster, further, or shed enough weight to make a noticeable difference for commuting/exercise for double the price.

at what point does a frame stop becoming crap and become good?

It is just hate because the hipster trend is an easy target for obviously serious cyclist like yourselfs must be?

BilbroSwaggins

https://bikeisland.com/cgi-bin/BKTK_S...ls&ProdID=1084
Couldn't resist
#Kilott

Kindaslow

When folks talk about expensive bike they own they get as much or more crap, so it is more complex than it just being cheap. Plus, a lot of folks come to forums to amuse themselves by pissing people off. Take what you can learn, have a laugh or two, but do not take it personally.

Flatulentfox

An inexperienced rider will likely not notice a difference.

Cheap frames will be flexy, ride harshly and have poor handling traits. This is due to cheaper design and materials. Things like poor alignment, poor machining quality on the head tube, bad threads on the BB, etc will make it much harder to build and properly adjust things. Any point where other parts interface with the frame will be a pain (headset, bottom bracket, hubs, seatpost will likely be a trouble spot.

Also, note that no one is hating on your bike. The bike you have will likely be just fine for riding around some commuting etc. What everyone is telling you not to do is waste your money replacing one item that does not need replacing with a similar item that offers no advantage over what you have now.

RaleighSport

If I were going to drop the money on a cheap fixed gear bicycle... I'd get one of the first four in this here link (depending which was closest to my size)
https://bikeisland.com/cgi-bin/BKTK_S...=Bikes:%20Road

Yeah these guys are kinda abrasive.. but that's the nature of this scene. Trust me, you want to tap their knowledge so don't be a dick and they'll prolly help you out.

DiabloScott

The fact that you don't know is a strong indicator that you probably couldn't do it; even if there were no incompatible parts. Not a slam against you, you could certainly learn how to do it and you could learn what tools you'd need... but you don't know what you don't know.

sickz

solid point.

GhostSS

If you've ever tried installing a part but couldn't because the a .5 mm difference (chain rings to cranks, headtubes to headsets, dropouts, seatpost tubes, in my experience had all these problems on a Purefix btw), you'll know why it's bad. But, there's plenty of threads on price difference vs quality on frames and components. There's a new thread on it every week.

Jared.

This listing states that the track end spacing is 115mm, when the standard is 120. If you can't even construct that to the industry standard, what does that say for the rest of the bike?

Also, swapping parts to a new frame will require specialized tools, and/or trips to your LBS for labor, so factor that into the cost. Do you have the correct bottom bracket tool? Can you remove the headset and re-install? Can you cut the fork on the new frame?