Halfords £200 fixie coming soon

[Biggsy]

Here.

Whatdyathink?

[Ray 6701]

No bloody good if you're a short arse!  That's what I think 

[Arno]

Hi-Ten forks? Wondering if the frame Hi-Tensile steel too... and what's the total weight of the thing.

[arabella]

No bloody good if you're a short arse!  That's what I think 

Quite.  That's exactly what I thought too.  Not aimed at people with legs shorter than <Blah>

[hubner]

    Approximate Weight (KG): 11.9
    Brake Type: Calliper Brakes
    Exact Frame Size: 59cm
    Forks: Hi-Tensile Straight Blade
    Frame Colour: Sky Blue
    Frame Material: Steel
    Frame Size (cm): Over 57
    Frame-: Hi-tensile steel
    Front Brake: Promax alloy dual pivot calliper brakes
    Gender: Mens
    Handle Bars: 44cm drop Promax handlebar
    Headset: Ahead Set
    Hubs: Joytech Flip Flop alloy track hubs
    Number of Gears: 1
    Pedals: Alloy caged pedals
    Rear Brake: Promax alloy dual pivot calliper brakes
    Rims: 36 hole Viking 700c alloy rims
    Saddle: Retro road saddle
    Seatpost: Alloy 300mm x 25.4mm
    Stem: Alloy
    Suspension: Rigid
    Tyre size: 23c
    Tyres: Kenda - Black
    Wheel size: 700c

Seems to only come in one size.

[Jurek]

56cm & 59cm

[Chris N]

POS band wagon jumping gas pipe 'fixie', cynically exploiting a classic brand.

[Biggsy]

Re frame sizes: maybe the web page(s) aren't completely finished yet?  Otherwise: epic fail.

[hubner]

At least it looks like a "proper" bike.

Argos has the archetypal "fixie" for £150:



http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3323461/c_1/1|category_root|Sports+and+leisure|14419152/Trail/searchtext%3EADULTS+BIKES.htm

[Biggsy]

^ Hi-ten too, I suppose.

But anyway, how do these compare value-wise to £300 multi-geared road bikes?  Good, I would have thought, simply because there's fewer parts, even if the frame isn't very nice.

I'm not thinking of getting one myself, but would one be a reasonable option for a new city cyclist on a shoestring budget?  Not everyone is happy to go second-hand.

[Chris S]

"Fixed Speed bike"? Well - who wants one of those? I like to do lots of different speeds on my bikes  .

[hubner]

I'm not thinking of getting one myself, but would one be a reasonable option to a new city cyclist on a shoestring budget?

If it's just for getting around,they'd be better served by a bike with a single speed freewheel, an enclosed chain or at least a chainguard, mudguards, and a rack. Eg:

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/elops-city-id_8103885.html

£130 from Decathalon.

[Rhys W]

12 kg! 

Yet another example of the cynical marketing ploy of trying to tap into classic looks but spoiling it with agriculturally-welded fat gaspipe tubes and a sloping top tube. FAIL.

[urban_biker]

Its interesting that the bike on the Halfords website (see original post)  is missing a bar-end plug on the right. It seems Ok - but I bet its made of cheese.

[Biggsy]

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/elops-city-id_8103885.html

£130 from Decathalon.

That seems suspiciously cheap given the amount of components and accessories that the money is divided to.  So it's not crap then?

How the hell can they do that for £130, even with slave labour?

[zigzag]

decathlon is my lbs and i go there at least once a month, so know their stock pretty well. all of their bikes are good value and well built from decent quality components. leisure and city bikes are quite heavy (but most of them are across the board), but they should serve well for the intended purpose.

edit: they can sell the bikes via cycle to work scheme as well

[gordon taylor]

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/elops-city-id_8103885.html

£130 from Decathalon.

That seems suspiciously cheap given the amount of components and accessories that the money is divided to.  So it's not crap then?

How the hell can they do that for £130, even with slave labour?

I think that Decathlon one even comes with lights and a dynamo !!!!  For £130 !!!

[Domestique]

£130 from Decathalon.

That looks amazing value. New tyres and your all set up 

[rogerzilla]

11.9kg (about 24lb) is very heavy for a fixie.  OK, it has a rear brake, but a 531 racing bike with 18 gears can easily be under 20lb.

I'd expect a cheap fixie to be about 18lb without pedals.

[aidan.f]

So neither of these bikes are  what we  would call BSO's - i.e. both fit for  purpose and reasonable VFM (The Decatholon one 10/10 VFM).

IMO if they  mean bums on bikes good - We would  all like  to  see better quality but  if as amabassadors for  cycling  we  engage the  new owners they  may, just  may, be cycling  further and  buying   a  'good quality bike' in a  few years time.

[mcshroom]

I've beaten the price (by 1p)- linky

That site syas it's a hi-ten steel frame as well.

I'm far more taken by the Dawes Mono with a Reynolds 520 chromo frame which can be found for about £300

[Martin]

Viking's been around for a wile; pretty carp, although for its intended purpose you prolly can't go far wrong if you really want to ride around town with no gears

[arabella]

11.9kg (about 24lb) is very heavy for a fixie.  OK, it has a rear brake, but a 531 racing bike with 18 gears can easily be under 20lb.

I'd expect a cheap fixie to be about 18lb without pedals.

Ah, that's where I went wrong.  My fixie (with pedals, but unladen) weighs more like 14kg I think.

[Euan Uzami]

this is not £200 but looks pretty good
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/cooper/t100-spa-2011-single-speed-road-bike-ec026012?utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=froogle

[border-rider]

That's about £300 more than I'd pay for that

It's all budget-if-decent kit, except the saddle which is rather better and may account for about £100 of the cost of the bike.