tobyt wrote: If i just sent it over to Velocity for $50 bucks return plus $30 machine id be sweet. (i would have to dismantle my self which im sure cant be too hard)
It's not
too hard to build a wheel, but you had better start learning because it'll cost you another $30 each wheel to have them rebuilt at any bike shop
tobyt wrote:The whole point of my fixed wheel project was to have a bike that I could design from scratch. So opting for the most practical/cheapest way around issues just means the project was a waste of time.
Au contraire Grasshopper, maybe you've already learnt a lot.
You have to ask yourself whether you're building a fashion statement or a bike to ride. If the former, then as fashion changes and/or you get bored with certain parts or the overall aesthetic you'll spend more coin changing this or swapping that. No biggie but when you tally it up you have spent $1500 on a $500 bike ..
if you can sell it, because some of those parts or it's appearance will be
so last year and maybe (hopefully ?) the hipsters will have moved onto something else.
If the latter, then you've opted for building a bike in it's simplest and most beautiful form. Pure, aesthetically appealing and efficient. Something where you and machine become one and each ride is an occasion. A simple bike to be ridden and where it becomes and extension of you. Stripped down to only the essential and therein lies it's beauty. Timeless. Proven. Classic. The bike becomes a pen and the streets are the pages of your story. Sorry to bet all Zen and spout estoric but that's what fixed gear really is. Man/Machine = One.
Fixed gear is cool. Always was, always will be. Trying to be
too cool is a wank.
Unless you have bags of money. You mention not wanting to be cheap/practical and if you really want to stand out from the
crowd then I'm the dude you wanna know.
How about real wood rims, from Italy .. NOS !!! Paired up with some 1950's Campagnolo track hubs ... 1st Gen. 3 piece and NOS too. Dugast silk tubulars because there is no finer ride. Did I mention the
money part ... it's gonna cost you a lot
Anyways .... It's just a bike and your first fixie. It's nice to have a good looking ride. Nothing wrong with that but let practicality and budget set your tempo and keep in mind that your frame is the soul of the bike and that can't be bought off the peg, isn't available on any website and is special on it's own. Parts is parts ... they can be beautiful but they just serve a purpose. As you have on older frame it would be prudent to let that be the show. It's classic ... like me it doesn't have to try