[Houdini]

Thinking about getting a new city bike. 

Needs to be strong - as I'm hard on kit and break stuff quickly; reasonably thin tyres so I can go fast, but be comfortable enough to spend all day on it; & not be too chunky or old fashioned.

So far, I think this fits the bill.  €600.

Think the disc are overkill (maintenance look tricky).  Thoughts, other suggestions?
 

[Fultonius]

Looks good. I've just gone "fixie" for a laugh - it's going to take a bit of getting used to:

[Joepicalli]

Will you be going off road proper, a bit of xc type stuff? Or will all your riding be on road/ cycle track? If its the former then discs are a bit OTT and actually the bike looks a too mountain bikey for a city bike in general.
I would suggest someting more along these lines http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Focus_Arriba_Courier_2010/5360045321/ if you are going pure street cycle path.

[Houdini]

^ Nice bike & keen price but it's too sensible for me.

It looks rubbish for endo's, wheelies and slamming off kerbs.  The wheels are too thin too. 

There's a few woody hilly places I'd likely end up in, so I don't think that's the one for me.

[Fj]

the giant seek 0 on the same page as the one you linked looks good and would be very low maintenance with the geared hub.
Dont be scared of disk brakes, I think they're much easier to sort out than v-brakes as the wheel doesnt need to be true.

[galpinos]

Looks good. I've just gone "fixie" for a laugh - it's going to take a bit of getting used to:

Isn't the off the peg Plug a single speed, not a fixie?

There's one in Snow and Rock near me. It's taken a lot of effort to keep the credit card in my wallet. Lovely bike.

[Houdini]

Geared hubs are hateful (much like pedal-back brakes) and are shit on real hills.

[Fultonius]

The plug comes with a flip-flop hub, so either fixie, or singlespeed, depending on your preference. I'm persevereing with the fixie for a while!

Got it on the "cycle to work scheme", so only costing me £350 or so 

[BB]

Isn't the off the peg Plug a single speed, not a fixie?

There's one in Snow and Rock near me. It's taken a lot of effort to keep the credit card in my wallet. Lovely bike.

Heavy compared to the competition if memory serves. It may have improved, but when i was researching single speeds/fixies everything by charge weighed in on the portly side.

[Fultonius]

Aye, it's not light, but it's about half the weight of all my other bikes and seems pretty string, which was important for me. (I've destroyed 3 downhill mountain bikes in the past - Marin B17: snapped the swingarm and the shock-mount; Muddy Fox Rock and Roll ( a mates): snapped one of the rear linkages; Santa Cruz Super 8 - cracked the swingarm.

I also lay claim to one of the most amazing wheel-destuction events I've heard off. In one run of the Aonach Mor DH track on my S8 I managed to crack a rear wheel in 7 places!  It was literally in 7 separate sections at the bottom. I also did a race-run on my Marin B17 with the rear shock held on with: 1 x jubilee clip, 1 brake cable and lots of sellotape.

Those were the days...

[Duma]

bit above your price range though.

[soapy]

liking the direction you're going in duma..

[chappers]

arrrrrghhhh! "fixie" i hate that word.
it amazes me that they show the plug with no form of foot retention. ride that fixed and have an accident for sure  - there are much better deals to be had than those too, shop around like BB said.

and re the raleigh20. ive got one of those for shopping. 30 quid it cost. aint noone going to nick it either! amazing!

houdini, you want a bomb proof bike, you want it to apeal to your quirky side? SURLY. i just rode from manchester to london on mine (long haul trucker).

[chappers]

a karate monkey

[soapy]

or a cotic roadrat

[Houdini]

Pretty good for the flat, but what can one do when one reaches a hill of substance?  They do have hills in cities.


I'm still quite taken w/ the Giant.

[chappers]

then you call on these:


its all about getting the gear correct for the city in which you live. i ride 52x18 in manchester and its fine for everything.

09 cannondle badboy?

[Johnny Brown]

HA! What would you recommend for someone commuting from Crookes to Kelham Island?

[fatdoc]

a road bike with gears mate..

seriously, this singlespeed thing i can just get, esp if you live somewhere flat..

but fixie??
christ.. wern't freehubs invented for a purpose??

 

[Johnny Brown]

Had a guy on the course last week doing pretty much that commute on a fixie. Hilarious. Going home was ok, the downhill was murder!

[chappers]

obv fixed in sheffied is fucking stupid.
here though, its great, training on the flat out in cheshire improves ones pedal cadence no ends.

i seriously like the look of these cannondale bad boys...

(they do one with gears on BTW)

[fatkid2000]

I like those Badboys - guy I know has the really expensive one with the Rohloff Hub.

Saw loads of students trying to ride single / fixed around Sheffield in October - not seen one for a while now. The whole fixed thing is about London fashionistas - trying to be couriers. Fine in a flatish place but in Sheffield unless you only ride up and down Ecclesall Road - please buy a geared bike.

[Fj]

I have 2 work mates running alfines.
One has managed crookes to town and back easily with a cotic roadrat
the other is 18 stone and ride from hackenthorpe to town and back via granville and city road on a charge (tap?).
Both rate them highly and havent had to do any maintenance.

[Bubba]

I'm still quite taken w/ the Giant.

Still the best suggestion on this topic imo.

We had a guy do Penmachno with us on a singlespeed last time we were there. He's an Ironman competitor, etc so uber-fit. He got round in a decent time but still quite a lot slower than many others on normal geared bikes as he'd lose out on the flat/downhills and have to take all hills at his own grinding pace.  So yeah, you can do hills on a singlespeed  but it's really not the most efficient way to get around - do you want a challenge or efficient transport?

[Houdini]

I like the Giant as it's crossbar is quite low, and my legs are short; it looks robust enough to be hammered.  The wheels are thin but not too thin to make it murder on cobbles (which are common in Hamburg) but thin enough to go really fast.  The bars are in a sensible position which is good for my neck.  It's also matt black and silver AKA badass 

Single speeds have no appeal whatsoever.  The hooligan jobbie is nice too, but you wouldn't want to do 10 miles on it.