best deal for a bianchi pista (maybe a surly?)

[ulty_guy]

going to be back state-side for a wedding in july and want to pick up a track bike or single speed for riding around london. as it's so damn flat, they work well around here.

i'm thinking i've got a budget of about $500 and i want something easy to trasact (i.e. not ebay, etc). please let me know if you have any ideas.

thanks
rob

[Viva]

Where in the states? Portland is the tits for single speed bikes, plenty of good deals on used. I picked up a used Surly SS MTB last summer for $270 and the bike was in excellent shape.

I also converted my old Univega touring bike (The Uni Bomber) to single speed. Just needed to have someone build me a single speed rear wheel (Surly hub) and I did the rest of the work myself. That's something you ought to be able to do in England, eh?

[ulty_guy]

eh indeed. i'm going to be in d.c. which has some decent shops. thing is, w/ the $/£ at 1.80, a $500 is way cheaper than anything you put together over here. chuck it on the plane back with ya, and you're set.

[Viva]

Anything specific, other than the Bianchi? What size? Frame material (i.e., which steel?)? Maybe I can find you a good deal here. Let me know.

[CantDog]

ulty, send me a pm when the date draws closer, I can recommend some bike shops in DC(since I used to work at one of them). Also I'll be working at one this summer too, so I could get you parts el cheapo.


If you are interested I have a surly single speed hub that I havent used, still in its box. Also got the bontrager mustang rim I was going to build it up with.

[ulty_guy]

viva- thanks for the offer, but seems like it'll be pretty crazy to get something shipped from there to d.c. and then picking it up myself there and carrying on. but anyways, probably something steel, 56-57cm and a fixed/free option so i can get used to it.

canty- i'll drop you a p.m. as the date nears (it's still 2 months away) and find out where to go

i guess i could build one too, i've got a crappy AL road frame built up with campy veloce which i might convert to single and then buy a nice road frame for the campy group.

thanks for the help.

[Viva]

Originally posted by ulty_guy

i guess i could build one too, i've got a crappy AL road frame built up with campy veloce which i might convert to single and then buy a nice road frame for the campy group.

Ding, ding, ding!!! You can easily find a brake set, calipers and levers and have a rear wheel built. That Surly hub rocks, BTW- I have on on my SS MTB as well as on the UniBomber.

The only potential problem in changing over your AL frame is whether or not the dropouts are long enough for chain tensioning purposes. For a SS, you want either the horizontals or long diagonals. My UniBomber has the old school long diagonals, so converting it to SS was a problem not at all.

I was thinking that if I found something, I could have it shipped to England for you.

[Viva]

River City bikes is selling the Pista for $499- sweet bike, BTW, but strictly a track bike. They also had a new Specialized SS that was pretty nice for $449. The specialized had brakes and a "reversible" rear wheel- i.e., it's a free wheel, flip it around and it's fixed. Seems like it would make the perfect urban cruiser.