Looking for a single speed frame

[o2dazone]

I ride a 2014 Langster build I put together earlier this year. For fast joy rides, it's awesome, but for longer rides or commutes, the hydroformed aluminum frame is bone-rattling. Additionally im just not in love with the untraditional, curved top tube (silly I know, but i love riding a bike with curb appeal). I've been looking into a horizontal top tubed aluminum or steel frame that will allow me to run a rear brake. I've even toyed with the idea of getting a road frame and using an EBB or Eno hub to fit it. I've looked into a few frames already, and I've determined a few things I'm looking or not looking for:

What I love:
Semi-aggressive geometry
Bottle cage bosses
Cable stops
Horizontal top tube

What I dislike:
Geometry that can fit 32c tires
No mounting for brakes

I'd love to hear people's suggestions!

[oldpotatoe]

I ride a 2014 Langster build I put together earlier this year. For fast joy rides, it's awesome, but for longer rides or commutes, the hydroformed aluminum frame is bone-rattling. Additionally im just not in love with the untraditional, curved top tube (silly I know, but i love riding a bike with curb appeal). I've been looking into a horizontal top tubed aluminum or steel frame that will allow me to run a rear brake. I've even toyed with the idea of getting a road frame and using an EBB or Eno hub to fit it. I've looked into a few frames already, and I've determined a few things I'm looking or not looking for:

What I love:
Semi-aggressive geometry
Bottle cage bosses
Cable stops
Horizontal top tube

What I dislike:
Geometry that can fit 32c tires
No mounting for brakes

I'd love to hear people's suggestions!

http://gunnarbikes.com/site/bikes/street-dog

[mhespenheide]

I don't ride single speed (or fixed, for that matter), but is there a reason you're not looking into converting an older frame with horizontal dropouts?

Barring that, if you want track-style dropouts, I've heard good things about the frames from Wabi Cycles. (http://www.wabicycles.com/index.html)

[JAGI410]

All-City Big Block?

[seanile]

hehe
:cool:
https://41.media.tumblr.com/ae96c5d9e9465b1b9f310403a86def55/tumblr_nnqvrobk631rrnk8uo1_540.jpg

[11.4]

I honestly would not buy a bike with narrow tire clearances. Those that I have simply don't fit tires well enough any longer and the best tires are showing up wider every year. And having excessive clearance isn't really an issue if you are getting a bike with bottle cages and such anyway -- it's not obvious and it does let you mount fenders if you need them. What you describe is a bit of a hodgepodge of fixies.

You might look at a EuroAsia Imports Bareknuckle, which has good race geometry and brake caliper drillings, etc. Another interesting approach I've used is the All City Nature Boy. It comes with 130 mm rear spacing but you or a shop can respace it to 120 mm easily. It has an internal top tube cable routing, bottle cages, eyelets for fenders or racks, and is a good road ride with a very durable finish and great options for a great price.

There are hundreds of fixie builders out there, so you can choose almost anything in custom or prebuilt. I'd just suggest you think about a consistent set of specs, and I'm focusing on the tire clearance. Get an old vintage frame if you really want to run narrow tires only, but I think you'll ride more and enjoy it more on the road if you give yourself room for some wider tires.

[Stephen2014]

The easy answer is get a cool vintage steel mtb from when they still had proper dropouts.

[o2dazone]

Thanks for the great advice everyone! The Wabi's and Gunnars are right down my alley. The Bareknuckle geo is spot on, but no bottle cage bosses or traditional methods of running a rear brake. As for converting an old frame, I don't have any concerns, I just feel I do these frames injustice buying them and removing their drive train.

[JAGI410]

Ive been riding the crap out of my Surly Steamroller and loving it. It's not flashy or high end, but it's cheap and a lot of fun!

[11.4]

The Bareknuckle is such an outstanding frame from a geometry standpoint that it's worth poking at a bit more. A couple suggestions I've used in the past on Bareknuckles:

1. There were a couple years when Bareknuckles came with top tube cable stops for a rear brake. They're still around and you can find them, including some new ones. Last I heard, Bike Central in Portland had a good inventory of Bareknuckles and had some of the ones with cable stops in several sizes.
2. It's not a lot of effort to have a frame builder put cable stops on the top tube, or even to do an internal routing -- the latter frustrates some builders who like to install it before they assemble the tubes (which makes it easier), but a retrofit isn't that hard. It's certainly the neatest. And since a lot of the paint jobs on Bareknuckles were pretty poor, if you get the rear cable routing fixed you can have the frame blasted and powder coated in precisely the color you want. It usually costs me about $160 to have a prior powder coating blasted off and then have a new finish applied.
3. Zip ties can hold a rear cable housing to the top tube and you can get some specialty low-profile zip ties from electronics suppliers that look very neat.

As for bottle cages, I've had bosses brazed on along with top tube cable routing. It's cheap. If you want to do something and not have to repaint, just have a shop drill a couple holes and put riv-nuts in the frame. These are pop rivets that have the requisite threading down the middle and are what many builders use to do bottle cage bosses on titanium and other frames anyway.

I focus on Bareknuckles because there are simply so many bad fixie frames out there, and the Bareknuckle gets everything right. Find one used or cut a deal for one. I've bought a fully equipped Bareknuckle with Phil Wood wheels and Sugino 75 cranks for under $600 (definitely a great score) and typically pay about $300 for a mint condition used Bareknuckle with fork and CK bottom bracket. At that price, you can do a lot extra and stay within budget.

I'd say, however, that for what you're looking for -- a road-capable fixie with all the braze-ons -- you should really set eyes on an All City Nature Boy. It checks all the boxes for a superb road fixie and at an amazingly inexpensive price. Great finish, great detail work, and it rides really well. For road use I'd pick it over an All City Big Block any day, and just pay a frame builder or competent shop $35 to respace the rear end (or just do it yourself -- it's very easy and needs no special tools, just a piece of string and a ruler to confirm the alignment).

[p nut]

I have a Wabi Classic and All City Nature Boy. Wabi is set up with 700x26 GB tires (enough clearance for ~28), and the NB is my cross bike with proper 32 CX tires.

For strictly road rides (and packed dirt/gravel), Wabi wins, hands down. The frame is much lighter (as is the bike) with similar components. Geometry is spot on for medium distance rides. Longest I've done is a century, but hoping to do a double this year. Richard is great to work with as well. Who answers emails on Sundays???!

Dirt/chunky gravel rides, the NB does great. Can fit Bruce Gordon Rock n Roads (43c), which is a fun set up for all around riding. Also has fender mounts, which the Wabi lacks.

Both are fun bikes, but 99% of my road rides are on the Wabi. Price is right, too.

[Shoeman]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What He Said !!!!! Service Is Excellent!!!!!

[jr59]

I use this one.

http://www.desalvocycles.com/bikes/steel-track/

[Jaq]

Fuji Feather (http://www.fujibikes.com/bike/details/feather). I've had mine for a little over a year and it's been great. No water-bottle bosses though; I fixed mine to the frame with hose-clamps. Sorta ghetto, but I figure it adds some street cred. Otherwise, I'd look at State bikes.

[RFC]

Here's one of my singlespeeds. A frame you don't see very often.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b384/RCopple/IMG_0504r_zps3cf91e8a.jpg (http://s23.photobucket.com/user/RCopple/media/IMG_0504r_zps3cf91e8a.jpg.html)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b384/RCopple/IMG_0512r_zps3f0ebe78.jpg (http://s23.photobucket.com/user/RCopple/media/IMG_0512r_zps3f0ebe78.jpg.html)