It was about a year and a half ago that I first started pondering getting a fixed wheel bike. It will sound like insanity to many (and indeed it did to anyone I spoke to) but bikes with no gears, and not even a freewheel, have been rising in popularity in recent years, and I'd been hearing more and more about them.
The theory is simple, they make you fitter, improve your pedalling technique, and without any derailleurs and so on to get clogged up there is less to go wrong on a daily commuter. This really ticked all the boxes for me, but without being sure I'd get on with fixed wheel I didn't want to shell out for a new bike - and then I got a call from my girlfriend's father who, knowing how obsessed I am with bikes, had pulled an old road bike out of a skip for me.
To cut a very long story short I converted the bike to fixed, and fell in love with the feel of the single gear and the simplicity of it all. It even LOOKS better than a bike festooned with gears. And then the frame gave out on me, but with my mind decided I set about building up a fixed wheel bike of my own.
The Fixie Inc Peacemaker frame comes from Germany, designed by a couple of cycle couriers over there. At the time it was available for £295 (frame and lovely chromed forks) from online retailer 'hubjub', but Mosquito Bikes is now the official retailer in the UK - the new version of the frame, however, now comes in at £415. A few details have changed, but giving the new bike the once over at the Cycle Show I can't see that much is different from the frame I bought.
Mosquito will also supply a completely built Peacemaker for £960.
I built mine up with Sugino chainset (a lovely red BMX chainring for 99p from eBay the steal of the century); EAI cog; Connex Wipperman 1G8 chain; Nitto bars; Shimano 105 front brake; Tektro lever; an old front wheel, and a new Goldtec/Mavic rear wheel; and a Charge Spoon Saddle. Total build came to around £700 (at a higher spec, I have to say, than the complete bike from Mosquito).
The ride quality is good from the steel frame, soaking up the lumps and bumps nicely, and the geometry makes for a more relaxed ride than a dedicated road bike. This feels somewhere between that and a mountain bike. Used every day to head to and from work the whole bike copes wonderfully, and with around 1200 miles under the wheels now there isn\'t a single hint of any flaws in the build quality.
It has also done some long distance rides, including a couple over 100 miles, and again behaved admirably.
The paint finish is also good. There is some scuffing where I've attached a lock, but this was always going to be a day-to-day bike that was going to suffer the rigours. The lovely pearlescent white finish remains wonderfully intact with a quick rub down.
So why no 5 stars? Well there are a few niggles.
Firstly the chainstays have little open-ends. I'm not sure of the reason, but in the UK climate this lets water inside the frame. At the end of a ride a tip of the bike backwards and it all comes running out, but it's still an annoyance.
Also the spacing at the rear (135mm) might scare off some people looking to put road width tyres on, though it's reasonably easy to source hubs that will do the job (as I did with the Goldtec), and the 1" heatube also limits your options for headsets (which also has to be the newer aheadset if you're using the supplied forks). Again, these can be sourced.
The final problem simply lies with the price. At £295 for the frame and forks, and a complete build of £700, this package represents fantastic value for the quality of steel in the frame, and the overall build and ride quality. For the new frameset (which seems to differ only cosmetically from the old) the respective prices of £415 and £960 seem on the steep side, and maybe just trying to capitalise a little too much on the rising popularity of fixed wheel riding.
If you can find this bike cheaper, or are willing to pay the extra for something to make you stand out from the Specialized Langsters and so on, then this is hard to beat - but I have to admit, I'm glad I got this when I did because I might have been looking elsewhere if it had been the price it is now.
