A couple of month ago I moved closer to the center of my city, so now going everywhere by bike makes a lot more sense. Since then I fell into a bit of a singlespeed/fixed gear internet rabbit hole and then bought my first singlespeed around a month ago.
Since I wasn’t sure how serious I am about the whole thing I didn’t want to spend a lot of money and did some research on what the best budget friendly beginner bikes are (that are available in Germany) and saw the Fixie Inc. Blackheath recommended a lot for the 300€ range:
https://www.bruegelmann.de/fixie-inc.-blackheath-M1093451.html?c=816&%252525253Fcb.vid=4905665&vgid=G1614950&_cid=21_1_-1_9_2150_1614950__pla&campaign_detail=smart_shopping&utm_content=~_cbA~_1_2~_1614950~_1614950~_google_de~_PLA~_fd328ea6d54211ed9b4ce56ba7f5e7d2~_cbend_~
(sorry for the german link, don’t think the bike is available outside of Germany)
So this is what I ended up buying and I’ve been having a lot of fun riding it every day since. Even though it’s a cheap bike it’s still a huge difference compared to the bikes I was used to riding.
Now that I know for sure I enjoy riding singlespeed I’m willing to invest a bit more in my bike long-term.
So do you guys think it’s worth upgrading the bike I have now? If so, what are some upgrades you’d recommend?
Or would you say the frameset is so cheap that it’s not worth investing any more money into this bike and it makes more sense to just ride it as is for a year or two while saving money to upgrade to a entirely different bike?
by tobiri0n
6 Comments
Upgrade only is something fails. Or saddle is it’s not comfortable. You might get some better “feel” from better wheelset, but in general it’s a frame which makes single speed/fixie to feel better.
Definitely worth upgrading parts as things wear out. Wheels are usually a good early upgrade as they make a big impact on how the bike rides
I don’t have the money to drop huge cash on a bike, so all of mine have started “inexpensive” and then — when something starts to wear out or break — I buy the best upgrade I can afford. Or, if I’m not enjoying the bike anyway — not sized correctly, not ideal for the riding conditions, I don’t like the color, etc. — I sell it and get something else that I can slowly upgrade.
My first MTB was a GT Outpost — the entry level mountain bike from GT before they were bought out. A $300 bike that I put thousands of miles on at my local trail. As I slowly broke parts, I replaced them until I eventually purchased a higher quality bike. The GT Outpost became a back-up bike that I lent to friends or road to the bars. Eventually, I gave it to a friend so he could go on rides with his kids.
Tl;dr ride it until it breaks and then upgrade or replace
as many bikes as will fit in the apartment. this is the way.
Keep it and change components as they start to wear out. First thing I changed was my freewheel. Much cheaper to upgrade parts. I recently upgraded to a fancy aluminum frame set after three year but I love my first born single speed like a child. Riding a heavy steel frame got me in shape and I had a ton of fun on that thing ( Retrospec to a superb). Happy riding!
The bike runs well, i had the same. But everything is cheap and won’t last you forever. So i would not recommend upgrading certain parts (except touching points maybe) except you are planning to have a complete new bike including frameset at some point.
Instead, just ride the bike and build one yourself on the side.