for a relatively decent price… considering craigslist is barely functioning, how does one go about finding a good fixie in Taipei? I understand the popularity of fixie culture is growing here, as is the price of these bikes… I’ve tried yahoo bids as well as ruten, but I simply can’t afford a brand new fixed/single gear bike… any help would be greatly appreciated.
Yvonne- or as my father would like to call me:
MJB jr
very hard, still very rare. as your father would know, the cookie cutter- out of the box bog-standard Giant double suspension mountain bike fr riding the flat river trails still rules the roost and the mindset of taipei.
the easiest way is to make one yourself, and that’s the route that most people go down here. buy an old road bike and convert, which means either buying a BMX free wheel (online, only) and an old bike with freewheel hubs that you pull the freewheel off and redish the wheel, or buy a new hub and rebuild the wheel (i’ve done both of these things)… OR find an old track bike here on ruten. that’s a tall order, as there are only three velodromes in the whole of taiwan (XinZhu, TaiZhong, and GaoXiong), the few track bikes around are track bikes, not road fixed gears, and there are nearly no members in the clubs who ride there who would sell. and the prices are astronomical: I’ve seen an old Guerciotti road frame (just my size, unfortunately, an old `1980s Italian with horizontal dropouts, just the thing for a road fixie), for sale for 25,000. that’s just the frame and the fork, mind you, and the guy was in no mood to bargain, and the frame was chipped and the chrome cracking… this was a beat up old road frame of no particular distinction, for the cost of a new TCR.
REDIKULOUS! Don’t believe the hype. buy via ebay from the US, pony up for the shipping, and you’d still be ahead of the stupid prices here.
That said, I’ll sell you my 1984 Colnago SS for a million bucks.
US.
I like it a lot.
A new bike shop devoted to fixed wheel bikes has just opened in Taichung.
If anyone is actually interested I’ll drop by there and score the number.
i think there is a fixed gear shop up around Shilin, called Nabiis. I’ve been wanting to check it out, but am afraid I won’t be able to find when when i actually get there. they also schedule rides called “friderday”, but i don’t think they have another planned right now.
i hope to go check it out, or if you know where it is, let me know, i am itching to see what it’s like
richard
http://www.iheartyu.com
i-am-fxi.blogspot.com/2008/06/fi … aipei.html
goodforit公館店 (‘clothing and culture’ rather than bikes)
No.4, Alley 4, Lane 286, Sec. 3, Roosevelt Rd., Jhongjheng District, Taipei City 100, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
(02)2364-0844
goodforit士林店
No.2, Jiantan Rd., Shilin District, Taipei City 111, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
(02)2886-2066
i m in the middle of jumping off a fixed gear brand out here in taiwan. we will deliver quality at a reasonable price. all the bikes out here are super expensive cause they are all imported. there are a bunch of great bikes and riders out here but its way over priced. let me know the size and price range and ill see what i can find or put together for you. if price is not an issue hit breakbrake for sure. the people are super cool and helpful. a lot of riders start at Trinity(one alley south of civic between dunhua and lane 223 by The Bed) on fridays around 10pm and ride together.
chrisone, do you need bike builders/mechanics?
veganbotti, if you are interested in sharing cost of parts/tools to self-build, let me know. i am in the process of trying to put together a simple commuting bike myself, but getting proper equipment is $$ for 1 person… perhaps could lead to a co-op here? that would be cool!
OK, this one’s mine. All built by hand by me (like all my bikes)…
flickr.com/photos/27683862@N … 717741071/
nice bike!
do you have BB tools?
indeed, I have most tools except thread cutters. and no peugeot stuff, sorry.
Obviously not as beautiful as that Colnago, but for new fixed/single-speed bikes (and others) check out the new Specialized shop (opened a week or two ago) on Ruiguang Rd in Neihu, opposite the flower market. They’ve got a lot of really nice looking bikes, including several cool fixed/single-gear. I was in there today admiring them.
As i mentioned before i will be launching a brand here in taiwan for fixed /single speed coming soon. mass production should start around september. if any one needs a bike let me know and if you pre-order you can choose your colors of bike and rims. we will be entering the market with a very quality bike for a reasonable price.
the prototype will be here in a month if you would like to take a look. our target market are people who want to start a new hobby but dont want to have to spend an arm and leg to do it. our bike will provide the most value for the quality. awesome frame is of the utmost importance. the parts will be well made taiwan parts for a good price.
and dude with the colnago: that thing is beautiful. strip those brakes off and wow it would be amazing. we should go ride some time
hey chrisone, do you have a geo specs list or are you going to do a custom-ish build? i’d be interested in signing up for one of your bikes when i hit the ground there in september. i’ll want a 57 or 58 if you’re going that large.
also if anyone is looking at buying a bike from canada i’d be willing to lug it with me when i come over if you cover the extra baggage cost. i’m living in victoria and the selection is crazy good. there’s one of these, used, in a shop by me:
bianchiusa.com/07-bicycles/0 … roger.html
size 55 probably get it for around 500 CAD
ill let u know about the size. the biggest for the first line will be about 56. the geometry is custom be cause i wanted to allow 700c bar spins. i brought a bike back from the us and it cost me $200usd extra for the oversized luggage chage. it really blew. so look out for that depending on the airline.
I’m interested in a frame or complete bike from you. Do you have a website or any images of your prototypes?
How much will a frame and folks be and also a complete?
Cheers
Our prototype will be arriving in june. At that point i will send it to be photographed and you can come ride it if you want. the price has not been finalized at this point but a complete bike will be around $13,000nt. Frame and fork still not sure. ill post some pics once its here.
That sounds very reasonable. I’ll be moving to Taiwan in June so I’ll get in touch for a test ride and discuss color ways. I’m very interested though, need to think of what colors I’ll have. Would you do chrome?
What are the components in your complete bike?
Thanks
chrome platting is not going to be an option on the first batch due the high rate of defect in the chroming process. once production is in full swing there will be number of design options. The first bike is designed to give value and quality and allow people to take up this hobby without having to sacrifice to much cash. Once you buy a complete bike its hard to stop yourself from constantly up grading components. More components and nicer and nicer frames will continue to come out after we get our bikes on the market.
Other parts of the complete will be of local manufactures and not branded. One thing about the bike industry in taiwan is that they can make anything you design for them and make it well. The wheel set is a deep v 36 hole rear 32 hole front, velo grips and saddle, we hill run a flip flop hub with a gearing of 48/19. hope i answered a couple of questions.
48/19 is pretty high for a bar spinner. not much need for much beyond 30 kmh on a bike like that, and I guess that 48/19 would restrict more than 90% of your target riders from anything that even smells remotely like a hill.
if its too step a setup the rear cog can be swapped out like always. this is a common ratio for Taipei being that the whole city is flat. It works good for locking up on skids too. i started with a 42/16 and that was just too small. i found my self pedaling my ass off when riding with traffic. so i slowly got more and more teeth. Im more of a traffic/commuting rider than a trickster. all youll really catch me doing are some backwards circles. I had the design team make the frame to allow bar spins because a lot of city riders are increasingly more into tricks and such.