Poor man's Quickbeam?

[N. Llama]

I have suddenly become enamored with the idea of a Quickbeam type bike. Steel single speed with drop bars, V or canti brakes, take at least a 28mm tire, and a rear rack, nothing too crazy, but geared low enough to make for my commute and some of the rail trails around here. Fenders eyelets would be a plus Mostly complete I'd like the bike to come under $1600. I usually ride a 54. 

The only option I've seen so far is the Cross Check SS, Any other suggestions?

[Flynn, Hugh]

I’ve been riding my CC as a poor-man’s Quick Beam Style fixed gear for about 15 years. I’ve been very very happy with it. 

I gather that since I bought mine, they have added front and rear rack mount braze-ons. That’s a good thing. 

Hugh Flynn

Newburyport, MA

On Jan 7, 2015, at 7:33 PM, N. Llama <nathan...@gmail.com> wrote:

I have suddenly become enamored with the idea of a Quickbeam type bike. Steel single speed with drop bars, V or canti brakes, take at least a 28mm tire, and a rear rack, nothing too crazy, but geared low enough to make for my commute and some of the rail trails around here. Fenders eyelets would be a plus Mostly complete I'd like the bike to come under $1600. I usually ride a 54. 

The only option I've seen so far is the Cross Check SS, Any other suggestions?

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[Amit Singh]

Did you see the post from a few days ago? 54cm Quickbeam for sale.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rbw-owners-bunch/vtheaeYwTIU

[Mark Reimer]

I use a surly steamroller as my single speed. Fits 32mm tires but uses traditional road side-pull brakes. It doesn't have braze-ons for racks, so I use either a Mark's Rack with a wald basket ziptie'd on, or a Paul Flatbed rack with p-clamps. It's been great. It can take fenders, but only with 28mm tires. 

[Minh]

if you have to buy new the surlys are a good option, but there are a lot of single-speed bikes out there just look around and they'll pop up.  but none of them are QBs or SOs, for those, i think if you're patient and are judicious with parts selection you can come in at $1600 by picking up a second hand one.  i paid less then that for my QB a few years ago (second owner).

[Mark Reimer]

All City nature boy is another option. It has fender mounts, more clearance, horizontal track ends. No mid-blade rack mounts but you could very easily mount a wald basket or any other rack that mounts at the dropout. 

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[Clayton.sf]

Look at the Bianchi San Jose. It is the "riv approved" poor man's QB.

Clayton, SF

[Surlyprof]

There is also a 58cm Quickbeam on sfbayarea craigslist:  http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/bik/4828695491.html

John

[Mark Reimer]

Ohh, good deal I'd say. Scoop that up!

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[Chris Lampe 2]

I don't know if you are looking for a complete bike or you are willing to build up a frameset but check out the Handsome Cycles Devil.  It's got 73/73 angles, 70mm BB drop, 45mm rake fork and 55.5-56.0 cm effective top-tube.  It is a rim brake compatible frameset and will easily take 40mm tires.  It has forward facing dropouts so single-speeding it will be simple and you'll end up with chainstays in the 44cm range.  All-in-all, it has almost the same geometry as a 1984 Bridgestone RB-T and similar geometry to a Rivendell Legolas.  The only thing I'm not sure about is rear rack compatibility because I have zero experience with those and don't even know what braze-ons are needed.  

On Wednesday, January 7, 2015 at 6:33:00 PM UTC-6, N. Llama wrote:

[Jim M.]

If you use a White eccentric hub, any vertical dropout frame will work too. For example, this Univega on Ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/UNIVEGA-STEEL-CYCLOCROSS-COMMUTER-TOURING-BIKE-FRAME-SET-CANTILEVER-V-BRAKE-55CM-/281473194657?pt=US_Bicycles_Frames&hash=item41891c1aa1

With the White hub, a Black Mountain Cycles cross frame would fit the bill too.

jim m

wc ca

[Dan McNamara]

I was about to suggest the Black Mountain Cross frame as it has horizontal dropouts. The latest version has front and rear rack braze-ons including midfork on the latest rev. I think Mike is out of most sizes right now of the Taiwan made version currently.

Dan

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[Edwin W]

My 1970's Raleigh Sprite serves as my poor man's quickbeam. I converted it from 1x5 to fixed and it works well. Only apace for 32s under the fenders, but what can you do?

There are so many old steel bikes that would serve as a poor man's quick beam. You have to give up a bit of the perfect-ness of a quick beam, but that is what you get for being a poor man.

Edwin

On Wednesday, January 7, 2015 at 6:33:00 PM UTC-6, N. Llama wrote:

[Deacon Patrick]

For $1,600, your poor man's Quickbeam could be a Quickbeam. Grin. As other suggest, check out Craig's list. I found mine via a nationwide search and the owner actually "knew" me from this group and my photos and was happy to go to the extra effort of shipping it.

With abandon,

Patrick

[Elisabeth Sherwood]

I second the Bianchi San Jose. It has everything you're looking for, at well under your budget.

Since Bianchi (sadly and inexplicably) doesn't seem to be making them anymore, you'll have to buy used. But I think even last year Bianchi was selling just the frame, so maybe a dealer can hook you up with one.

-- Liz

[Mark Reimer]

Only downside to the San Jose is that it has a unicrown fork. That means it's cheap, but it also means it's ugly. 

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[Elisabeth Sherwood]

To me the ugly part of the fork is that it's straight blade. There are apparently San Joses with curved forks, but most of them seem to have been straight. Unicrown isn't a deal-breaker for me, since everything else is great! (And, apparently a straight-blade fork wasn't a deal-breaker, either, although I'd love to replace it with a curved one at some point!)

My San Jose is in dark blue, in case anyone has the matching curved fork... :-)

-- Liz

[Patrick Shea]

You could also buy my 56cm old-style Riv road fr/f/hs/bb. 56 is the new 54 in the Shire. It's been through Hell but I imagine that to be a good mark of a survivor. It spent about 10 years as my fixed gear commuter: fenders, 28c Randonnuers, rack eyelets, nice. It finished the legendary Paris-Brest-Druex in 2007 (as well as all the brevets) with no scratches and no flats but it did incur a weld-separation-incident the night before the start. French Jah-Bey Weld, a steel hose clamp, and leather toe strap solved that little annoyance. Fixed properly back in the USA! USA! USA! by a metal arts teacher/cyclist. Oh, I could go on for awhile about it's moods, likes and dislikes, and even re-live that fixed gear singletrack stuff on Mt. Tam but I won't. Oh yeah, frame is unpainted except for the original silver on the Riv fork. Plenty of pics available. $750 pick-up in Bay Area or $800 shipped to lower 48. LUGS.

 

Cheers,

Patrick Shea

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[Philip Williamson]

All these suggestions are great. I'd jump on the listed QB and the S3X wheel, myself. At that target price, my first thought was also, "The poor man's Quickbeam is a Quickbeam!"

For brand new, Black Mountain cross frame is $600, and lots of nice fixed wheelsets were on Craigslist for $100 recently. Those are the two biggest expenses: frame and wheels. 

Philip

www.biketinker.com

On Wednesday, January 7, 2015 at 4:33:00 PM UTC-8, N. Llama wrote:

[Eric Daume]

All City Space Pony is another good bet, although the dropouts don't have quite the adjustment range of the QB or even the Cross Check.

If you're really poor, you could look for a late 70s/early 80s sport touring bike. Those have pretty generous clearance and usually short horizontal dropouts.

But I'm going to circle back around and vote for the Cross Check:
http://bikingtoplay.blogspot.com/2013/10/ways-to-build-surly-cross-check.html

On Wed, Jan 7, 2015 at 7:33 PM, N. Llama <nathan...@gmail.com> wrote:

I have suddenly become enamored with the idea of a Quickbeam type bike. Steel single speed with drop bars, V or canti brakes, take at least a 28mm tire, and a rear rack, nothing too crazy, but geared low enough to make for my commute and some of the rail trails around here. Fenders eyelets would be a plus Mostly complete I'd like the bike to come under $1600. I usually ride a 54. 

The only option I've seen so far is the Cross Check SS, Any other suggestions?

--

[Surlyprof]

For what it's worth, I was considering the Handsome Devil at one time and it was a nice bike with all the braze-ons needed for both racks and fenders.  Their single speed is the Fredward.  That comes with fenders but I'm not sure if has the braze-ons for racks.  The Devil rides nicely and I liked the geometry better than I liked my old Cross Check.  Both appeared to handle up to 40s without fenders and only 35s with fenders.  Overall, I liked the bike for the money but wanted a Hillborne.

John

[Matt]

I'm sure you could find a used quickbeam/simpleone and build it up for your budget.

But, on the 'po man front, I got pretty excited when I read out about the New Albion Privateer today.  

http://newalbioncycles.com/privateer1/

$280 for frame  http://store.somafab.com/newalprfr.html

Produced through the Soma/Pake folks at Merry Cycles.

On Wednesday, January 7, 2015 at 7:33:00 PM UTC-5, N. Llama wrote:

[Kieran J]

I've heard positive things about the Nature Boy and I've seen a couple of them around town. The blue colourway is quite sharp.

KJ

[Carla Waugh]

I have a Handsome Devil that is blue that I am not saying is a poor mans QB. It has been in drop bar mode as a 1x7 and is currently set up as a SS so its very versatile. I run a Wald front basket and rear panniers on it. I also have Rivendell Jack Browns on and bamboo fenders. It is a fun ride set up either way. You see very few in Oklahoma as would be the case with a QB or any Rivendell. I have seen a SH IN OKC and it was a beauty.

On Wednesday, January 7, 2015 at 6:33:00 PM UTC-6, N. Llama wrote:

[pb]

Gosh, it seems that the OP, Mr. Llama, has abandoned this thread. Mr. Llama? Paging Mr. Llama? Are you busy buildingng a bicycle?

I thought that a poor man's (tastefull) fixie was a Raleigh International with a single cog.

- pb

[Dave Johnston]

You never know what you will find in the used market.
I have been meaning on posting this Miele lugged touring frame on craiglist or can bring it to the Westminster bike swap.
About a 57cm I think. Made in Canada, fairly long horizontal dropouts, Cantis and full touring braze-ons, including mid fork mounts. Slack angles. Room for 35mm tires and fenders.
About $120 for DC to Richmond, Va area pickup.

-Dave J

[EGNolan]

This has been my experience. Though not exactly poor or tasteful, I do have an International & when SS or fixed it rides as well as when geared.

 

Best,

Eric

Indpls

[Joe Bernard]

Them there's this. Not quite a poor man's, but it's steel and has two speeds, which is the closest I can get to pretending it's Quickbeamish. And they still make them, so that's a plus. Pretty bike.

http://spotbrand.com/bikes/product-page/dualie/