Fixie from Firefox @ 13200

[Sanjay]

Firefox launches new “Flip Flop” bicycle range at Rs. 13,200

One of the prominent players in the premium bicycle segement, Firefox, has launched its new range of bicycles, named as ‘Flip Flop’. The bicycle, introduced as the latest collection in the Road Bike Collection of the company, has been priced competitively at Rs. 13,200 and will now be available for the prospective customers through its 150 outlets present in 75 cities throughout the country. The bicycle is offered in two attractive color options of Silver/Blue and Grey/Orange.

The Flip Flop bicycle incorporates a unique feature called ‘Fixie’, which company has given the name to the fixed wheel on the bicycle. Due to this, the bicycle can be used in both free wheel mode as well as fixed wheel mode, with just a simple flip of the wheel. The bike is devoid of shifters and rear suspension and has a simplistic, no-nonsense design approach. The frame of the bike is built of hybrid steel, which makes the bicycle capable of bearing the additional strength. To add in some zest, the bicycle features a front rigid fork suspension and alloy wheel rims as well.

The bike is aimed at the targeted audience of teenagers and youth, by giving them a world class design and unique feature of ‘fixie’ at a very affordable price, considering the brand prospective Firefox enjoys throughout the nation. With the introduction of Flip-Flop, Firefox aims at expanding its reach over the customers and plan to expand its business with 7 new outlets in the remaining quarter of the present financial year. Firefox also highly intends to open up 30 new stores in every forthcoming year from now.

Replied from my iPhone

[Ramkumar K R]

Never knew 'fixie' name was given by Firefox :p

Interested to know the type of steel used and weight.

[Sreepathi Pai]

Don't seem to have hired good welders. The welds on the dropouts are
ugly. And I'm somebody who usually never notices these things!

On Fri, Aug 29, 2014 at 3:37 AM, Ramkumar K R <mailtor...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Never knew 'fixie' name was given by Firefox :p
>
> Interested to know the type of steel used and weight.
>

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Sreepathi Pai

[Opendro]

Nice, though I still think that the price could still be reduced by 50% for a decent single speed flip flop. I also wish that they provided some nice mud guards at this price.

[Shyam Sundar S Iyer]

I have seen this bike on roads quite some time....it was earlier marketed or sold thorugh NMC (Nandi Marketing Company)....

It is now rebranded by Fire Fox.....

 

LA sovergin too has equivalent ones with Disc Brakes (Zoom) for less than this price...Website MRP is 12100/-

 

Its called the Cheetah

[Rohan Kini]

Im not sure about quality here as I have not ridden one, but 13k seems to be a decent 'marketable' price.

Opendro, very hard to build reliability into bikes at the price point you are talking about.

I have tried taking local frames, forks etc and trying to build a SS - comes up to atleast 10k and even then braking is crap and the ride is not that great!

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[Opendro]

13K is nice price indeed. I agreed on that.

I was imagining this way: regular heavy steel parts with slimmer diameters, just a clean design like the one in the firefox pic - that should be a good buy at around 6 to 7K. Something like http://www.decathlon.in/cycling/cycles/mountain-bikes/my-bike---7s/p-246995.htm?vid=20140214973 sells for 6.9K with 7 speed cassette. Remove the cassette, make a flip flop hub, save the shifter/cable cost. Make it around 6K. Or throw in mud guards and chain guards. Make it 7K.

I know that there is no end to the price and quality spectrum. But for a city commute, I think the kind of quality in My Bike should be decently good for the masses. My next bike will definitely be a single speed. Thus I have the option of going the flip flop way to get a taste of the fixie ride too. Just dreaming of a neat bike, not necessarily the top of the quality :)

[Sreepathi Pai]

On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 7:39 AM, Rohan Kini <rohan...@gmail.com> wrote:

Opendro, very hard to build reliability into bikes at the price point you are talking about.

I have tried taking local frames, forks etc and trying to build a SS - comes up to atleast 10k and even then braking is crap and the ride is not that great!

It may be hard to get to the 10K price point as a one-off project, but it's very doable in mass production. If you're doing it right in mass production, the cost of paying your workers will exceed material costs for a bike.

BikesDirect can put out a custom cromoly frame for their Mini Velo and retail it for $300. Very reliable, BTW and very fun to ride.

Unfortunately, the supply chain for good components in India is non-existent AFAICT. Maybe you should be attending the Indian bike expos to see what they're offering. Better still, Taiwan or China!

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Sreepathi Pai

[Shankar Shastry]

Agreed. I purchased a fixie from Malaysia for about iirc RM320 (~6500 Indian Rupees) and the only couple things I *needed* to upgrade on the bike were a sealed bottom bracket and good brakes. The upgrades cost me about 2500-3000INR, baggage was another 1200 INR so the landed cost of the bike with upgrades is still less than the 13k firefox wants to charge. Add to this that the brakes could have been much cheaper at around 1.5k if I didn't wanna bling it out. This bike is far far better than the schwinn cutters and firefoxes of the world. I only regret I didn't get a charge fixie while I was there. Next visit, perhaps.

This goes to show that you can indeed mass produce good products at an affordable price point. Also, case in point is Decathlon which atleast a couple years back used to give us really well specced bikes at a solid VFM price tag.

PS : Challenge accepted on the BSA build ;)

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[Sanjay CR]

My Thoughts

Normal Doodthwala frame the green Atlas frame coz it has the lugs which i love the most

a Quill aluminum Stem with small straight handlebar

Act 110 rims with singlespeed hubs that have sealed bearings, i have seen a few in Wheelsports. Local Spokes with nipples

Steel seat post with Decathlon Saddle

crankset again the original doodhwala ones with VP BB

Brakes from Act 110

My Estimate should cost within 10k if im not wrong !

Rohan will this work ?

Shankar ?

Opendro ?

Sree ?

Anil ?

A Local Mechanic feels he can !

[Sreepathi Pai]

I'd veto the steel seat post and (cottered) crankset. The latter isn't
going to fit on a VP BB anyway.

The frame, while it looks good, is possibly overengineered (i.e. too
heavy) for a good ride.

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Sreepathi Pai

[O p e n d r o]

Sree, that frame is to carry your heroine. Sorry ladies, I hadn't seen a flick where a heroine carries her hero ;)

[R. Venkatachalam]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K438KQtssDo

See at 1.08... Heroine not going doubles but triples... doublsing two heroes...

Your knowledge on movies is as usual poor :P

[Opendro]

LOL I had seen that movie... how could I forget! So, my apologies :-P

[Shankar Shastry]

Are you talking about the BSA?

Cottered crankset is a non issue if you are just planning to keep the frameset (and maybe a few bits like handlebar etc) and swap out everything else - especially if you replace the BB, assuming you can fit in a sealed cartridge. If you cannot fit in a sealed cartridge, you can still fit in better bearings and be done with it. Depending on the size you might want to get an italian BB (odd sizes) but generally you should be okay with a 68mm. I still need to check this out though. Might take a few months depending on where I can get an old but not beat up frameset.

If you are talking about the roadster frame, I absolutely hate the geometry so I wouldn't touch it with a 100 foot barge pole, let alone sprinkle it with nice imported bits of cycling components. For me, a doodhwala frame would be a terrible waste of good quality components. Too many things going on with the frame on braking especially. Wouldn't be worth the effort unless you really love the boat like handling on that bike.