London Fixed-gear and Single-speed

Hi,

I'm building a single speed to replace the trusty rusty old mountain bike that currently gets me around London.

I'm a bit new to all this building from scratch malarkey and need some help. There's lots of useful stuff here but also a lot of "700/26 with 15.5 sprocker bracket" type chat which is quite confusing.

so my first question.

If I'm buying parts which are reputable brands and which are worth avoiding?

I've got my eye on a Stronglight crankset/chainring. Apparently it needs a 118mm square taper bottom bracket. Are these guys any good?

I also need a set of wheels. Any recommendations?

I'm on a tight budget, but dont want heavy crap or anything that will fall apart after only a couple of months.

Thanking you very much kindingly.

Check the Bikes and Bits thread, endless lists if stuff there which are well helpful and you can ask specific questions there too

and of course, don't buy a unipack

+1 to alockett..

Check out the 'list of lists' and you'll find some part listings/recommendations..

carfee if your on a tight budget, buy what you can afford and then upgrade accordingly. Yeah good deals are to be had, and knowing what brands to aspire to, have been good in the past, is cool, but only makes sense if you know what your looking for, and as you find on the forum one man's better than sliced bread, is another mans floating turd.
my advice, check out the transmission thread for the most important bit of info you'll need for your bike, apart from getting the right sized frame, and that is getting a straight chainline.
Take your bike to a bike shop, and get the info on the frame, if you don't know already, find out what bottom bracket you've got, what the threading is on it, find out the spacing on your rear dropouts, as the size of the rear hub, drives what length bottom bracket you need, and then you can figure out cranks/chainrings, so you get a good straight chainline.
You'll see the brands that people use in the transmission database, quick search on the forum in the classifieds, or on ebay will tell you the costs and from there you can decide which is within your budget.

unipack

sugino...

beautifully put, made me giggle to myself

Shimano, obviously...

Cheers chaps. All very useful stuff.

Just to say, I've just bought an IRO Highlander frame from someone on here but am yet to pick it up, so any tips on that would be great.

I am very grateful. Ta.

pick it up with your hands, defo!

avoid everything you can't actually touch

Definitely avoid Nestle.

Stamped sprockets arent worth the little money they cost (cant remember the main brand right now).

Check around (ie search here) before buying a chain. there are some cheap good ones and some less cheap crap ones.

Ambrosio crankset apparently :(
Regards,
Disgruntled in Dublin

Evan Campagnolo, Phil Wood, Chris King, Sugino (or whatever you consider the Tescos Finest range of cycling bits) will break.

It's all about getting knowledge to get the right part, fitted right, in the right way. Then looked after right.

Step 1 is Sheldon.

Is that their Welsh cousin's operation?

Haha, my bad.

I'd definitely ride Evan Campagnolo, or Gavin Tommasini parts.

Spend your money on a good quality tubing steel frame that fits you correctly, have a sealed bottom bracket of good quality installed by a professional, and get some system ex, ambrosio, etc hubs laced 32 to a pair of Mavic open sport rims, everything else will follow/be upgradeable