Republic Bike Shop is currently having a really great deal on their custom bicycles. Normally, they sell for $500, but right now they are $344 ($378 if you include shipping to continental US). The awesome thing, other than the ability to custom-build your bicycle with your own colors, is that every Republic Aristotle bicycle comes with a flip-flop hub allowing you to go from free-wheel to fixed in just a matter of minutes. I’m sure some fixed enthusiast will say that it’s not as good, but for someone like me who’s just riding casually, this is a pretty sweet deal.
Here’s a close-up of that flip-flop hub available on every Aristotle bike. If you want to get a sense of how beautiful these bicycles are, check out the gallery at Republic. As for the color combo shown above, that’s the bike I’m seriously about to order any minute now. *DROOL*
This is a steal. Nice color combination. might get another one soon!
Funny I JUST stumbled upon these last night. I’m not a super experienced rider and need something affordable that will also allow me to have some fun when I take my 4 year old out.
I think I’m going to order one right now!
Too bad it’s only for the north-american market. Id buy one, maybe two ritght this instant. We don’t have any really budget “build-up”-bikes here.
Ive read some other reviews for this bike and most of them say that the frame is nice but the no-name components need to be replaced upon buying the bike.
uhh when it comes in the mail which side is the hub on?
I bought one. It is a rip off. The only thing good on it is the frame/forks, neck, the handle bars are nice, and the brakes are great quality. The pedals are okay but I replaced them. Everything else is crap. Beware that the crank set is not a real track bike crank set, its a very low end 44t crank that goes nowhere fast. It is not a standard track crank so if you want to use a standard fixie chain ring you will need to buy a larger crank set and trust me you will. The cogs both fixed and free wheel are pretty decent, I’m not too big on high end cogs. The wheels suck, they are deep V wheels designed for bikes without brakes, even though Republic puts brakes on them anyways. The worst part is they are 700×18/23c SCHRAEDER VALVE! To make matters worse is it is like a 44mm valve or something irregular. I tried making a normal schraerder valve tube work but it causes a large bulge. I finally had to buy a normal wheel set with presta valve holes because I could not find the tube anywhere. The only people I found who supplied the tube was Republic. So if you buy one, expect to change the crank and possibly the wheels if you get sick of trying to find tubes online like I did. Oh yeah, and the seat is horrible, definately invest in a nice road bike seat because the one it comes with must be off a little kids bike or something, feels like its gonna break your tail bone. My advice, go to a bike store and pick a bike you could test ride and do your research because I didn’t know much about fixies and solely went off of the picture before I purchased. Big mistake, same amount of money I invested in this steel republic, I could have got a specialized globe or any other high quality fixie.