Atlanta's Transportation Bicycle Shop
Feature Bike- ORIGIN Del Posado
We think that riding a fixed gear or singlespeed bicycle is the perfect choice for urban cycling. The simplicity of a bicycle with one speed can't be beat for daily use. There are
no derailleurs to worry about, and maybe no hand brakes if you are a fixed gear purist. The drive train is sturdier, providing you
go with 1/8" chain, cog, and chainring. On a sloppy day, when the cold rains come, a one speed bike is the perfect choice to make it
around town. Back in the day, cycling coaches would have you switch to fixed gear in the off-season to work on cadence, pedaling mechanics, and leg strength.
Riding fixed gear gives you incredible control over your ride, and quickly improves your pedaling motion and leg strength.
With the renewed interest in singlespeed and fixed gear bicycles, the prices on even old road frames that can be converted to fixed/singlespeed has gone through the roof. Frames that sold for $20 US before now are routinely going for $100 US on eBay and on Craigslist. Lower end track frames have doubled in price. And in our experience, neither offers a good ride for the average cyclist. The old road frames were designed to be run with gears, not as singlespeeds or fixed. Track bikes have a geometry that's designed for use on the banked tracks of the velodrome. When run on the street, they take the cycling equivalent of fighter pilot skills to ride. Many have no choice but to be run without hand brakes since the frame lacks the drilling. Due to the rake of the track forks, their handling is different than a road bikes, and most have "toe overlap" that compromises tight steering on the street.
So we were excited when the Del Posado frame and fork hit the market. It's made of the same Cromoly 4130 alloy used by a certain famous Minnesota frame manufacturer, as well as some other well know track frame builders from Italy. Yet, at a much more affordable cost. It's geometry is traditional road, much closer to the classic European front triangle design. It comes with a matching fork, as well as built in seatpost binder bolt. The fork is a threadless 1 1/8", with a cromoly steerer tube. The frame is drilled for brakes, fenders and racks, and can be run with wide tires. The sizes fit the majority of the population, with frames sizes of 50, 53, 56, and 59cm. The color scheme available is either white or black, and the decals are designed to be easily removed by hand. Many "bargain" singlespeed/fixie frames come with a BMX bottom bracket, and the corresponding "Ashtabula" one-piece crank adds a heft weight penalty to the frame, and affects performance. The Del Posdao, has an advantage, in our opinon, in that it's built with a standard road bottom bracket shell, a frame feature that, once again, is a major upgrade over other offerings in this price range.
Our question with any new bicycle is - how does it ride? In order to evaluate the Del Posado, we built up a 56cm frame, mounting a set of Blue DP18 Weinmann wheels laced with 2.0 DT Swiss spokes on Blue Origin flip-flop hubs. We set it up with a 48cm Rocket 135 BCD chainring mounted to 165 Origin cranks, a Soma 18 tooth cog on one side of the flip-flop hub, and an ACS Claws 18 tooth singlespeed cassette on the freewheel side. We added a pair of Sunlite clips and straps to Sunlite rat-trap pedals. The headset was a Ritchey Logic, and we used an Eleven81 stem and a black Summit 2" riser bars. As on all of our singlespeed or fixed builds, we added a Tektro front caliper brake and lever. The grips used were Blue Lizard Skin Logos. The seatpost we cose was a Kalloy one bolt zero setback, with an Eleven81 Cross Trail saddle. All of the components were basic, solid, entry level items that we know from experience are dependable. What we used for this build brought the retail cost of the bicycle to $399 US.
Taking it out for a test ride as a singlespeed first, the immediate first impression could be summed up in one word - solid. And that's a good thing. Many cheaper steel frames tend to be either heavy "lead sleds" with a corresponding sluggish ride, or "flexible flyers", with a whippy feel due to bad design, poor welds or cheap alloys. The Del Posado has none of these problems. It doesn't feel heavy, and the frame has the stiff feeling you with a good design, good welds, and a good alloy. Turning the cranks results in transmitting all of the power into motion down the road. The handling was exactly what you would want, and expect out of a good road frame. And unlike a a typical track frame, it will make a tight turn without toe overlap. It never flexs, even when standing to climb the steep hill behind our shop.
We have a more than few steep descents in the neighborhood behind our shop, so we and tested the bike by putting our heads down and letting the bike go. It held the line perfetly, never wavered, and held the downhill turns at speed without the "here we go feeling" that you will get with an unbalanced ride. The next test was flipping it over to run fixed. Here the bike really shined. With the road feel and balance, it was far easier to ride the roads than with a true track frame. The handling brought by the road geometry made for a more relaxed and less tense ride. It wasn't difficult to hit a track stand at the lights, especially with a front rim brake to cheat a little. Once again, a solid ride, with no loss of power from the cranks to the road. Overall the Del Posado was a very pleasant surprise, and a definitely superior one, when compared to other manufacturers's offering in this price range.
The next test was to put a rack, panniers, and fenders on the bicycle and take a trip to the grocery store for the all-important mechanic's beer run. Atlanta is not really flat anywhere, and our Berkely Park neighborhood is especially hilly. It's one reason why we spec out our fixed/singlespeeds with a smaller than normal 48x18 setup with a 70" gear, as opposed to the standard 48x16 79" gear you would find at the velodrome or a flatter area. We don't normally recommend using panniers with a fixie, as standing to climb can be treacherous, so this would be the ultimate test for the Del Posado. We made the run down the main road to Kroger's, loaded up on some good Molson XXX ale, balanced the load on each pannier, and made the trip back to the shop over the back route. This involves both climbing, and descending, several short steep hills, with the infamous climb up Berkely Avenue that typically demands an out of the sadle effort on a one speed bicycle. The Del Posado handled each climb, and each descent, like a breeze, with no wobbling, or tippiness, even when standing out of the saddle. Once again, we were floored by the handling of this relatively inexpensive bicycle.
We next swapped out the riser bars for track bars, and then for pursuit bars, and testing those configurations, with simialer results. As with all true track bars, standing and rocking on hills is a little dicey, but the Del Posado felt better than on true track frames. The pursuit, or bullhorn bars, performed best of all, adding the convenience of better wrist position with a multitude of hand positions available. While you might consider it overkill on a frame in this price range, the performance could be improved by swapping out the budget cranks for a pair of SUGINO Messenger Cranks with a matching SUGINO TH-7420 bottom bracket, or by going completely overboard with matching SUGINO 75 cranks and bottom bracket.
It wouldn't be too crazy, though. This inexpensive frame performs on par with others costing 3-5 times as much, at a much more attractive price. If you are in the market for a singlespeed or fixie that handles great on the street and won't break your budget, look no further. This is the one for you.