The Best Fixed Gear Bikes for Every Budget
How to Spot Complete Fixed Gear Bikes that are Worth Your Money
There's no way around it. Most fixed gear bikes are built to rip off beginners. They tend to be made out of heavy, unreliable parts that aren't fun to ride. Most complete fixed gears are made to be bought, not ridden. But there are some fixed gear bikes that give you a fun, reliable, and dope-looking bike for your money.
As a rule of thumb, good beginner fixed gears tend to have a frameset constructed out of lightweight double-butted 4130 chromoly steel or double-butted 6061 aluminum with a carbon fork; have sealed bearing components that are maintenance-free; and come in understated color combinations with black or silver components.
Here's how to buy a good complete fixed gear bike, what you get at each price range, and my top recommendations that are actually worth your money and will be fun to ride for years to come.
How Much Should You Spend on a Fixed Gear Bike?
The sweet spot for off-the-shelf beginner fixed gears is spending around $400-600. Cheaper bikes are likely going to have reliability issues and require you to take them to shop, making them cost more than they're worth in the long run while not being as fun to ride as a good beginner fixed gear. In the bike world, you get what you pay for, and unfortunately, sometimes less.
To make things simple for you, here's my top fixed gear bikes for every budget.
*I am not sponsored or affiliated with these companies except for Wabi Cycles. While these are my personal picks, I encourage you to do your own research. With that said, these bikes strike a balance of being reliable, fun bikes for your money and being the most readily available worldwide. Please note that prices are subject to change since the time of writing.
What kind of fixed gear bike you get for $400-600
Here, you'll get a 4130 chromoly steel frameset to keep the weight down while still being plenty durable, with a lively and fun ride quality. If you've never ridden a quality bike before, these fixed gears will feel like riding a rocket ship. The components will be generic but reliable OEM components, and you should look to get sealed bearing hubs. These are a huge plus since they run buttery smooth and are maintenance free. Fixed gears in this price range will weigh around 20-21 lbs (9-9.5 kg) (the complete bike weight will vary depending on the size of the bike), giving a way breezier ride quality than hi-tensile steel fixed gears that plague this price range that normally weigh around 25 lbs (11.3 kg).
Top 3 Best Fixed Gear Bikes Under $600:
3) State 4130 Core Line - $460
The 4130 Core Line ticks a lot of the boxes for a fun to ride and reliable fixed gear. State Bicycle Co. is infamous for quality control issues though, so I recommend only buying one from a local bike shop and avoid buying one online unless you like jumping through hoops to talk to a customer service representative to resolve an issue that never should have happened in the first place (the review bike they sent me was bent out of alignment, yikes!). Once you get a 4130 Core-Line that's in good shape, it's a fun and reliable bike to ride. The only criticism I have about it is that it comes with a unicrown fork instead of a nicer-looking lugged fork. This in no way affects how the bike rides, but the competition that's worth your money includes lugged forks for an extra touch of craftsmanship. On the upside, the State 4130 Core-Line can consistently fit 28c tires, a huge plus that some of my other picks can't match.
2) Fuji Feather - $799 MSRP but constantly goes on sale
Fuji is one of the largest bike manufacturers in the world, and because of that, they can give you a pretty good beginner fixed gear at a decent price. Fuji Feathers tend to be too expensive at full MSRP, but they frequently go on sale at local bike shops since Fuji comes out with a "new" Feather model every year that's the exact same bike with a different color in reality. This means you can get a Feather at a great price of around $400-$500 if you shop around for clearances or on the used market.
1) Mercier Kilo TT - $500
The Kilo TT has reigned supreme as the best beginner fixed gear bike for the last 12+ years with a big asteriks: *It's only available in the United States. For a second big asteriks: *they recently increased the price by 25% from $400 to $500 due to increased demand and COVID ruining everything from your past 2 years, the global supply chain, and your family dinner conversations. Even with all these caveats, the Kilo TT is still a dope beginner fixed gear. Just keep in mind that they tend to have inconsistent tire clearance meaning if you want to try bigger tires in the future, they may not fit. The Kilo TT unfortunately comes with loose ball bearing hubs instead of sealed bearing hubs, meaning you'll probably want to upgrade the wheels sooner rather than later since they can be a headache to maintain. With that said, the Kilo TT is so good, I used to ride one.
What kind of fixed gear you get for $600-800
Fixed gears at this price range offer nicer OEM and some brand name components that will be stiffer and smoother to ride while keeping the weight slightly lower than entry-level fixed gears. As a rule of thumb, the more you spend on a complete fixed gear, the lighter and faster it will feel to ride. Here, you have options for 6061 aluminum fixed gears with carbon forks that offer a stiffer ride quality compared to steel bikes that some people prefer.
The 2 Best $600-800 Fixed Gear Bikes
2) Mercier Kilo TT Pro - $600
The Kilo TT Pro is exactly the same as the regular Kilo TT with a few upgrades: a Japanese-made Sugino crankset that looks and feels better to pedal and a sealed bearing hub wheelset that makes the bike run more smoothly and require even less maintenance. If you can afford it, I recommend getting the Kilo TT Pro over the base Kilo TT. That $100 difference goes a long way and gives you more than $100 worth of upgrades.
1) State Black Label v2 - $699
The State Black Label v2 is my favorite complete aluminum bike, that is once you get past State Bike Co.'s quality control issues. The Black Label is constructed out of 6061 aluminum and paired with a full carbon fork that strikes a nice balance of giving you a fast feeling bike that's also comfortable. It comes equipped with maintenance-free sealed bearing components, the wheels are reasonably lightweight, and the cranks are the track standard 144 BCD giving you more options for chainring options down the line. It also looks sick. Good bike.
What kind of fixed gear you get for $900+
This price range is for fixed gear enthusiasts. Spending $800 or more generally gives you a better bike overall than if you were to build a bike with the same budget. These bikes need little to no upgrades out of the box. Just about every single component on these bikes are reliable, fun to ride, and look excellent. If you know you like riding fixed and you have the budget for these complete bikes, this is 100% the way to go if you want to get bang for your buck while leaving little room for superfluous "upgrades." They tick all the boxes and leave little room for desire even for the biggest bike elitists.
As you go up in price, you get more options. Complete fixed gears in the $900+ price range will give you choices for higher end materials like triple-butted 7005 series aluminum or Reynolds 725 steel for even lighter bikes with ride qualities that are more tailored to what you're looking for. Lightweight, stiff aluminum for sprinting, spritely lightweight steel for long distance comfort: the choice is yours. You'll also have more choice for aggressive or relaxed geometries and the option to customize your bike's components to finely tune your bike fit. You can choose sizes and types for your handlebars, stem, chainring, cog, and pedals to make sure that your bike is as perfect as possible out of the box. These bikes will comfortably be under 20 lbs (9 kg), most around 17-19 lbs (7.7-8.6 lbs), depending on how you spec it.
Top 2 Best $800+ Fixed Gear Bikes
2) Dolan Pre Cursa - $920 + shipping from the UK:
The Dolan Pre Cursa is the Honda Civic of fixed gear bikes: it's fast, it's light, it's affordable, and you see them everywhere because they're so good. They are the gold standard when it comes to track bikes. The Pre Cursa is so popular that it's THE default rental track bike for velodromes around the world. If you want true track geometry for racing on the velodrome in a stiff and lightweight package that won't break the bank while giving you mad respect amongst the most discerning in the fixed gear crowd, this is it.
Since these do ship from the UK, it may be better to build a frameset up or buy a complete depending on shipping costs to where you're located.
1) Wabi Classic - $995 + shipping from the US
Full disclosure: Wabi sponsors my YouTube channel. They don't sponsor this blog, so I can say whatever I want about them. Here's the unfiltered truth.
The Wabi Classic is hands down the most fun, best spec'd complete bike I've ever ridden, especially for the price, and it's not even close. It's spritely and lively while still feeling robust; all the components on it are carefully handpicked to give you the lightest, most reliable fixed gear for the money; and it looks killer without looking desperate for attention. If fixed gear riding is the "gateway drug of cycling," the Wabi Classic (or any Wabi for that matter) is the crack cocaine of cycling in the best way possible. It's so fun to ride, it very well may consume your life like it has mine.
Biking and making content about biking is my full-time career, and I can ride just about any bike my heart desires. I own one bike because it's so good I don't have to own any other bike: a Wabi Special.
But Most Importantly, Just Get a Fixed Gear
It's easy to get lost in the sauce and spend way too much time weighing the minute pros and cons of each complete fixed gear bike; I certainly did that when I was shopping for my first fixed gear. If you end up really liking fixed gear riding, you're going to want to upgrade components on your bike just for the fun of it; it's pointless weighing whether the crankset on a Fuji Feather or Kilo TT is better.
Just get any bike on this list and ride it and develop your snobbish preferences as you ride more. They're all good choices, and you'll be happy with any of them. At the end of the day, all of this time you're spending researching is only good if you pull the trigger on a bike and actually ride it.
Ride on,
