I wish I could ride to work like that. A 60 mile round trip daily would definitely keep my head right. It’s a nice conversion. Looks comfortable and built for it’s purpose.

What a great looking bike. Holy crap 30 miles without gears? You are a better man than me! There are reasons to own a road bike and a hilly 30 mile commute would be one of them. You must have monster legs.

Nice horror movie reference, badseed. So do you murder the hills on this well built single speed or do they murder you?

Cheers Punchblade. It’s actually a reference to the Nick Cave band. Oh god, the hills do indeed hurt in fact I cramped up badly on a 16% climb yesterday and had two options, grit my teeth and get over it or walk up it and then walk the remaining 8 miles to work. I rode it but I’m paying for it now! Never mind, I’ll ride it off tomorrow.

nice usable rideand sounds like it gets used alot!kudos!enjoy

cheers MJ. lugs are nothing too fancy. the frame was originally white with a black / grey wire mesh kind of effect sprayed on the top and down tubes. i can’t remember the model name but the make is LeJeune. I bought it as a brand new 105 equipped road bike in 1992 in South Africa and brought it to the UK when I moved here. In about 1996 I converted it into a road time trial bike with Profile aero and bull horn bars. In 1998 I bought a low profile TT frame and the LeJeune frame has sat neglected in the shed until its recent reincarnation as a single speed. Incidentally, I never managed to beat by personal bests for 10 and 25 mile time trials as set on this bike even on my lo-pro. This is a very quick and stiff frame. The forks are great too. My 30 mile reasonably hilly commute each way only takes about 5 minutes or so longer on this bike compared to my carbon Focus geared bike. I’m running a 46-16 and am now considering turning the lo-pro into a single speed 48-16 TT bike.

That sounds like a plan BadSeed, I’m doing the same with my blue (was grey) frame as it weighs just 5lbs. I’ve used Racing Wasp for 10mile tts at redbridge, running 48-18 free- it’s pretty tough but I haven’t really trained for it. I’d be interested to know what you do for training so I can get faster

sloman – it weighs 11kg with bottle cages etc (add another kilo with my saddle bag!! i like to be prepared when I’m miles from home). The wheels probably weigh over 2kg but they’re worth it. they’re super stiff and strong which is really important when you weigh about 93kg yourself (I am 6’2″).
Wasptamer – Redbridge, not far from me then. I’m an Essex boy and the Tour of Britain finishes in my home town in a fortnight. I’ll be at the finish. I haven’t raced for a few years now and my plans to start again this year were put on hold after I picked up a nasty virus in April which really messed me up. I used to race with only a rear 7-speed mech and mainly used the top gear 53-12 but I could have done much better if i’d learnt to spin. I really need to gear down. The courses around here tend to be more “sporting” and I went off the flatter A-road courses after my minute man got killed on the A12. I was the last person he spoke to and it scared me a bit.

Yeah poor bloke had only just retired at 57. He took the mick out of me for wearing a lid but then ended up going head first into a broken down van. Helmet may have saved him but who knows for sure. I always wear a lid as he’s not the first person I’ve known to die from head injuries. I know the sceptics say they don’t guarantee safety but I’ll still not tempt fate!