Out of curiosity for the fixed gear cycling scene, I decided to build my own fixed gear bike. This build will take ages as I've promised my fiancee to put this on the very bottom of my spending priorities as our wedding is getting pretty close.
The frame is an OEM Leader 721. The seller claims it to be the exact same thing as the original 721 except that the head tube will not don the hydro formed Leader badge. A bit of research and image comparisons lead me to believe that this frame came from the same factory as its badged cousin, but I could be wrong. I got it for US$137.5 (converted). At the bottom bracket, it says XTASY on the drive side and the serial code on the opposite edge. It came in red, which I liked, but I preferred to have it powder coated in Laguna Seca Blue. So I did the gruesome stripping work and I have to say that the factory coating on this frame is so tough that I can't even get the paint of the small corners along the welds. At the moment, sand blasting this thing would be the only solution to completely strip off all the paint.
This is the (almost) raw frame.
The drop outs look very much Leader-like. It comes with those U-shaped metal guard things, but not shown here. The drop out design also resembles the Black Label frames of State Bicycle Co., including the location of the holes you see here in this photo.
The welds at the Head Tube. You'll see that the paint is not completely removed.
Welds at the Seat Tube. It looks a bit smoothed out but it's only because I sanded that thing out of frustration.
I hope I did make the right choice as the Aventon Cordova looks pretty awesome with its smooth welds. I'll post more photos upon request.
