Just in Exclusive! Charge Grinder

Chainguards? Expensive tubing? You don't pay for quality or practicality here, you pay for cool. Which apparently this is.

1. I never said anything about 'cool'. I'm all for cool. I'm also all for more people riding bikes, be they Grinders or Flying Pigeons.

2. Chainguards don't need to rattle. Mine doesn't rattle. Mine also performs the laudably practical function of protecting my long pants when I commute to and from work. I could care less about protecting the chain. There are many innovative, lightweight, unobtrusive chainguard designs available these days, all of which the Grinder could use. Personally, I believe one should wear specially-designed pants for fixed gear riding, or else tie a strap (and preferably a reflective one) around one's pants just above the ankle. Elsewhere, the rolling up of long pants by adults riding a bicycle brings them embarrassingly close to their long-distant childhood, in my opinion.

3. There are bikes available with Tange Prestige, or equivalent tubing from Tange competitors, at or around the Grinder's price point. Hence, from a consumer perspective, I'd expect better tubing from the Grinder.

All of the above said, I think the Grinder is an amazingly good-looking bike. It made me take notice just as much as it made you. However, as a more commuter-friendly version of the standard Plug, it could use some improvements. It could also use a somewhat lower price, given the low grade tubing.

Perhaps the Grinder will find millions of cool people willing to buy it for its cool looks, and they'll all look very cool riding their cool identical bikes around the cool parts of town, never having any uncool second thoughts about the amount of cool cash they spent to look so cool, despite the not-so-cool global economic recession and despite the cool bike alternatives with better tubing around the same pricepoint.

As for me, I'll just have to be the party spoiler, always looking for the best value-for-money possible in a bike and tying myself to the mast, like Ulysses, in order to resist the Grinder's seductive siren song.

However, you can be sure I'll join the cool, carefree herds and turn my head each and every time one of the millions of cool, amazingly beautiful Grinders passes me by, reminding me about the timeless, tempting power of beauty to make us happy, and to make us spend more money than we ought to.

Whatever my personal reservations, chapeau to Charge for designing one of the best-looking bikes I've seen recently!

For a Tange Prestige-tubed frame that can be relatively affordably built into a singlespeed/commuter, check out SOMA's 'Rush' frame.

Me thinks this is all a case of wanting the best cake in the shop for half the price.
Charge already make a Tange Prestige Frame.
Albeit the Duster mtb,they sell that for roughly £350.
We dont live in America.
So we will always pay a little bit more for our goods.
Unless we support british brands like Charge,which will filter more money back in to our own economy.
I think their range is one of the best & already own a Plug Racer & i have never seen anyone with one the same.
When they bring out the Grinder which i beleive will sell for nearer £550(Depending on exchange rate.!!).
I dont think you could build one for less.
There is after all a £170ish wheel set on the bike.
Maybe that is the next competition build the same bike,
with Tange Prestige for the same price.
Must include a bell & mudguards...

If you have Masi distribution in the UK, check out their 'Speciale Sprint' frame. Reynolds 631 tubing (bonus: unlike Tange, Reynolds happens to be British!). Could be built into a nice singlespeed w/o too much money.