Is this your first bike?

You should really check out the beginner advice thread and the $200-600 thread in addition to this one. There's a lot of helpful advice in there including SIZING. KNOWING YOUR SIZE IS SUPER IMPORTANT SO KNOW THAT FIRST.

Also, if you're in this price bracket and you don't already have the essential bike accessories:

• A Front Brake and Lever and Cable if you're not sure what sizes you need make a post in the weekly questions thread. Some of the bikes I suggest have one already, but if they don't GET ONE.
  
  
• A Floor Pump
  
  
• A Metric Hex Set
  
  
• A 15mm wrench if your wheels require it (most do)
  
  
• A Lockring Tool 100% essential if you plan to ride fixed
  
  
• Some Grease
  
  
• Good pedals! Clips and straps, bmx straps, or clipless can all benefit greatly from a little extra cash.
  
  
• A helmet
  
  Note there are other options for all of these that could allow you to save money/space/whatever, but you won't go wrong with what I linked. I'd really suggest having these even if it means you go down a price bracket on the actual bike, they'll all come in handy.
  
  

  New Bikes
  

  
  

• An Upgraded Dolan Precursa at £Whateveryouwanttospend is just so customizable and awesome and the pricing is great and really everyone should get this if they can. I'd highly suggest opting for the front brake, miche pistard clincher wheelset (tubular if you're riding track ONLY), and sugino75 crankset options. You can even get direct drives for only £109 extra ( a $500 crankset whaaaat) so that's cool. If you really want to dive headfirst you can get clipless pedals too, but if you don't know what those are definitely make a post in the weekly questions thread.
  
  
• The Specialized Langster at $650 retail is a super solid street and track bike. They go on sale sometimes for less and for $600 or less it's really a no brainer.
  
  
• The Wabi Classic at $750 has been my go to recommendation for a long time. It's made of super high quality steel has excellent customization options, and is all around awesome. The biggest downside is the super relaxed geo. If you want something that rides more like an average road bike check out the Special or Lightning
  
  
• The PoloandBike Williamsburg at £760 is a great option for European riders. The name brand finishing kit and artchetype rims give it that custom bike feel for a good value complete bike. If you swap out the front tire and maybe upgrade the crank this bike can be truly superb.
  
  
• The All-City Big Block at $950 is easily the best looking bike on this list imo, but that aside it's a super ultra double awesome track bike. Really well rounded and could easily be the last fixed gear you buy. One thing to watch out for is the long top tubes that all city loves so much so take a close look at that geo chart.
  
  

  Used Bikes
  

  
  Another great thing about this price bracket is the used market. I daresay it is easy to find outstanding value bikes used in this price range if you know what you're doing. I helped a friend source this for $1100 and we were being choosey! Again, if you need help post in the questions thread or just PM me because I like helping people with this stuff.
  
  
  
  
  
  

If you know the shop guys, they might do it for free if you bring 'em a six pack. If you buy the brake from a shop, they might install it for you.

Honestly, though, installing brakes is pretty simple - you remove the bolt and washer, slide the pin in through the hole in the fork, and then put the washer and bolt back on. Tighten it down. The rest of it's just getting the cable tension and pad placement right, which you'll need to deal with on your own some day anyway.

The lever, on the other hand, depends on what sort you're going with. There are basically three options (I'm linking Amazon, but that's just because it was easy for me to search; you may find better deals than what I'm linking to, I just want to be clear about the sorts of levers I'm talking about - and furthermore, the ones I link might not even match the bar diameter for the bike in question):

• Bar-end levers pretty much only work on bullhorns. I believe that some will work fine with chop'n'flop bars and some will not.
  
  
• Road levers will look a bit goofy mounted on bullhorns, but will totally work.
  
  
• Mountain-style levers - be careful that you're picking up some that will fit road bars, and be careful that they have the right amount of "pull" (this will be dependent on the set of brakes that you have).
  
  If the bike comes with a brake, I'd try mounting that on the front first; if it works, you've saved yourself some money, and if it doesn't, you may gain some knowledge about what in particular you need (possibly, for example, you can get by with just getting a different center pin).

You'll want a shorter stem, but probably one with as much height. Tektro RL-340 (RL341 if you aren't a fucking 6ft+ giant), Shimano BL-R400, Cane Creek SCR-5 Brake Lever.

The stem you choose not only has to fit the clamping diameter of the bars you choose, it must also be the right length and rise to fit your bars.

It's probably easier to pick out a set of drop bars and buy the appropriate stem. Bars require a certain clamp diameter on the stem, so buy the bar first, then find the stem that's the right length with the right clamp diameter. Bars have different inherent reach, so you need to include that reach in your calculation of total reach (frame + stem + bar) before you can buy a stem.

Nobody can tell you every component to buy to make your bike do what you want. There are too many variables.

If you are going hydraulic, I love my Shimano SLX brakes.

I went OTB a couple months ago and smashed the front brake lever to pieces (crappy Tektro stock brakes), so I decided to replace and upgrade. The SLXs are awesome. The levers are super responsive. I had to mash the tektro levers to get them to stop, but these brakes apply a ton of force without me death-gripping them. They have tons of stopping power too...and I'm a big dude. (MTB is my have-fun-while-losing-weight strategy).

If there's nothing else wrong with your bike and you don't want to drop a ton of cash on a new bike with better components, then I say upgrade the brakes.

I went with these levers and they worked out great! No cutting required. 👌🏽

Mechanical disc. I had a Malus for a while, not a terrible bike. I got two of these: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B003UP7XPM/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Fit great.

I agree that those are great levers, but they do NOT have a quick adjust for reach (the distance to the bar). The quick adjust on the Speed Dial 7 levers is for changing the pull ratio; that's all.

The adjustment for reach is the 3mm hex screw that can be seen just barely sticking out near the lever's pivot point. This gets threaded in and pushes the lever's default position back towards the bar.

Reach is not an adjustment that gets changed very often, so once you have it set all is good.

(This all said, if the cable pull ratio adjustment isn't needed then the Avid FR5 lever is quite sufficient. It's basically the same, but cheaper because it lacks that adjustment.

To be fair, it's hard to make a bad set of single speed brake lever. I really like the contour of the levers though, as they give a bit of extra leverage when braking from the hoods and drops thanks to that little dip in the lever.

They come in black too if the gum isn't your style link. I use the more basic all black ones without the cool vintage drillium look, but that wouldn't do your bike justice.

Getting separate levers and shifters is much better, no reason to get one of those giant all-in-ones. I like [these](Black Ops BMX Bent Brake Levers, RH (rear), Silver/Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BMT0A8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_x1dsybB08F3GY) brake levers. Then you just need some 7 speed triggers. Amazon seems to have limited choices, but they're easy to find at a shop.

*the mobile formatting is messing with me.

Haha $70+ in levers later... I'm in Canada do so the dollar difference hurts. Oww, my wallet. But yes, having the push button release on cable tension should be convenient, especially since my cantis can be a pain to fiddle with. Your levers look good! They're reasonably compact too, which is nice. I figure I'll keep my old levers around for a while just in case I have a bad case of regret. I bought NOS hoods for them off ebay last year and never got around to re-wrapping the bars. Which, small mercies? Here's a nice comparison of the Cane Creek vs the TRPs ... damn but they are weird looking. ohgodwhathaveIdone....

Also sorry to hear about the crash! Funny about the low trail. I wonder if that holds true across the different sizes of that frame. Looks like you're well set up for front loads, then!

I was doing the same thing as you with my commuter; regular road drop bar brakes on bullhorns. I recently switched to TT style levers that stick into the end of the bars with the cable routed so they run cleanly along the bars underneath the tape and I love it. You should check it out as an option.

Something like this.

Specialized Sirus Pro - $1450

Plus:

FSA Drop Bar: $30


SRAM Apex Shifters: $300

Cabling: ~$20

Equals a $1800 total.

But an equivalently spec'd bike with drop bars:

Specialized Allez Comp Apex: $1550

You couldn't make a decent conversion from one to the other for $100. Sure if you want to use crappy components you can always find some cheaper route, but if you want a bike that runs well it's almost always cheaper to buy a drop-bar bike and pony up the extra cash than it is to buy a flat-bar bike and think that you can easily convert it for a reasonable price to drop-bar later.

This is true but with a caveat: mtb levers will not work on bullhorns bc they can't get around the bend of the bars. If you do decide to go with pull levers you need to look for cyclocross levers, otherwise known asin-line levers. There are those out there that feel this unsafe because it functions differently than the typical set up but imo this is a totally acceptable route to go, and several single speed companies ship new bikes with these levers and I've often run then this way myself.

I would highly recommend the monolever for the gyro. It's a huge upgrade.

ODYSSEY M-2 Levers https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VT2FNU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_3l0KDbEJN7FP6

i'm really happy how these look and function. Bit pricey for some.

I've done a chop 'n flop as well and the best levers I found were these.

Yes, you can do that. You would need to get a set of brakes made for drop bars (there's tons to choose from) and then you'd have to replace your existing brakes on the horizonal bars with something like this:
http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/in-line-brake-levers-cross-levers

http://www.amazon.com/Nashbar-In-line-Brake-Levers/dp/B004UMC6FG

That being said, I would imagine it would be much more comfortable using regular drop bars. I feel like having "bar-end drops" would be a very wide stance when in the drops that wouldn't be comfortable (or terribly aero). In that case you would need to get new shifters as well (or preferably integrated shifter/brakes).

You have been more than helpful, my friend. A thousand times, thank you, especially for the Ebay link and the oil suggestion. Now, my next question is this: Do I have to replace it with the original type of bar, or can I get one like this? It feels terribly sacrilegious to put on a different piece, but my wallet can't handle sentimentality if it doesn't have to.

Don't use inline brake levers, use some like these. I'm sure you could find some cheaper

Origin 8 makes some sweet vintage looking modern levers: Clasiq brake lever

So does Dia Compe

These are levers specifically designed for smaller hands, they may help.

http://www.amazon.com/BRAKE-LEVER-TEKTRO-R100A-SHORT/dp/B0047EPA2I

http://www.amazon.com/Cane-Creek-SCR-5c-Compact-Levers/dp/B001GSQO32/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1403147702&sr=1-1&keywords=Cane+Creek+SCR-5c

Brake Lever

10 bucks close enough?

Tektro RL720 Aluminum Cross levers, 24.0 clamp https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001AYKR8A/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_FIb6CbGKWPX1Z

>This to my knowledge is the only thing that's going to work. I use one on my drop bar near the stem so its out of the way. You can also look cooler, ditch the brake, and buy more tires and shoes. Up to you! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N8V20D2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1