Jamis Sputnik Fixed Gear Road Bike Pro Review - By kwc
- 46×16 drivetrain with flip-flop fixed/single-speed hub, FSA Vero cranks
- Reynolds 631 size-specific tubing
- Ritchey Comp cockpit
- Sizes: 50, 53, 55, 57, 59 (tested), 62cm
- Weight: 18.9 lbs
- MSRP: $900
Intro
Of the various bikes I’ve ridden, none has attracted as many unsolicited, positive comments as the Jamis Sputnik. This may not seem unusual, but I’ve ridden $7000 carbon fiber masterpieces and the Sputnik is a $900 steel frame bike. It doesn’t even have gears. How is it possible that this is the coolest bike I’ve ridden? Retro simplicity. Composite materials like carbon fiber may have spurred new innovations in the field of bicycle design, but the simple, matte-black Sputnik is a modern appeal to the past. I was riding the Sputnik around Sea Otter when a kid came up to me. “Is that a Sputnik? My dad has one. It’s awesome!” That little encounter expressed the appeal of the Sputnik to me: retro enough for dad, cool enough for son.
The Sputnik is one of several bikes that Jamis is targeting at the urban commuter market. It is a “flip-flop” bike that offers a bit of versatility to this market, while still maintaining simplicity and durability. Flip-flopping may be bad in politics but its fun in a bike: the rear wheel has both a fixed-gear side and a single-speed side. Mount it one way and you have a fixed gear. Mount it the other and you have a single-speed. Jamis designed the bike for the road, so if you’re looking for a track bike you may wish to start elsewhere.
Before I get into how it rides, lets take a little detour and talk about why you would even want to ride a fixed gear or a single speed.
I have this bike and absolutely love it. I have switched out the stock crank, bars, wheelset, tires, and saddle. Now it is perfect! The stock crank is pretty cheap, and the wheels aren’t very good.
It seems odd to me that this review is so concerned w/ the flip flop hub. Nearly every fixed gear bike these days has a flip flop hub, so that’s not something that is unusual to the Sputnik.
Also, your frame of reference is obviously different than that of a regular fixed gear rider. You seem to think the Sputnik is slow and heavy at 19 lbs, but I disagree. The Sputnik is actually lighter than a lot of other fixed gear, CR-MO offerings. The carbon fiber fork helps to keep it light, and it is the only FG bike that comes w/ steel and a CF fork. A great combination, IMO. I think Jamis would be doing a disservice by putting a steel fork on the sputnik. You make a good point about the cable stops, though.
Same poster as above^^^
Also, about the CF fork, I don’t see how it changes the look of the sputnik. This bike has absolutely 0 “retro appeal.” It does not look like an old bike at all. The graphics, threadless stem, everything on it looks very modern. So, in this way, a CF fork fits perfectly w/ the look of the sputnik.
Hi Ben,
Thanks for your comments. It’s always great to have comments from owners of these bikes and from a different perspective.
To clarify, I don’t think the bike is slow because of its weight — weight honestly doesn’t matter that much on the terrain I was using it on. I think it was slow because of the wheels, which I make some reference to with regards to slowdown in the rear hub over time; I should have made this more clear in the article.
With regards to frame of reference, you’re right. I wrote this review with the perspective of people who might consider switching to fixed gear, not from the perspective of people who already own fixies. As the majority of the comments and questions I experienced while riding this bike were from the non-fixed-gear riders, I felt that this was the more important audience to address.
I just ordered this from my LBS, can’t wait to ride it. Sold my ’09 Trek 2.1 since I wanted to go for something more simple as a daily commuter, and I just don’t see myself doing super long rides anymore.
Got rid of the drops and put some straight bars on it. Still loving this bike as my daily commuter and weekend leisure rides.
The reason for the plastic clips holding on the rear cable is that these are easy to remove if one wants to run the bike as a fixed wheel with only the front brake, or perhaps to do a few laps at the velodrome.
Either way, the rear brake comes off so there’s no point in having brazed-on cable guides, which may in fact be illegal protrusions on the track. With the clips it’s easy to fit and remove the rear brake, perhaps just swapping to another bar without brake levers for track use.
Using plastic clips is totally functional mechanically, and won’t scratch the paint as metal clips will.