The Undefeated II Black & White Edition from State Bicycle Co is a fixed gear race-ready bike for cycling enthusiasts. The premium aluminum frame is well-made, the bike is light as hell and it’s fun to ride. Let’s take a look.
The State Bicycle Co makes limited run bikes that are high quality. The beauty of those limited runs is that the company is constantly revising and innovating their designs to make their bikes better each time and don’t get locked into any one type of build.
Packed with Love
Unboxing the Undefeated II B&W was a pleasure and the paint job was hard not to notice, it’ll make you go ooooo wow. The bike is very thoughtfully packed, tied together just right. There are plastic bolt caps and fork protector as well as cardboard wrapping, shielding and/or securing everything, even the wheels. We were impressed with the packing job. There aren’t a lot of instructions but if you’re making this purchase you’ll probably able to put the major components of a bike together.
Specs
The bike is very light at just 15 lbs 6oz out of the box for the 55cm frame. It can also be customized with a select set of available/optional components including handle bars, wheels, pedals, chain, saddle as well as some accessories like a water bottle, bike pump, flat tire, helmet, bundle, lights & bike locks.
Our UDII B&W comes in a 57cm frame with SRAM Omnium Cranks, Essor USA full carbon forks, Essor USA Bolt 31 wheelset w/ Michelin Dynamic Sports Tires and Ritchey seat/seat post, neck, Issi hi-vis clipless pedals and 2x handbrakes. That comes to a grand total of 17.9 lbs or 8.1 kg (no reflectors). Frame sizes available in 52, 55, 57, 59, 62cm.
The setup includes 2x basic hand brakes. They’re there, they work well enough… The handbrakes are traditional, non vbrake, non disc brake. You also get a front and rear reflector, bar tape and endcaps.
State Bicycle Co has provided the Undefeated II Black & White Edition to us so that we could provide first hand review coverage of the bicycle and our experience with it to our readers.
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- Issi Hi-Vis Clipless Pedals
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- Essor USA Full Carbon Forks
The Frame
The UDII B & W’s is made with premium rounded 7005 aluminum double butted tubes that are lighter and features an oversized and tapered head tube with Essor USA full carbon forks that match up nicely.
The combination makes for a more rigid front end that translates to quicker response times and better handling. The head tube and forks also give the frame a more aggressive stance and it looks pretty mean straight on.
Our Experience
Assembly is simple: Pump up the tires, bolt on the front tire, slide in the handle bars and seat/seatpost, position and attach hand-brakes, wrap your handle bars and add the bar ends.
The rear brake line could use just a little more sheathing. You will find it difficult to run it tight against your frame tube like you would traditionally. Instead it may be best to leave it hanging which isn’t much or use a single zip tie to secure it to your top tube.
It’s Fast.
The bike is so light and easy to ride it’s truly a fun bike to get some time with. It’s a single gear but remember it’s a race ready road bike; It’s made to put the power down on the road efficiently, so you MOVE.
Surprisingly peppy out of the gate and accelerates quickly with control. Once you’re up to speed it’s a great feeling and the ride is smooth and comfortable, just make sure you keep up. Get to a cruising speed you can maintain. Once you get comfortable you can increase. The cardio and leg workout is wonderful.
Outside of needing a slight truing we were happy with the Essor Bolt 31 wheelset. They weigh 1736 g relatively lightweight for race and sturdy for casual riding alike. The Essor wheels grip and roll well with the Michelin Dynamic Sport tires. These are all weather racing slicks for road bikes.
Fixie
When you initially ride a fixed gear bike, you might certainly be overwhelmed by the cadence you have to maintain because you have no choice. But after riding and getting more accustomed to the method, it slowly transforms to more of a rhythm. I would suggest not “letting it run” down a large steep hill the first few times you ride without some heavy caution.
It’s a niche style ride I might equate to carving aggressive turns on world cup slalom skis or on a surfboard. You’re constantly working but there’s an element of control that you can learn to use to your advantage.
The feedback from the road is tremendous (in a good way), it allows you to see and feel the ride differently. You’re able to speedup or trim off speed with more control than on a traditional multi-gear freewheel bike enabling you to fine tune your grip on the road. To use another analogy, perhaps somewhat similar to the control you gain from driving a stick shift car vs an automatic where overdrive kicks in, the difference in control can be dramatic.
We recommend picking up the Flip-Flop Hub for just $15 which will allow you to reverse the tire for each (fixed/freewheel) experience. The Flip-Flop hub provides a fixed gear on one side and a freewheel cog on the other. Simply unbolt the wheel, remove chain and reverse the wheel to change the ride style.
That’s a Wrap
The Undefeated II Black & White Edition bike from State Bicycle Co is a beauty in both looks and performance. The lightweight race-ready frame comes dressed with SRAM Omnium Cranks, Essor USA full carbon forks and Bolt 31 wheelset with Michelin road tires. The UDII B&W is an amazing quality for price and lots of fun to ride. We highly recommend the Undefeated II B&W edition bike or frame before the limited edition runs out; Awesome road bike for the money.
State Bicycle Co Undefeated II Black & White Edition $945.00
www.statebicycle.com
