Track Cycling - Most cost efficent track bike

I'm looking for a decent carbon track bike, i currently have an avanti pista pro 2005 model but i'm looking for a serious upgrade, keeping money in mind what is the best track bike?

The Avanti looks pretty decent as a starter setup. I like it.

Giant offers a pretty nice bike, several of my team mates are on that.

You've got several phrases there that don't belong in the same conversation.

cost-efficient
serious upgrade
Carbon track bike

Pick two of them. There are not many affordable carbon fiber track bikes and you don't need CF for a significant upgrade from what you've got. There are great alloy bikes in between - Van Dessel Drag Strip; Tiemeyer frames are $1200 & up; Raleigh Rush Hour Pro all look a lot better that what you've got. I've seen mixes of CF and alloy under $1,000 like the Flyte Sortie which you can't buy anymore.

The only good carbon fiber frames I know of are Tescher, BT, Dolan and Anchor but they are all $2K+ for frame/fork/headset.

You can't go wrong with a Raleigh Rush Hour Pro, a Specialized Langster S-Works, Felt TK2, Bianchi Pista Concept, or a Fuji Track Pro.

If you want CF, go with the above mentioned names, along with Bridgestone (a.k.a: Anchor), BMC, Pinarello and Cervelo

I don't know anything about the avanti frame but judging from the parts that are hung on it are any of those bikes enough better to be worth purchasing?

Yeah, looking at this bike on the internet, I can't see why you'd need an upgrade, unless you're competing at the international level against guys riding $10,000 Cervelos. If that were the case, then you'd likely have a team or other organization to provide frames for you.

The new Avantis seem pretty stacked. If yours is a 2005 I'd keep the frame and look for upgradeable parts you can transfer to a new frame...go for a new tubular wheelset first then a crank with some quality rings like Sugino ZEN; not ZEN Messenger. If they're less than about $80 new they're Messengers. By the time you have swapped all the parts that could use an upgrade you'll know what frame you want to buy next. Good luck.

hey callum, if ur intrested in staying with avanti this year they have just released a CF aero frame, http://www.avantibikes.com/track/pista-pro.aspx?bid=101, the frame has a oval track fork, with a split in the middle which is angled to direct air away from the wheel http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=tech/2007/news/10-23 which claim to save as much as one minute in a one hour time trial, the frame like many others is in fact not made by avanti, it is more than likely that giant produce it and it is labelled as a avanti, the focus (a uk brand) chrono uses the same frame http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/focus-homes-in-on-carbon-for-2008-12549?img=9

cheers tom

A good carbon track frame is the Dolan. Many riders are using the frame at World Cup events.

Put a Corima disc at the back and a Planet X 80mm rim at the front and you've got a great bike for about a third of the price of a top of the range Look-Mavic iO-Mavic Eclipse set up.

the dolan is the same as the teschner frame.

i was just looking at those planet x rims the other day. does anyone know offhand if you can order just the carbon rims through them? all i've seen are wheels already built up. still not a bad deal.

Yes, you can buy the rims on there own - and they're on sale right now. A tad heavy, but they do the job.