SideburnsJokes

I am looking to purchase a track bike in the $500-$800 range. I'm more interested in steel frames, because I will be doing city-riding with this bike. I'm looking at the Bianchi Pista, the Mercier KiloTT, and the MTB Messenger. Does anyone have any reccomendations relative to these three bikes? Does anyone have any reccomendations about other new or used bikes that would be in that range?

hyperRevue

$500-800 complete?

SideburnsJokes

500-800 out of the box, plus 200-300 on upgrades after a month or two.

hyperRevue

Well, Pista is around $650. Mercier and Motobecane are, what, in the $300 range?
People on here have had fine experiences with those Ebay bikes and probably just has many have had bad experiences. I personally would not buy one.

I love my Pista.
Have had in 2 years and it has very few original parts and unlike the Ebay bikes, nothing really NEEDS to be upgraded right away. With the Mericer and Motobecane you'd better put new wheels on it asap.

That said, I would recommand buying an IRO Angus ($630 out of the box). If you do that you can forget that 2-3 month upgrade.

na975

save your denero and buy/build a good no compremise bike.

SideburnsJokes

What frame(s) would you reccomend? And about what percentage of my total expenditure should the frame be?

hyperRevue

Frames I'd Recommand:

Bareknuckle - $600
De Bernardi - $450
Soma Rush w/fork- $500
IRO Angus - $350
Pake - $290

SideburnsJokes

Both the MTB and the Mercier are $795 list. Do you have any wheelset reccos?
What would you say needs to get upgraded on a Pista?

hyperRevue

Nothing NEEDS to be upgraded on a Pista out of the box.
Wheels on the Mercier and Motobecane do NEED to be upgraded.

The Moto and Mercier "list" for $800, but I think that's a bull**** marketing ploy.

Inexpensive wheelsets - IRO hubs/Deep Vs for $250 or Ben's Bikes has Formula/Deep Vs for $200

gregg

I would take a long look at the IRO Mark V / Angus. Both get good reviews around here and Tony / IRO are great to deal with.

SideburnsJokes

If I bought the complete IRO Angus, what would you say I should upgrade? The wheelset? The saddle?

ThaRiddla

you might also look at the Raleigh Rush Hour, Specialized Langster, KHS Flite 100, Fuji Track and the Jamis Sputnik. Here's a review of the Sputnik which looks to be promising.

trons

the stock iro wheelset is great. no need to upgrade that. i'd say the comfort things - saddle, bars/stem and then maybe the cranks.

they went

any idea where a pake can be found? i've been looking all over for one

hyperRevue

I know Revolution Cycles in Madison, WI has a few.
I hear Trackstar also has some.
I found mine just by calling Soma dealers around the country until I found one my size.
Check out Soma's website for their dealer list.

hyperRevue

Nothing.
Unless you want different bars or saddle.
It's a very solid bike.

terrapin04

Check out spicer cycles as well. Not long ago I got one of his steel track frames for $275. It's a great frame for the price, and Gene is a top-notch guy who knows how to run a shop.

Fisty 'O Toole

Chill the **** out with all this talk of upgrading.

What is the ****ing pont of upgrading? Accept something as it is, or build a bike to your specs from the ground up.

xthugmurderx

i know jays pedal power in fishtown has, or at least had one, but they can order one for you. and they don't charge much, either. it's at like 500-something east girard. don't recall the cross street though.

-jason

mosscoveredhat

the 06 bianchi pista is fine for a while stock. i changed the wheels to formula hubs laced to mavic cxp 22's (they're much stronger than the Alex AT400's, plus the stock hubs are a little sticky) The 'deda'/bianchi bars are very heavy so i replaced them with some nitto pursuit bars. i like the bike. it's fine for commuting.

they went

i'll have to check that out this week

eat_raw

why?

If I were you
I'd get the cheapest 'track' bike I could find

and ride it
alot ----hit 10k

(something that most of the people here don't do)

then

you can think about UPGRADING to a better bike

there's nothing wrong with the components on the inexpensive Ebay bikes
the wheelset is fine

and here's a newsflash

better equipment won't make you faster

of course, you'll lose out on the cool factor

hyperRevue

Smoother running hubs will make it easier to go faster.

eat_raw

not at this level

and those hubs run smooth enough

yonderboy

I use a Somax wheelset for my training. They have quite a few miles on them. I lost count at around 5k when I had to change the batteries in my computer. Any Formula hub is going to be more than adequate. Yeah, the nuts get rusty, but some waterproof grease or RIG on them will stop that.

It's perfectly acceptible to buy a complete bike and replace parts as needed. Things wear out, they get replaced with better stuff. You don't have to spend high dollars for quality parts. That $35 sealed headset will probably be just as good as the $100 one, especially if you spend a lot of time in the elements.

Personal things, like bars/stem, saddle, pedals, and cranks will all be swapped out once you find what you like. If you already know what you like, then spec those when you buy the bike. Most shops will do a straight trade with you or trade-in on the stock parts.

Buy the bike you want and ride it. IRO, Bianchi, Soma, KHS/Mercier/foo will all be good frames. If you can buy one of those through your LBS, that will make your upgrades come easier.