2005 Pista Concept
 

Is the Pista Concept (2005 complete bike) strictly a track racing bike?

I'm already picturing myself doing laps in the park in a heavy downpour of rain on this bike. It's probably never gonna see a velodrome though.

I did my taxes tonight and will have enough to get this once I get my refund. Nice early birthday gift and a good replacement for my Langster (I need as many reasons as I can to justify buying it, so help me out!)

I know a couple of you here have the '04 Pista Concept, what's your feedback on it??

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...=pista+concept

crustedfish did a series of reports on the frameset that he built up....

Dude! You live in Queens? Why would it not see a velodrome? Kissena is probably much close to you than the park...

The pista concept is light and stiff, but for me it was a bit too harsh for an everyday ride. If the ride quality suits you, there is only one problem with the bike -- the wheelset. For 2005, the concept comes as a whole bike, not just a frameset. Mavic's Ellipse track wheelset sucks. They look plenty nice, and the rear is double-fixed, but the chainline sucks. I measured it at about 46 or 46.5mm. Since almost all track crankset/BB combos put the chainline close to 42mm (including the Sugino 75 with matching BB which comes on the pista concept), this is a problem. The drivetrain was noisy as hell, and I'd be afraid of throwing the chain. I mean, I guess you could put in a longer BB, but then you end up with a wider Q-factor and all that. I talked to Mavic's tech support and they could give me no reason why the spacing is set up like that. Poor design.

So get a concept, but make the bike shop trade you out for some better wheels.

Kissena Velodrome is probably 4 miles from my apartment, but I'm not familiar with that area of Queens and have never put in the effort to explore.

I'll probably go there one of these days, just to check it out. I'm probably not in good enough shape to race or anything.