Dolan Pre Cursa- Complete or Custom Build?
 

A follow-up to my previous thread, I've narrowed it down to a Pre-Cursa. I've fallen back in love with my Surly Pacer for longer rides, and am now just looking for a relatively inexpensive (sub- $1,000) track bike I can race on, that will also be suitable for putting around town when I decide I don't want to take the road bike out.

As I'm sure everyone does, I've made a spreadsheet pricing out the individual components included with the Pre-Cursa, and aside from the wheels which seem hard to find online, it's obviously a much more cost-effective method to buy the complete, even with shipping from the UK. Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...kE&usp=sharing

My question about wheels is, do any of you have experience with Navigator Pista's, Omega Mach-1's or even know the difference? Seems like the Omega's have a MSW, which would be nice for city-riding. I'd also be fine buying a road front wheel with a braking surface for city riding. The upgrade to Mavic Ellipses would be an additional $387... worth it?

The rest of the options seem to cover everything I want in the build... aluminum track frame, compact road drops, decent crankset, and decent wheels. Do you think there's any chance of the bike going on sale within the next few months? I was hoping to buy piece by piece and actually install a bottom bracket and crankset for the first time in my life, but I'd much rather save ~$300 by going with a complete.

Photo of a Pre-Cursa for fun:

http://f.cl.ly/items/3V2t1G1c0t1a3j0...%3A24%20PM.png

I believe there's only 1 person on this forum that has heard/ used those wheels personally.

Calling [MENTION=287172]hmdns[/MENTION]

Navigator Pista's are fine for me. At first it comes with a stock Novatec hubs which is a quite good & also well-known hubs. The rims has braking surface too so it will be good for city riding while you still have that "Ellipse" styled on your wheels (if you know what I mean). I've been using the rear for almost 6 months (but I've changed the rear hub into HB7600 28H).

I'd say, if your looking for a cheap bike with an expensive taste then go for Pre Cursa :)

*btw, nice feature on "mentions". Just received an email for it.

Don't forget the cost of shipping from the UK to the USA. I recently bought a Pre Cursa frameset, and the total shipping costs including brokerage fee exceeded $150, such that the total cost was about $400. No doubt the cost for a complete bike will be much higher due to the larger and heavier box. Also, expect to get a bad exchange rate between GBP and USB. The current base price for a Pre Cursa complete is £450, which will be over $700. It wouldn't surprise me if your total shipping costs would be $300. Personally, I prefer a true 144mm bcd track crankset like the Andel that I used, instead of the 130mm bcd Sugino RD2 road crank used on the base Pre Cursa complete. The Andel crankset with a Cobra BB will cost only about $113 at Retrogression. You can get a comparable wheelset for about $250. You may end up spending a few hundred bucks more than the base Pre Cursa complete, but will end up with something nicer and more customized.

Best way to get a hold of someone around these parts :)

Hey thanks for the Dolan stuff, the Preffisio looks awful nice at 114 GBP.

I've disabled all that stuff; way too much clutter in my inbox.

Thanks for the reply Tejano. The price for the Dolan complete plus shipping/tax to NY is the number listed in my spreadsheet ($783.58). Their listed price of £450 is the price plus shipping to the UK. £375 is the bike without shipping. Screenshot for reference: http://cl.ly/image/3E1W3o1I0e1E. From everything I can tell, it would be $783 from their shop to my door.

Not sure what a brokerage fee is though...

Personally, I don't have enough experience to care/notice a difference between 130 and 144BCD, aside from the head knowledge that 144 is the "standard" in track racing.

The brokerage fee is assessed by UPS when they manage the customs paperwork. You will actually have to pay it directly upon delivery to the UPS driver and in my case it was $35.16. This is above and beyond what you will already have paid to Dolan.

So I recently built one and was debating buying a complete. The shipping on the complete from the UK was about $300 if I remember correctly. I ended up buying the frame set with headset and seat post for $381 including shipping from a domestic dealer (DPM Sports). I went with a budget build but I'm still at $854.96.

That's exactly what my frameset would have cost me w/o the stupid UPS brokerage fee. Since I was able to re-use all the parts from my VISP or already had the parts in stock, it didn't cost me anything to build it. The only thing I need to change is the stem, which is too short, but the total cost will still be well under $500. I bought mine from Dolan because I wanted the Dolan road fork, which is drilled for a brake and has more rake than the stock Alpina track fork.

I did get the road fork. Your still doing better then me. I was envisioning spending $600 total but as you can see I'm up to $850. This is my first build and I'm learning why completes are usually a better deal.

This is why I never bought any LARGE bike-parts (moreover, fullbike) from overseas. You might consider this one. I'd just go and search to nearby bikeshop for it.

IMO with 144BCD, you can "play" more with the track chainring size since there are a lot of option for it. Less option for 130BCD chainring, makes you kinda stuck at the current ratio, can't find your own best.

You mentioned you were going to start racing in your last thread. Build your own, and go 144bcd.

I've raced three times now (won my first team sprint and team time trial last night), and definitely think this is something I want to pursue seriously for the 2014 season. With that said, I can't get over how inexpensive the complete is.

I went back through my spreadsheet, and if I build it out using a 144 BCD crankset, and comparable parts elsewhere, I'm looking at an additional $300-$400. Aside from Sugino essentially offering nothing north of a 50T ring, I don't see the HUGE downside to 130BCD at this stage in my game. If and when the time comes to swap cranks, slapping a 144BCD set for $200 onto the bike will still be cheaper than building from the ground up. And until then, I could run 50:15 or even 50:14 for a bigger gear than I can probably spin. Unless I'm missing something, sounds like the complete is the way to go. 50T chainring with a 17T and a 15T cog in the back.

Any of you know if Dolan will do an end of 2013 sale like the major brands do in the next few months that I should wait for? I'm currently racing on a hi-ten steel POS, but don't mind finishing the last 3 or 4 races of the season on it if I can save a few hundred dollars on a end-of-season sale.

In my opinion the Pre Cursa (complete bike) is the best value for money on the marked today for an "entry level" track/fixed gear bike; bought one last year for everyday use. That said, while I can't really fault the stock components in any way, I only road it for about a week before rebuilding it virtually from scratch. I'm terribly picky like that, but like I said, I can't really fault it. In your case, budget being an issue, I would definitely buy the complete bike and upgrade as you go on a need to basis.

PS
Dolan are not likely to have an end-of-season sale, but other UK/EU retailers might; you could get lucky, but personally I wouldn't bet on it. Also you might want to consider buying second-hand?