The Official DMF Bicycle Thread

[rsoffar]

anyone have any suggestions on a decent not super expensive track bike? Im kinda eyeing a dolan precursa frame mostly because I like the price ha also been checking out the felt tk3.

my roommates shop deals in jamis bikes, and are about to deal with giant as well so if you have any input on their track bikes Id be able to get those at cost.

Im racing mostly road this year but the roommate has been draggin me out to his track races to check em out so Im thinking I might as well get into that as well, but dont want it to be the money pit my road stuff is haha. Since it wont be used for anything other than track racing im thinking an alum frame instead of steel.

[triangleforge]

I still miss my track frame from Spicer Cycles http://spicercycles.com/ - off the rack aluminum frames starting at $399 (though I spotted a couple of specials on their site for $349) and custom starting at $499. They also have parts or can build for you if you prefer.

Mine was no-frills (well, I did spring for a custom paint color to match the kit of the team I was on at the time), solid as a rock, and a way better track bike than I was a track racer.

I'd buy another one in a heartbeat if I had a track within 500 miles of me.

Edit: Looking closer at their website, it appears Spicer mainly builds with 4130 Chromoly steel these days; mine was aluminum and that used to be all they did. I'd still be happy to have one under my roof.

[stateprez]

I'd go with the stiffest aluminum frame that you can find.  There are quite a few Giant Omniums racing at our track- they look better than the Felts and Dolans, IMO.  Fuji makes a decent stock track bike also. 

I worked at a Giant dealer in college and they had a pretty good pro deal for shop employees, if your roommate will share the love.

I love my Merckx, but I have a sneaking suspicion that after NAHBS comes to town next year, I'll be in the market again.  Stanridge, Bishop, Six Eleven, Don Walker....so much cool stuff out there.

[DRKWNG]

Went to a Trek demo day today and rode a Rumblefish on some tasty singletrack.  Wish I wouldn't have...

[rsoffar]

Had my first race of the season last night, qualifiers for a track series in prospect park. Damn did those guys made me work hard haha. It was 9 racers per heat doing the south laps at prospect (aprox 2 miles), first lap is free but every lap after that last place got dropped. Well I ended up in 4th after a crazy sprint with the guy in 5th to take him by about 4 inches, first second and third were just in a different league with 2 and 3 beating me by about 20-30 seconds and first coming in about 45-60 seconds ahead of them (if not more) haha. No one got split in different cats or anything, only 18 ppl total in the series. They had two sessions with 9 each and are gonna set up brackets from that and its going to be all head to head racing from here on out.

I had to borrow my roommates wheels but hopefully Ill have my own by next week, I noticed I need to drop at least one tooth off my cog before next week and hopefully can be a bit more competitive. It was def a blast though
now hopefully my first cat5 road race will happen this weekend, if I can wake up for the 7am sunday start time

[stateprez]

I'm not familiar with Prospect Park.  Do they run track races on a crit loop? 

I've never done seeding through an elimination race.  We normally do flying lap times.  Our track is steep (43deg) so it's pretty easy to play the "devil" and get a jump on the next to the last guy coming out of turn 4 from above.

In my 2 years of experience on the track it takes 3-4 races starting the season to figure out who's on who's level, so you can work together.  If it's flat, which I'm guessing 2 miles is, I'd slap on a 90inch and sit in until the sprint- especially if there are people more fit than you.

[rsoffar]

I'm not familiar with Prospect Park.  Do they run track races on a crit loop? 

I've never done seeding through an elimination race.  We normally do flying lap times.  Our track is steep (43deg) so it's pretty easy to play the "devil" and get a jump on the next to the last guy coming out of turn 4 from above.

In my 2 years of experience on the track it takes 3-4 races starting the season to figure out who's on who's level, so you can work together.  If it's flat, which I'm guessing 2 miles is, I'd slap on a 90inch and sit in until the sprint- especially if there are people more fit than you.

prospect park is just a big park in brooklyn with a 3.5 mile loop. Theres center street that cuts in the middle to make the 2 mile south loop. The south loop is mostly flat but the start finish is on a decent little uphill actually so it makes the final sprint interesting. This is not really a sanctioned race series (when the cops come ask we have to tell them we are just training haha) its just put on by some guys to have fun and closer to my house than the actual track. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Midnight-Keirin-Club/125417074229062?fref=ts
they do a few different series through the season and in different formats.

Next week is going to start the head to head races, going to be one lap behind a road bike at pace then let us go for a one lap sprint on the second. I was riding about a 78inch and it was really just too small for the downhill after the climb and I felt kinda limited on the uphill sprints as well (had to borrow my roommates wheels right before the race and it was the only cog and chainring I had at the time). I just bought a set of cane creek volos tubulars today for myself so Ill have my own wheels and we are going to go out and see what kind of laps we can ride on a number of different ratios before next tuesday.

I didnt think id be riding my track bike much this season but my roommate talked me into getting into this, so now since ive bought wheels Ill prob make the move to an aluminum frame eventually and start making it up to Kissena which is an actual track we have up here in queens.

[cokey]

Cops like giving speeding tickets to cyclist's in prospect.   

Sounds like fun..  one day I'll try the racing stuff...

[rsoffar]

Cops like giving speeding tickets to cyclist's in prospect.   

Sounds like fun..  one day I'll try the racing stuff...

Luckily Ive never had an issue with that in prospect, I have been stopped for speeding in central park however. Apparently there is a 20mph speed limit for cyclist there, he told me I was speeding, I said I wasnt and he told me to slow down was about the extent of it. Prospect I usually get myself in trouble for being in there too late, parks close at 1am.

[cokey]

I heard its usually on weekends once the season comes around and foot traffic is high..

[rsoffar]

ended up with this Rih this weekend. It was in the basement of my buddies shop, apparently some girl brought it in and they damaged the downtube working on it so they had to replace it for her. Its only some dents and such and as a free frame set it makes a great bike for me to ride to work and be able to lock up outside all day. Rih has a pretty cool history Ive found out looking into them and Im stoked to have a bike from Holland as thats where my family came over from before ww2. Its got really nice lug work on it, built with reynolds 531 with campy fork ends. Seems to be a pretty tight track geometry for it, gonna have the first ride to work in the am.

[triangleforge]

Nice find!!!

[rsoffar]

woohoo! Won a drawing today for this set of wheels from Horse Cycles here in brooklyn! Phil Wood hubs laced to Open Pros. 
The only problem is I dont have anything to put em on at the moment  Been thinking about taking the plunge on a custom steel frame lately....

[kopfjäger]

Sweet set of wheels. 

[triangleforge]

That's a hell of a score - worth spending the cash just to build a worthy bike around 'em!