The Best First Aluminum Track Bike. Period.
The Honda Civic of Track Bikes
So you like aluminum fixed gears. Maybe you like the look with their modern, thick, aerodynamic tubing, maybe you like the boosted stiffness to weight ratio over steel bikes because it supposedly makes you go faster, or maybe you just have something against riding a bike that has the same properties as a refrigerator (stick magnet onto frame). So should you get the Aventon, the Tsunami from Aliexpress, the Leader, the State Black Label, or maybe you're a baller and go for the 100% Italian, Chinese-made Cinelli?
Well, if you're "in the know," you'll know that none of those bikes take the crown for giving you the best bang for your buck in the aluminum fixed gear/track bike space. That achievement goes squarely to the Dolan Pre Cursa. Shoutout to Matt for letting me do a bike check on his Dolan, be sure to give him a follow on Instagram @dolan_510 if you want to check out his other Dolan Needless to say, he's addicted to Dolans.
The Legend of the Dolan Pre Cursa
The Dolan Pre Cursa isn't just the best entry-level aluminum fixed gear you can and should buy, it's the best first track bike you should buy. Unlike a lot of the other aluminum fixed gears around this price (around $500 for the frameset [and yes, that is the inflated 2022 price]), there's absolutely no tweaks or compromises (depending on how you look at it) to make this bike more "practical for the street." The Pre Cursa is a track bike that was designed to be raced on the velodrome through and through: constructed out of super stiff, triple-butted 7075 aluminum with extoic but not over-the-top external butting for optimal speed-to-wattage ratios (or whatever it is trackies care about); stuck together with smooth welds to make even the most hardened of track veterans say "dang, that's a pretty good bike;" designed with a true track geometry with a tight wheelbase that has, tolerate it or hate it, a healthy dose of toe overlap. Not to mention, the Pre Cursa comes complete with an undrilled brake bridge for extra fixie points to let everyone know that you mean business and never intend on installing brakes on this true track machine, unless you want to install a front brake of course. Ok, ONE concession was made to make it more practical for the street. Speaking of the fork, the Pre Cursa comes stock with a straight-blade Alpina carbon fork. Alpina is Dolan's in-house brand, and they're one of the more reliable carbon brands on the market, none of that sketchy midnight shift China carbon here.
The Pre Cursa also comes with a matching Alpina seatpost AND headset because, despite being British, Dolan is surprisingly unfussy and isn't selling you a status symbol. They're selling you a tool that'll get you winning track races as hassle-free and as fast as possible.
Fact: People Win Big Races On Dolan Pre Cursas
If you go to Dolan's website, at first glance, you'd probably guess that they're just another dime-a-dozen midrange bike manufacturer. But lurking just beneath the surface are Dolan's catacombs of national track racing titles, world championship trophies, and Olympic gold medals. And buried underneath those accolades are the dreams of track racers that didn't ride Dolans. Dolan is just so confident in who they are that they don't even have to boast about all their achievements. Saying that people win races on Dolans isn't interesting. Bragging about that would be like bragging that people need oxygen; it's just a fact.
The Pre Cursa is THE default rental bike at velodromes around the globe because it's just that good. If fixed gear riders like to meme with beginners and say "just get a Kilo TT" the meme for trackies is "just get a Dolan Pre Cursa." It's fast, it's affordable, it's efficient, and it's one of those things where "if you know, you know." This is the Honda Civic of fixed gears. Sometimes the most common things are also the most incredible things.
One Killer Way to Build a Dolan Pre Cursa
Matt built up his Dolan Pre Cursa for the rigors of climbing hills that look like walls out in the bay area, stripped of its paint to purposefully make it look stealthier than the already stealthy matte black and to look shittier to to deter the all too prevalent Bay Area bike thieves.
Up at the cockpit, we have a set of ergonomic Cinelli bullhorns wrapped in plush Supacaz bar tape to allow the rider to get the weight over the front wheel and climb like a billy goat. The bars are attached to a stiff 31.8mm Deda Zero stem (or 31.7mm if you're Deda and want to trick people into buying your handlebars), slammed, of course, and completed with a Thomson spacer for the extra sprinkling of fixie points.
Back the captain's quarters, we have a matching Deda Zero seatpost in a tasty two toned matte and gloss black finish. Sitting on top, we have a “Specialized Gooch Scoop” saddle as Matt calls it. (In other words, he forgot the actual model name).
Moving down to the pedals, to get all the power transfer necessary to get up the Bay Area hills, we have a set of clipless Look X-Race carbon pedals for efficiency and weight savings.
The cranks are the stiff and Aero Miche Pistard Airs matched with a Miche Pistard 49 tooth chainring. In the rear, we have a 17 tooth Miche splined cog for quick cog swapping and to prevent cogs from getting seized onto the rear hub. Speaking from experience. And my favorite thing about this entire build, on the other side of the rear hub is a hilariously large 22t EAI cog, or chainring depending on how you look at it, to get up even the gnarliest of hills.
The wheels are fancy pants custom built HED Belgiums for that wide tire profile cornering goodness that would impress Russ, the supple man himself, with non-machined sidewalls so you can't chicken out and put brakes on this thing even if you wanted to. Hardcore! The rims are laced to some of the most bombproof hubs money can buy: Phil Woods, and the wheels are wrapped in the ever-reliable 25mm Continental Gatorskins.
So Good, It’s Ordinary
No, it's not the flashiest bike. No, Dolan's won't get you the most fixie points. But for the people that know what Dolan is about, what they've accomplished, and how uncompromisingly great the bikes are especially for the price, this bike will get you going even if you never ride it if you know what I mean.
Ride on,
