Dolan vs BLB

Golfanatic

Hi Guys,

im starting my fixie project soon after alot of research but still havent decided on a frame, my choices are a dolan precursa (aluminium+carbon fork) or brick lane bike chromoly steel frame. wat wud you recomend? steel vs aluminium. the type of riding i'll be doing is mainly commuting maybe a bit of racing. i ride it quite tough dony go easy on it. i know the harsh ride ya get from a al but the carbon will stop that. ye see i like the geometry on the dolan

tnx for your help

blorg

What sort of racing (track or alleycats) and how important is that?

If track go for the Dolan.

Track geometry bike may not make an ideal commuter... or it may be fine, I don't know as I don't have one (have a Bowery and a Tricross.)

Golfanatic

racing wouldnt be the main thing but it would probably be track, would also train on it

blorg

Generally modern track bikes designed for compeition aim for absolute stiffness over any other consideration... worth bearing in mind.

it's mick

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Graham-Weigh-45cm-Track-Frame-with-Carbon-Forks_W0QQitemZ250529394374QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR?hash=item3a54b72ec6#ht_1260wt_734

graham weigh have some rebranded dolans for cheap. i know that one's small but they do have other sizes quite often. postage is 25 pounds too which is good.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Track-fixed-gear-Frame-Fork-700CX-48-50-52-54-56-58CM_W0QQitemZ270492301520QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR?hash=item3efa98f8d0#ht_1821wt_740

there's another cheap option too.

my choice would be the precursa... infact it was! i got one a few months ago and i love it.

Golfanatic

thats great but id say i wud buy it from my lbs and ill be using the cycle to wrk sceem. do you know if you can take the decals of the dolan

Lumen

Golfanatic wrote: »

thats great but id say i wud buy it from my lbs and ill be using the cycle to wrk sceem. do you know if you can take the decals of the dolan

You can't legitimately buy just a frameset on the CTW scheme.

Does the shop have these bikes built up? If so, can't you just take them for a ride to compare?

As far as I can tell both have brake drillings, though worth checking.

chakattack

Lumen wrote: »

You can't legitimately buy just a frameset on the CTW scheme.

Does the shop have these bikes built up? If so, can't you just take them for a ride to compare?

As far as I can tell both have brake drillings, though worth checking.

Depends what you call legitimate. Most shops will be "accommodating".

Lumen

chakattack wrote: »

Depends what you call legitimate. Most shops will be "accommodating".

There is no "depends" about it - the rules are quite clear. Just because a shop will assist in your minor tax fraud doesn't make it legit.

it's mick

you can't take the decals off, they're not even stickers. they're actually painted on.

chakattack

Lumen wrote: »

There is no "depends" about it - the rules are quite clear. Just because a shop will assist in your minor tax fraud doesn't make it legit.

The law is an ass....all the legitimately purchased and barely used bikes constitute fraud. Is someone buys a frame and rides to work regularly the objective of the scheme has been met and there's one less car on the road at commute time.

Lumen

chakattack wrote: »

The law is an ass....all the legitimately purchased and barely used bikes constitute fraud. Is someone buys a frame and rides to work regularly the objective of the scheme has been met and there's one less car on the road at commute time.

You're using morality to defend illegality, but aside from that I was only making the point that buying a frameset is not within the rules of the scheme. And FWIW, it's not fraud to buy and bike an not use it - the rules of the scheme relate to intent, not actual usage.

short circuit

Lumen wrote: »

You're using morality to defend illegality, but aside from that I was only making the point that buying a frameset is not within the rules of the scheme. And FWIW, it's not fraud to buy and bike an not use it - the rules of the scheme relate to intent, not actual usage.

When I was buying my new bike earlier this year under the CTW scheme, I was told by one bike shop that if there was anyone else at work who wasn't buying under the CTW scheme, I could get them to apply for same and use both to buy a bike of 2000 euro.

Needless to say, he did not get my business ... but as schemes go, this is one where rules seem to have been written without giving thought to how it could be enforced or policed. Its one thing passing the onus back to the employers to ensure that the employee has a resonable intent to cycle in .... but knowing how many people have claimed this benefit and the bike rack at work .... most of the bikes bought seem to be for kids/friends/relatives etc and making their way into adverts.ie.

Considering that this scheme was brought in to incentivising cycling in the same way as there is a taxback scheme for using public transport ... I think the taxback for buying public transport annual/monthly passes serves the purpose better than the bike scheme.

The bike scheme has also given rise to middlemen taking cuts on vouchers, local bike shops raising prices as people are forced to use them etc .... so not a huge fan of laws for CTW as they are currently written

Golfanatic

im buying all the bits there so im legal and i think im gonna go with the dolan but still love to hear your views

thanks