Dolan Ares

brendan0576

I had a look at a Dolan Ares yesterday at my LBS. lovely looking bike. Just wondering what people's experience is with this frame set.

Paul Kiernan

They're good enough for The Sean Kelly team. What further endorsement do you need?

Personally I prefer the curvy shape of the Hercules.

feck sake lads

brendan0576 wrote: »

I had a look at a Dolan Ares yesterday at my LBS. lovely looking bike. Just wondering what people's experience is with this frame set.

don't know the frame your talking about but mr dolan is reckoned to be one of the best builders in the world , he built all Chris boardmans frames when he won the Olympics . seriously dont think you would go wrong buying a dolan bike no matter what model imho;)

Crow92

feck sake lads wrote: »

don't know the frame your talking about but mr dolan is reckoned to be one of the best builders in the world , he built all Chris boardmans frames when he won the Olympics . seriously dont think you would go wrong buying a dolan bike no matter what model imho;)

Was it not mike burrows who made chris boardman's winning monocoque bike?

Paul Kiernan

TBH, this one on special offer at £610 delivered looks a much better deal;).

feck sake lads

Crow92 wrote: »

Was it not mike burrows who made chris boardman's winning monocoque bike?

you may think that i couldn't possibly comment:rolleyes:

SWL

brendan0576 wrote: »

I had a look at a Dolan Ares yesterday at my LBS. lovely looking bike. Just wondering what people's experience is with this frame set.

If you are buying direct from Dolan - give them a ring. I emailed some queries and stated I was trying to buy a bike but my size was not available at least two weeks ago, business must be good because I have yet to hear back from Dolan. I can't ring myself during the day becasue of work

feck sake lads

SWL wrote: »

If you are buying direct from Dolan - give them a ring. I emailed some queries and stated I was trying to buy a bike but my size was not available at least two weeks ago, business must be good because I have yet to hear back from Dolan. I can't ring myself during the day becasue of work

i painted a guys house thats friendly with the man ,he was an irish olympic rider and a good one at that , he told me Terry Dolan made all his bikes when he was racing ,the man is a pure genius but has no business head his son does all that but he also said he was probably the nicest man he ever met in his life .

SWL

feck sake lads wrote: »

i painted a guys house thats friendly with the man ,he was an irish olympic rider and a good one at that , he told me Terry Dolan made all his bikes when he was racing ,the man is a pure genius but has no business head his son does all that but he also said he was probably the nicest man he ever met in his life .

I like the look of his bikes and now seem very good value for money; surprised they waited so long to change their business model, with his reputation Dolan could start shifting a lot of bikes, haven’t ruled them out and it would be great to get advice from the master on the correct bike fit.

feck sake lads

SWL wrote: »

I like the look of his bikes and now seem very good value for money; surprised they waited so long to change their business model, with his reputation Dolan could start shifting a lot of bikes, haven’t ruled them out and it would be great to get advice from the master on the correct bike fit.

before you go ringing him you probably wont understand one word he says as he has a very heavy Liverpool accent did i spell that right

Ken1975

brendan0576 wrote: »

I had a look at a Dolan Ares yesterday at my LBS. lovely looking bike. Just wondering what people's experience is with this frame set.

If its any use to you, I have one of the Dolan An-Post Ares bikes with SRAM Red. DT Swiss 1850wheel. 54cm Frame.
No flex in the frame / BB at all, very responsive to my pedaling action and very responsive when cornering, almost twitchy...
it handles really well and its very light, under 7kg but I have yet to verify that myself.
Id recommend the bike in a heart beat.

Donie75

I just bought a secondhand Hercules SE on the Adverts section recently. I transferred my own 105 groupset and Mavic Open Pro's onto the bike last week and took it out for a quick 30km spin on Saturday and a nice 55km spin on Sunday. I'm coming from a Specialized Alloy bike and I've never ridden a carbon bike before but I am very impressed. It was very stiff and sturdy but the ride was very smooth also. I'm a big heavy guy and it felt very comfortable. It climbs like a demon compared to my old bike and looks lovely.
I bought a new headset off Dolans and it arrived in 2 or 3 days.
I'm really looking forward to a good summer of cycling on it.

I'm still scratching my head regarding the price difference between buying a Dolan in a LBS and from the Dolan Bikes website. The LBS's are adding a serious mark up.

droidus

Hang on a sec - 'Ares'? 'Hercules'?

Are Dolan mixing their Greek and Roman deities?:mad::mad::(

Jimmy sproule

Hello everybody,,, Random question for who ever wants to help a guy out.

Ares frames do they have a longer cock pit than most other bikes? cus ive noticed that a fare few of the the An Post cycle team have quite a lot of seat post showing, which is making me think what size frame would i have to get im 6ft tall, this guy in my local bike shop said i could ride a 52cm frame if i wanted seems like a really small size frame for someone like me, but i see they do a 54cm were they didnt before. which still seem kinda small, doesnt bothar me if there is a fare bit of seat bost showing, just curious thats all.

Ken1975

@Jimmy sproule:

Im 5ft 10 and Im riding an Ares, its 52cm center to center (56 center to top). my saddle has about another 4cm to go before its at its limit (ie: lots of seat post showing which looks savage IMO), so unless you have exceptionally long legs the 52cm frame would do but if you can get the 54cm id say that would be the better fit for you.
Hope this helps

Ken

Jimmy sproule

@Ken1975

Thanks ken and sorry for taken a life time to get back to you, yea i will investigate the idea of buying an ares frame at some stage in the future, if i do go for the ares it will be getting a rather unique paint job on it. and probly pimp it to the eyeballs!! but that will be when i have the cash .. Im currently riding a 2009 Giant tcr Advance 2 with sram force on it witch i put on her at the start of the year, im very happy with the bike but i have her a fare while now and i do find my self looking at other bikes and frame sets, ill make a move on somthing mabey next year or the year after but what ever i go for its gona be pimped to the max!!
merry christmas by the way

thanks jimmy