Dolan Pre Cursa Track/Grass track/Hill Climb/Winter bike

Paul 8v

I built this up as a jack of all trades, I wanted a single speed cross bike to tow my sons baby trailer round the park and that got me thinking I could get a grass track bike and race it as well then it evolved into this multirole machine which I will also use for some indoor track riding and some hillclimbs.








Front brake for the road.


Concession to hydration for road duties.


Grass track tyres, very tight but they do fit!



Spec is as follows:

Frame: Dolan Pre Cursa
Fork: Alpina winter fork with clearance for grass track tyre.
Headset: Alpina
Stem: Deda Zero 01 100mm
Bars: Deda RH01 440mm
Seatpin: Alpina
Saddle: Skunkworks edition Specialized carbon with ti rails, padding removed, work in progress!
Bottle cage: Minoura saddle rail mount with elite cage
Brake: Cyclocross lever with SRAM caliper
Bottom bracket: Sugino
Chainset: Sugino RD2 Track 48T
Chain: SRAM PC1
Pedals: Shimano M520 (To be replaced with LOOK Keo Max 2)
Wheels: Handbuilt Miche Primato pista 32H hubs, stainless spokes on Kinlin XR300
Tyres:
Road - Bontrager R1 25mm
Track and Hillclimbs - Vittoria Diamante Pro III Radiale 22mm
Grass track - Vittoria Cyclocross XN pro 32mm
Tubes: Continental Race 28 40mm valve / Cross 28 40mm Valve

simon_masterson

Brilliant! Thought of doing a similar thing myself.

Paul 8v

Thanks Simon, I hope more people do get back in to grass racing, some of our best riders started off in that!

I reckon I could also make this in to a fixed wheel TT bike without too much hassle. As it's only got the front brake it's very easy to swap the bars out. Thank god for clamps that are removable. Back in the day you would have had to buy another stem or take off all the bar tape every time!

simon_masterson

All my stems are quills - sounds a bit familiar!

Matthewfalle

Seriously cool - brilliant stuff.

Anyhow, now I'm intrigued.

As per past threads I've ben trying to build something like this but couldn't find the right tyres.

Are your forks standard road forks or did you have to specify the extra clearance?

As the frame is a track frame is there extra clearance at the rear for the tyre or does it squeeze on tight but fine? No rear brake as clearance issues or because you're running it fixed?

Apols for the questions and taking your thread sideways!

Paul 8v

Hi Matthew, no problems at all, it's very hard finding info about this!

The tyres are just a standard cyclocross tyre but the file tread ones for dry conditions. Some people still have special grass track tyres but they are few and far between, most people seem to be using something similar to these (There are a few others like the griffo xs which are very similar)

The forks are their "winter" fork which is pretty much a touring fork, I know a few guys who use a standard track fork with a ball bearing above the axle to make the axle sit further down in the fork end but that should be approached very carefully as it may not suit all forks (I've seen it on a Giant Omnium) It is apparently a trick that the guy was shown by Max Pendleton and there aren't many people that know more about grass track than him!

With the rear of the bike the tyre fits in OK but it has to sit quite far back in the track ends, I know this definitely works on this frame but it is a bit of a pain getting the right sized cog and the right length chain. I haven't had it in there with a chain on yet but 1 tooth on a sprocket different can apparently make it suddenly not fit, if the chain is lengthened it might be too far back etc, etc. It's a bit of a faff I'm told but it will go in!

I have learnt, grass track is not very straightforward, there is no online resource for it either. To be honest, the information in this thread is actually more than I've seen written on the internet!

The back isn't drilled for a brake by the way but with a fixed you don't need one anyway. If you did want one I think Dia Compe do one which clamps to the seat stay but your legs are a much better brake on a fixed wheel!

Matthewfalle

Paul 8v wrote:

Hi Matthew, no problems at all, it's very hard finding info about this!

The tyres are just a standard cyclocross tyre but the file tread ones for dry conditions. Some people still have special grass track tyres but they are few and far between, most people seem to be using something similar to these (There are a few others like the griffo xs which are very similar)

The forks are their "winter" fork which is pretty much a touring fork, I know a few guys who use a standard track fork with a ball bearing above the axle to make the axle sit further down in the fork end but that should be approached very carefully as it may not suit all forks (I've seen it on a Giant Omnium) It is apparently a trick that the guy was shown by Max Pendleton and there aren't many people that know more about grass track than him!

With the rear of the bike the tyre fits in OK but it has to sit quite far back in the track ends, I know this definitely works on this frame but it is a bit of a pain getting the right sized cog and the right length chain. I haven't had it in there with a chain on yet but 1 tooth on a sprocket different can apparently make it suddenly not fit, if the chain is lengthened it might be too far back etc, etc. It's a bit of a faff I'm told but it will go in!

I have learnt, grass track is not very straightforward, there is no online resource for it either. To be honest, the information in this thread is actually more than I've seen written on the internet!

The back isn't drilled for a brake by the way but with a fixed you don't need one anyway. If you did want one I think Dia Compe do one which clamps to the seat stay but your legs are a much better brake on a fixed wheel!

Top stuff - thank you very much indeed.