I am fortunate to live in Milton Ontario where a $56M velodrome is being built for the Pan Am games .
Looking for information on track bikes as there is a velodrome an hour away and would like to start riding there this winter .
Setup, brand , gearing , sizing , cost
Almost impossible to start to answer you. Are you going to do mass start, match spints or endurance/pursuit events?
A decent track bike with wheels and componets can be bought for around $800 - $1,200. Prices/cost can easily go up after that, $1,500+ for a frame, $1,000 for wheels, $500 for componets. Fuji Track Pro is a nice bike. Cervelo T3 is a great frame.
Best to decide what type of track racing you want to do, really how often you will do it, and then how much do you want to spend.
I was suggest getting on the velodrome email list and buying a used bike from somebody who’s upgrading. No need to spend a bunch money if you don’t know if you will like it. But it is the most fun you can have on a bike.
Also most tracks have loaner bikes for the beginner classes. So no need to buy one immediately.
Check out www.fixedgearfever.com it’s a good portal to a lot of good reading re track riding…
Once you have a base knowledge and know what sort of track riding your likely to do the most… Then select your track bike…
I did just that and ended up with a Planet X track pro carbon… It’s came with the 50mm carbon hoops free for 1300aud…
It’s all I’ll ever need…
Oh and get read for some pain… It’s cool…
I was suggest getting on the velodrome email list and buying a used bike from somebody who’s upgrading. No need to spend a bunch money if you don’t know if you will like it. But it is the most fun you can have on a bike.
Also most tracks have loaner bikes for the beginner classes. So no need to buy one immediately.
This.
Our drome has a fleet of Felt TK01’s with stock wheels, good for the amateurs and regulars to borrow.
The serious guys don’t do much with the frame, they’ll still show up with a TK frame but have different wheels. The cost to wreck a carbon frame, which happens, is a biggie. Most ride some ALU.
Although til you know what you’re doing, don’t ride your zipps or discs around, as you will trash a 2K wheelset, it’s a guarantee.
I was suggest getting on the velodrome email list and buying a used bike from somebody who’s upgrading. No need to spend a bunch money if you don’t know if you will like it. But it is the most fun you can have on a bike.
Also most tracks have loaner bikes for the beginner classes. So no need to buy one immediately.
This.
Our drome has a fleet of Felt TK01’s with stock wheels, good for the amateurs and regulars to borrow.
The serious guys don’t do much with the frame, they’ll still show up with a TK frame but have different wheels. The cost to wreck a carbon frame, which happens, is a biggie. Most ride some ALU.
Although til you know what you’re doing, don’t ride your zipps or discs around, as you will trash a 2K wheelset, it’s a guarantee.
For those of us who don’t know a lot about track cycling why so many wrecked carbon frames and wheels? I’ve seen it in the Olympics on in a Sufferfest video or two but otherwise ignorant.
http://www.bianchiusa.com/bikes/fixed-gear/pista/
Note sure of any dealers in Ontario.
I was suggest getting on the velodrome email list and buying a used bike from somebody who’s upgrading. No need to spend a bunch money if you don’t know if you will like it. But it is the most fun you can have on a bike.
Also most tracks have loaner bikes for the beginner classes. So no need to buy one immediately.
This.
Our drome has a fleet of Felt TK01’s with stock wheels, good for the amateurs and regulars to borrow.
The serious guys don’t do much with the frame, they’ll still show up with a TK frame but have different wheels. The cost to wreck a carbon frame, which happens, is a biggie. Most ride some ALU.
Although til you know what you’re doing, don’t ride your zipps or discs around, as you will trash a 2K wheelset, it’s a guarantee.
For those of us who don’t know a lot about track cycling why so many wrecked carbon frames and wheels? I’ve seen it in the Olympics on in a Sufferfest video or two but otherwise ignorant.
It’s not the carbon frames and wheels, per se. It’s the cost of them, for amateurs, that is the issue…so take these comments as things that apply to riders below Olympic, or top national caliber:
With track, you’ve got lots of people all trying to claim the same real estate on a banked track… If there’s a slip, a touch, you’ll go down. That’s not unlike other bike racing. And that, by itself, doesn’t cause damage, you’ll just slide to the bottom, it’ll hurt, but you and the bike will be ok.
What is unlike other bike racing is that if a few folks go down, you all end up in a pile at the bottom of the track, together, or in someone else’s line, unintentionally. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen rider x’s pedal go right through rider y’s disc as they all end up in a pile at the bottom of the track.
Same with carbon frames…they’re expensive, and generally, don’t respond well to dings. Means replacing. At the amateur level, it’s a helluva lot more cost effective to replace an ALU or Steel frame.
Here’s a representative example of what can happen: A gentle touch of wheels, and 5 riders cash their equipment (and health): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66DtgCNhHJo.
Note that there’s a rider where the frame is snapped in two. That’s why.
I was suggest getting on the velodrome email list and buying a used bike from somebody who’s upgrading. No need to spend a bunch money if you don’t know if you will like it. But it is the most fun you can have on a bike.
Also most tracks have loaner bikes for the beginner classes. So no need to buy one immediately.
This.
Our drome has a fleet of Felt TK01’s with stock wheels, good for the amateurs and regulars to borrow.
The serious guys don’t do much with the frame, they’ll still show up with a TK frame but have different wheels. The cost to wreck a carbon frame, which happens, is a biggie. Most ride some ALU.
Although til you know what you’re doing, don’t ride your zipps or discs around, as you will trash a 2K wheelset, it’s a guarantee.
For those of us who don’t know a lot about track cycling why so many wrecked carbon frames and wheels? I’ve seen it in the Olympics on in a Sufferfest video or two but otherwise ignorant.
As with criterium racing, crashes do happen on the track so that’s the main reason. You should race what you can afford to crash.
Equipment ridden on indoor tracks does need to have additional strength. At 60km/h in the turns you are pulling ~ 2G. Many wheels made for road have track versions that have extra carbon layer for extra strength. Fortunately, the minimum 6.8kg bike weight rule means the carbon track frames are pretty beefy anyway.
I just picked up another 5 USAC Collegiate national medals on my Don Walker Cycles (<click) track bike! I got taken out twice in three hard days of racing and the DWC frame is one of the few things that my fellow racers didn’t manage to break. On top of that Don builds the bike custom to you so its a perfect fit! Good luck!
Here is the second crash during the scratch race finals, in case you want to get a good laugh. https://www.facebook.com/photo.phpv=10151866185301208&set=vb.605871207&type=2&theater
Cervelo T1. Love it.
I would just get a used cheap frame till you decide to spend $5k. Trackies are way different animals than those that hang out here. If you are under 30 and have a 35 plus inch vertical leap, you might make a trackie. Those guys move pretty darn fast for a minute or so.
I would just get a used cheap frame till you decide to spend $5k. Trackies are way different animals than those that hang out here. If you are under 30 and have a 35 plus inch vertical leap, you might make a trackie. Those guys move pretty darn fast for a minute or so.
Don’t know, why you answer to me, the T1 is a 1000 USD Frame … And somehow I thought I might spend the money I earned the way I want to, even if I am no real trackie. I use the track for training only btw.
Cervelo T1 is an awesome bike. With validated aero.
Adal, my response was to the original post. The T1 is a good frame and spend your money like you want. The track is a whole different world as you well know. Those guys go real fast and I usually just try to stay out of their way when I ride on the track. I just don’t think the original poster needs to spend a whole bunch of money on a world class frame to find out if they will do well on the track.
Agree with the others to try with the rental bikes to get a feel for the track and to try different sizes. Weight doesn’t really matter that much so something solid and with the right geometry wins out over latest tech layups. The sprint track bikes tend to hold up through crashes by adding another pound of carbon fiber to what would be in a road frame. Anything like a Felt TK2, Cervelo T1, Bianchi will not be the limiting factor until you get to a point that people are giving you bikes. Besides the bike you will eventually end up with a set of cogs and chainrings with the tools to change them so budget for that too.
If it is a 250m track you need to pay a bit more attention to the geometry with steeper angles higher bottom bracket and than on the bigger tracks where the road fixies work ok.
Re the relative toughness etc of frame materials…
Worth considering what repair facilities are local to you too…
E.g. I have a carbon repair specialist ver close by where as repairing a heat treated Ali frame is not gonna happen… As for steel, repairers are available but only one and its more exe than the carbon guys…
That’s just my situation but its worth considering…
Have fun.
I just picked up another 5 USAC Collegiate national medals on my Don Walker Cycles (<click) track bike! I got taken out twice in three hard days of racing and the DWC frame is one of the few things that my fellow racers didn’t manage to break. On top of that Don builds the bike custom to you so its a perfect fit! Good luck!
Here is the second crash during the scratch race finals, in case you want to get a good laugh. https://www.facebook.com/photo.phpv=10151866185301208&set=vb.605871207&type=2&theater
What happened in the Team Sprint to get you guys DQed?
-SD
Sward, I am assuming you are talking about riding on the Forest CIty Velodrome this winter? I live in London and it is a blast and track riding sure beats the trainer. They have rental bikes there if you don’t want to drop the coin on a new bike, but the gearing on the rentals sucks if you really want to push. I was able to find a used bike on the London Centennial Wheelers forum for $400 and it was good enough for training, but I didn’t do any racing. PM me if you have any specific questions about the track or whatever.
I just picked up another 5 USAC Collegiate national medals on my Don Walker Cycles (<click) track bike! I got taken out twice in three hard days of racing and the DWC frame is one of the few things that my fellow racers didn’t manage to break. On top of that Don builds the bike custom to you so its a perfect fit! Good luck!
Here is the second crash during the scratch race finals, in case you want to get a good laugh. https://www.facebook.com/photo.phpv=10151866185301208&set=vb.605871207&type=2&theater
What happened in the Team Sprint to get you guys DQed?
-SD
That was a frustrating experience. During the first start, one of my mate’s rear wheels slipped in the dropout. On the second start our anchor snapped the chain on the loaner bike he was riding. I ended up doing two laps on the front to make up for only having 5/6 riders and we rode to what should have been the third fastest time. With all of the confusion of the evening, the officials later cited that I pulled out of the sprint lane at the start of the exchange zone and not when my bike was “completely” inside of the 15m exchange zone. We were DQ’ed, and tossed away 2nd in the team omnium. However disappointing the team sprint was, I am thrilled with my team. As a team we had one race night and one session on the track together before nats, half of us shared bikes and other equipment, and most of my riders had never touched a track bike before the MWCCC regionals event. We couldn’t have done it without the equipment that a handful of STL trackies lent us (if any of you read this - THANK YOU!)
Next fall will be my final collegiate nats so expect Lindenwood University to bring our A game.
Ohio_roadie