Dolan Pre Cursa / PreCursa / Track Champion

A former TC owner at the velodrome this morning warned me about the seatpost clamp design flaw, which I had already read about through here. At that point we both noticed the hairline crack through the top part of the clamp area.

Fucking shit bike, crap design. Mine will hopefully hold for a while unless I overtighten it. But still, I'm really disappointed by it.

That's disappointing... I was considering this as my next bike (I'd prefer a steel bike, but everything else about the TC was right for me, geometry, components, price)...

Is it a common problem with Dolan bikes? Or just the TC in particular?

Also, this might be a question for another thread, but how different is the ride on Alu compared to Steel? Am I going to hate it if I use it as a commuter/beater on weekdays (3-4 miles), and track on weekends?