Dolan Pre Cursa / PreCursa / Track Champion

Finally got my Pre Cursa built. Pretty happy with it.

More pics in the build thread.
http://www.lfgss.com/thread100292.html#post3737371

Swapped out my Steamroller frame just for something to do. After doing pretty much back to back rides I can now conclude that frame material, geometry and weight really don't make much difference and the only minor difference I found was the BB height putting me slightly higher and changing my position.

And yes, it is all black and lacking any imagination...

I got my dolan fxe 56cm the other day and I'm having a nightmare finding a crank that'll run the correct chainline and not foul the frame.

I tried the stronglight 2000 with a 107 bb and it fouled the frame I tried a 113mm bb and the chainline was dreadful but the cranks did not foul.

I tried a SRAM omnium crank with the standard bb and its even worse than the stronglight with the original bb! The spider fouls the frame. I'm not sure if I can get a different bb or not but I guess that would wreck the chainline?

Have I got a duff frame or should I just try some different cranks? People seem to have successfully fitted both of the cranks I've tried already. I don't really want to have to get a new wheel with a different chainline.

Any help is appreciated!

TL;DR- which cranks fit a dolan fxe without ruining the chainline?

Perhaps also ask Dolan?

You can use a spacer on the omnium BB.

Ask Butters or markypoos, I think they got Omniums to work on Mark's bike with a 1mm spacer.

Get a Halo Fix-G hub. I can run any crank and chainring I like as the hub has almost 2cm of chainline adjustment. Along with the added benefit of not having to mess around with lock rings (very easy cog changes), risk of slipping cogs when brakeless etc,.
Clearly if you hate Halo hubs then that is a non starter option!

Are you turning the crank with a wheel tightened in the rear dropouts? the sram cranks i had on mine would scrape, but once a wheel was tightened in it would compress the stays enough to clear it.

What's the max tyre size on a pre cursa?

I emailed Dolan last night as well so waiting on a response. They seem to use RD2's on their full builds so I guess they must work? Everyone seems to have different experiences fitting cranks to these frames, i'm not sure if it's just because I have a 56 but from the geo table they all should have the same rear end?

The Sram's seemed so bad (much worse than the stronglight's with a 107 BB which were just scraping a touch) I didn't try it with a tightened wheel but i'll give that a whirl this evening and i'll try and pick up a 1mm spacer as well.

Worst comes to worst i'll check out that halo hub but i'd really prefer to keep my current wheels.

Cheers for your help everyone!

I am fairy sure that Dolan changed the rear at some stage as a friend of mine has no problem with chainline, mine is a "newish" blue frame size 52 from when they came out late last year and the chainstays are wide enough to fit a MTB tyre. This causes the chainstays to be so wide that the three chainsets that I have tried (2x Stronglight 2000 and one Miche Primato) both had the issue of the spider hitting the chainstays with a 42mm or so chainline.

The Miche Primato allows me to get slightly closer to 42mm but it is still about 4mm out currently (on-one hubs) and I have tried several BBs to get it as close as I can without hitting the stays. The frame is a flawed design as far as I can tell and Dolan have been pretty clueless on the phone, nice enough people though and I got through to Terry himself!

I still think the Pre Cursa is an excellent frame at a superb price if you use a hub which gives a wide chainline.

I got my dolan fxe 56cm the other day and I'm having a nightmare finding a crank that'll run the correct chainline and not foul the frame.

I tried the stronglight 2000 with a 107 bb and it fouled the frame I tried a 113mm bb and the chainline was dreadful but the cranks did not foul.

I tried a SRAM omnium crank with the standard bb and its even worse than the stronglight with the original bb! The spider fouls the frame. I'm not sure if I can get a different bb or not but I guess that would wreck the chainline?

Have I got a duff frame or should I just try some different cranks? People seem to have successfully fitted both of the cranks I've tried already. I don't really want to have to get a new wheel with a different chainline.

Any help is appreciated!

TL;DR- which cranks fit a dolan fxe without ruining the chainline?

I got my dolan fxe 56cm the other day and I'm having a nightmare finding a crank that'll run the correct chainline and not foul the frame.

I tried the stronglight 2000 with a 107 bb and it fouled the frame I tried a 113mm bb and the chainline was dreadful but the cranks did not foul.

I tried a SRAM omnium crank with the standard bb and its even worse than the stronglight with the original bb! The spider fouls the frame. I'm not sure if I can get a different bb or not but I guess that would wreck the chainline?

Have I got a duff frame or should I just try some different cranks? People seem to have successfully fitted both of the cranks I've tried already. I don't really want to have to get a new wheel with a different chainline.

Any help is appreciated!

TL;DR- which cranks fit a dolan fxe without ruining the chainline?

Try a 111mm BB someone posted earlier that's what they run.

Get a Halo Fix-G hub. I can run any crank and chainring I like as the hub has almost 2cm of chainline adjustment. Along with the added benefit of not having to mess around with lock rings (very easy cog changes), risk of slipping cogs when brakeless etc,.
Clearly if you hate Halo hubs then that is a non starter option!

How reliable are those fix g hubs for:
A) regular changing
b) everyday skidding and for those that know me DAWSing

Tony - I think mine is one of the new batch with the (not so nice) matt black paint job. I agree they are a lovely frame, I like being able to run a bottle cage that isn't cabled tided to the frame and they have the benefit of being able to run the really wide tyres (something i'll probably never do but nice to have the option)

Fixedstar - I'll see if I can pick up a 111. All they had when I looked was a 110 or a 113 and i didn't think the 110 would have been enough.

My Dolans

Nether of which are precursas or track champs

How reliable are those fix g hubs for:
A) regular changing
b) everyday skidding and for those that know me DAWSing

Had mine for a year so far and ride brakeless. It has been great so far and I have always used wide based cogs (7mm wide) so they don't dig in to the hub body.
Regular changing the cogs just slide off and on.

Tony - I think mine is one of the new batch with the (not so nice) matt black paint job. I agree they are a lovely frame, I like being able to run a bottle cage that isn't cabled tided to the frame and they have the benefit of being able to run the really wide tyres (something i'll probably never do but nice to have the option)

Fixedstar - I'll see if I can pick up a 111. All they had when I looked was a 110 or a 113 and i didn't think the 110 would have been enough.

Sadly its the benefit of being able to run really wide tyres which fouls the chainline - you can't use the correct BB size which gives the ideal chainline (42mm in my case) as the spider hits the chainstay unfortunately.

Tony

What's the max tyre size on a pre cursa?

I believe 25c on the front with alpinas and 28c on the rear depending on where the wheel is in the dropouts.

more clearance the further back in the drop outs the wheel is, 32c would even fit in mine

28 fits absolutely fine on alpinas. and you can get to about 38 on the rear

edgar, you thought about using a 130bcd crank? I'm running an old Shimano (exage something, I think) with a 107mm bb and 42mm chainline, with no clearance issues. I got a 42t on there at the moment but had it fitted with a 52t with no problems.

Oh yeah, I got a new Pre Cursa tho not FXE but might be worth a go.

28 fits absolutely fine on alpinas.

Not all of them

The Alpina fork with eyelets even fits a 35c cyclo cross tire.

The parts I ordered came in today, so I made a mock up for my PreCursa. Looks pretty nice, I think, even with the white wheels... Not sure if I will search for black ones