Dolan or Rose?

[SteCenturion]

@Boyfrom64

This might not be your thing but...

Something else to consider, depending on your budget & or viewpoint.

A custom steel bike from Shand, Feather, Brian Rourke, Woodrup, Genesis, Condor to name but a few.

With the exception of Genesis & Condor (I think) you can pick just about anything, frame size, geometry, kit, custom one off colours, saddles, seatposts, bar width & type, the list goes on.

This would give you a truly unique & stunning super high quality machine you may never change again.
& all at a weight penalty of around 1/2 kilo over carbon.

I am going to go for a Feather or Rourke myself when my c2w bike is bought & paid for (admittedly this might take a couple of years).

@Fab Foodie is in the process of getting his Rourke & @vernon has a very smart Woodrup in custom colours (I think).

If Dolan is your thing still, there are 2 guys on CC who both recently bought Dolan (Carbon models) who have discussed it much, I will try & find the thread.

They had an excellent experience with their purchases, one of them went to Merseyside to get fitted for theirs.

 

[vernon]

my main issue with dolan is the absolute awfulness of their website.

Don't judge a book by its cover.

 

[Fab Foodie]

@Boyfrom64 as a boyfrom63, let me ask you want you want to use the bike for? Maybe that's a better starting place for us to help?

My own experience was that I wanted to replace my very nice but 9 y/o Giant TCR that was coming to the end of it's useful.
I started thinking Carbon, but then actually thought about something more long lasting like Titanium, and then on a whim I bought a S/H 1982 Holdsworth from @biggs682 and fell in love with the feel of steel again, but I was still thinking pure road bike, I liked Ritchey and the Condor Acaccio, I thought Custom would be too expensive (and found this to be wrong), I realised neither bike would take mudguards (I ride all year round in all weathers) and the race-blades are a poor compromise .... I realized my rides were getting longer and that more often larger saddlebags were being used and I finally realised at an overweight 51 with CHD, lightweight race-bikes was not where I was heading with my riding.
So I looked at custom for a perfect fit, in 853 steel as a good price performance compromise to take 28c tyres, full mudguards and limited luggage capacity .... the frame should be comfortable but sporty. The guards quickly come off, put lightweight wheels and tyres and you can go race if you wish.

So really think about your bike needs.

I'll end-up with something like this and will be perfect for me in every way and as blingy as you want:

 

[Cyclone1]

Hi,

I and another member on here Stevey have purchased Dolan's recently. We both bought the L'Etape model but specified them differently.

The Preffisio looks stunning in the flesh, the new colours look great. I would imagine it would make a great alternative to the main stream Alu framed offerings below £1k. It can be had without the guards etc and looks then like a proper road bike.....At the basic price mark I personally would choose SRAM Rival and then add Campag Zonda wheels ( you can purchase these separately for £260, but Dolan will fit as part of the build). This then gives you a cracking Alu framed bike that looks stunning, is a rare sight on the road and carries a nice lightweight spec.

The website is fine, it can be problematic if your run an old operating system on your computer. I spent hours playing about with different specs haha!

The customer service at Dolan is excellent when you consider that they have only 3 customer facing staff. They can be hard to get hold of by phone at times, but always reply to emails. I bit the bullet and travelled up to Ormskirk to have a look at the bikes in the flesh and get fitted. I was lucky enough to be dealt with by Terry himself, character and a half but was absolutely superb to deal with.

Of the bike brands you mention you can't go wrong, it pretty much comes down to personal preference. In my case it was that I wanted a bike that was lighter, faster and as rare if not rarer than my previous bike (Cube Peloton Race) on the roads. It most certainly is that.

Jules

 

[Cyclone1]

Without guards

 

[oldfatfool]

@oldfatfool I take it you own a Rose, which model?
What makes you think of them so highly?

Yes a Xeon RS, for the money it can't be touched, very light, very responsive, and surprisingly forgiving having ridden it for 8 hours + at a time on British roads I can state for a stiff Ali frame it is amazingly comfortable. Good climber as well. Quality and finish is excellent and delivery/ packaging and communication from Rose where all you could want.

 

[Kestevan]

Mrs Kes has a Dolan Prefissio. Built up by me from a frameset rather than as a complete bike.

The frame is not a light alloy frame. It's not massively heavy either, but it's not in the CAAD10 league. The welds are "traditional" rather than smoothed out, and theres no mistaking that it's an alloy frame. Having said that, it's extremely well built and finished. The paint job is superb, with a really impressive colour depth, and quality. The frame itself has a very aggressive position, with a short head tube and reasonable reach. A slightly longer wheelbase than you'd expect softens the handling somewhat however.

There's plenty of space for 25mm tyres and guards, with inbuilt guard mounts front and rear. The bike itself has built up into a superb all rounder. It's a bike that can serve as a perfectly happy sportive/race bike, or can be equiped for light touring/commuting with guards.rack with no problems. Mrs Kes is extremely happy with the finished bike.

To be honest, for the cost of the frame-set it looks pretty hard to beat, The quality of finish appears much higher than the equivalent Ribble offering, and dealing with Dolan bikes was an absolute pleasure from start to finish.

 

[gelfy666]

i bought a frame from Dolan in their sale, the frame had a tiny mark on it so i only paid £70 for it, i then built it up with tiagra components, mostly new off ebay and forums..... the whole bike including wheels etc cost me just under £320.
Its a great bike and does what i need it to do.... definately buy from them again.

And yes the chains missing in the pic lol.

 

[Boyfrom64]

Thanks to all for your replies, it has taken me a while to get back on the site to read what has been said due to a combination of work and celebrating my wife's birthday at the weekend.

I had never really thought about a steel frame bike, mainly because I have associated steel frames with a touring type frame, which is not what I am looking for; that said I will do some research but from the quick look I have had, I am not certain that I can get what I am looking for in my price range.

If I am honest, my main concern with the Dolan Tuono SL; which is the model in their range that I have been looking at, is that it is a a Carbon frame and like all carbon frame bikes, I have a concern about the frame ever getting damaged and the ability to get it repaired.

I think that before making a final decision I will take a trip to the Dolan shop to have a look at the bikes in the flesh, so to speak, plus talk to Finaly at Rose to see if I can see / take a spin on a Xeon RS.

 

[vickster]

I have one of these, most pretty (mine was built to my spec, so rather different to the stock, frame and forks same though)

Mine is under 10kg naked

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/genesis/equilibrium-20-2013-road-bike-ec043734

 

[Boyfrom64]

@vickster can you get a genesis built with Campagnolo groupset?

 

[vickster]

I don't see why not, you can buy the frames. I had mine built with sram ( by a friend)

Here's this years http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/frames/road/equilibrium

You need long drop brakes, I essentially sourced components that matched the built spec, but added narrower bars, shorter stem, sram groupset (other than brakes which are shimano as sram don't make long drop), fulcrum wheels, hope bb (did need some spacers). I reckon, with careful shopping, the build cost around £1300, but I have a better bike with the groupset I wanted

 

[vickster]

Spec here, from another post

A friend built mine for me, as he has built many bikes before he had all the tools.

My built bike is totally different to stock:
Sram rival full groupset (excl brakes as sram don't do long drop, so those are shimano); 50-34 front, 11-32 rear
Fulcrum 5 wheels
Michelin pro 4 tyres, Schwalbe tubes
38cm pro plt bars
100mm pro stem
Pro seat post
Hope bb in gunmetal
Jagwire grey cabling
3.2mm lizard skin tape in grey
Crosslevers
Specialized oura ladies saddle
Sks chromoplastic mudguards
Topeak rack

I think the headset may be the same, or close to it! Everything was new other than tyres and rack

Stock bike http://www.evanscycles.com/products/genesis/equilibrium-20-2013-road-bike-ec043734#features

So really only the frame and forks are the same!

Here she is during the build. http://s2.photobucket.com/user/bockers/media/Cycling/20140221_007_zps8ef72a8e.jpg.html

Now sports a rack, two Lezyne bottle cages and a shiny Lezyne pump...and some rather scraped a600 spd pedals

 

[Cyclone1]

The Tuono is superb and on my visit had me changing my mind to buy it. But I managed to force myself to stick to my budget and went for the L'Etape, which I am more than happy with.

If you do visit then I'd be surprised if you don't leave as an owner of a Dolan.....

Good luck,

Jules

 

[Cyclist33]

Spec here, from another post

A friend built mine for me, as he has built many bikes before he had all the tools.

My built bike is totally different to stock:
Sram rival full groupset (excl brakes as sram don't do long drop, so those are shimano); 50-34 front, 11-32 rear
Fulcrum 5 wheels
Michelin pro 4 tyres, Schwalbe tubes
38cm pro plt bars
100mm pro stem
Pro seat post
Hope bb in gunmetal
Jagwire grey cabling
3.2mm lizard skin tape in grey
Crosslevers
Specialized oura ladies saddle
Sks chromoplastic mudguards
Topeak rack

I think the headset may be the same, or close to it! Everything was new other than tyres and rack

Stock bike http://www.evanscycles.com/products/genesis/equilibrium-20-2013-road-bike-ec043734#features

So really only the frame and forks are the same!

Here she is during the build. http://s2.photobucket.com/user/bockers/media/Cycling/20140221_007_zps8ef72a8e.jpg.html

Now sports a rack, two Lezyne bottle cages and a shiny Lezyne pump...and some rather scraped a600 spd pedals

Purrrrr!