08 Avanti Pista?

General Help
1

I’ve been racing the Hobart Wheelers Track Series on my Surly Steamroller… ah, I’ve completed 3 rounds on it and have found it to be ok but not er, an ‘awesome’ ride… The geometery on the Steamroller is more geared towards street and the handling on the track is kinda slow and it doesn’t sprint anywhere as nicely or aggressively as my mates full-blown track frames…

well, my wife has ok’d an upgrade of up to about 900 …falling within this category is the 08 Avanti Pista ($850) …it looks to be ok on paper but not having seen one in the flesh I have a fe w questions to ask and am hoping someone out there can answer them for me…

Is the Pista heavy? or light?? (keeping the comparison to a steel framed bike)

What does it handle like on the track? does it sprint well??

What are the FSA cranks like?

Is it worth the coin or would the money be better spent on something else? If so, what??

Ah, also I’ll add that I have a set of Mavic Ellispe wheels that I run for track and would be strapping these to any new purchase so the wheelset on the Pista or other is not important!

Please help!
Ben

2

You already have some nice wheels. I’d say use the money to get a nice frameset (even used) and transfer the parts over. No point buying a basic bike where alot of the $$$ goes to cheap parts you won’t even need/use.

Des

3

Agreed. If you’ve got good wheels already, spend $500 on a good 2nd-hand frame and $400 on parts. It’ll require a little judicious shopping, but you’ll get a much better bike than the stock pista. Although, if you can pick one up, the Pista frame would be OK – they seem to be decent – but the stock parts spec on the complete bike is pretty crap.

4

I know of a brand new Medium PISTA frame going cheap.

PM if you want the contact.

PS: Its in BRIS, but shipping isn’t hard.

5

Thanks for the advice guys… I had a look at an 07 Pista at Track last night… and I agree, the stock parts are pretty nasty… so think I’ll keep hunting about for a frame only and build it up… Cheers! Ben

p.s Rhino, I pm’d ya!