>>1034183As cheap old bikes go that's pretty good. It's a relatively big frame though, you'll need to be 6'-6'4" to ride it comfortably (out of curiosity do people in Oz typically describe height in cm or feet?)
>>1034184>>1034185If you're comfortable on a 56cm Dolan, I would expect you'll be happiest on a 56 or 54 Sequoia, not any smaller or you'll start having odd fitting issues (saddle too far aft, giant stack of spacers/stem) without getting any additional benefit. Without knowing more about your hip issues and seeing your posture it's not possible to say for sure what's going to work best, but 54 or 56 are the frame sizes I'd put you on to test ride.
>>1034105If your brake calipers are a model with longer arms than those, then I'd look at upgrading (just go straight to modern dual pivots, centerpulls will require cable stops that you probably don't already have) because cheap single pivots with long arms flex too much.
If yours have shorter arms like in your picture, then I'd start by trying new pads, the problem could just be that your old pads are dried out and rock hard, and new basic brake pads are cheap.
