Originally Posted by
sstorkel
Yep! The question you have to ask yourself is: if you bought a steel bicycle today would it be manufactured in the same manner as an early 1900's bicycle?
The answer, of course, is 'No'. I'm currently restoring a 1970's steel Schwinn cruiser. The tubes are literally 5-10X thicker on that bike than a modern steel bike. There's a lot of steel there! And it doesn't hurt that the manufacturing tolerances are such that it's virtually impossible for the frame to trap moisture. Still, there's quite a bit of rust on the inside of all the tubes; at least the ones that I can easily examine. Does it worry me? Not given the thickness of the tubes. But if the tubes were as thin as they are on modern steel bikes? I'd be a lot more worried about rust, proper frame prep & maintenance, etc.
Yes and the steel in modern bikes isn't just steel, steel makes up a good part of it, but it isn't just steel, other metals are mixed into it. As for modern steel, it really isn't much different then it was in the 1970's, my road bike frame is Tange 5, weight wise it's not too far different from a modern steel frame, about 4½ pound odd, as little as 3 years ago, a steel 56cm frame was 4½ pound odd. A little surface rust on the inside isn't a frame killer, in fact steel can rust over and if that rust is not regularly exposed to the elements, it can remain the same for decades. Don't forget steel bike frames are a mixture of steel, and other metals, the other metals, commonly Chromium, Manganese and Molybdenum are used in small amounts to strengthen the steel, they also slightly reduce it's tendency to rust.
Now to clarify something I am not against CF or Aluminum, I have one steel bike and one aluminum bike, if someone offered me a new CF bike, I would ride that too, just if I am going to spend good money on a bicycle, it's not going to be
used CF and it's not going to be used AL either.