Road Cycling - My first question

In my introduction I mentioned that I own a 15 yr cannondale road bike. It still in good shape, but of course, I would love to get something newer, with more upgrades. I know that this time of the year & fall, you can sometimes get a great deal on 2003 bikes that may be left in stock, providing they fit & you like it.

Anyway I was just visiting some of the local shops in town, and one particular dealer carries Lemond, Trek, Litespeed road bikes. I have never seen to many Lemonds till lately, and I was asking him about the steel frames. I told him what I owned, and his comment about aluminum road bikes was very negative.

His was of the opinion, that aluminum was used because manufacturer's find it less costly than steel. I mentioned something about weight, and his reply was that the steel bikes are only a pound & a half more. I also said that I was aware that aluminum bikes are a bit more rough than steel, but I thought that cannondale had one of the best aluminum frames, although costly.

He said, for mountain bikes aluminum was fine, but for road bikes he advises against it. He does sell a lot of aluminum road bike frames as well. I have never heard so much negative opinions on aluminum frames. Another thing he used, was, why do you think they make beer cans out of aluminum, because it is cheap. I would think even if steel was cheaper it would rust with beer inside. Also if steel frames were that much better than aluminum, how come more folks aren't riding steel frames?

My budget only allows me to be able to afford something in the 1,000-1,200 range, and I would prefer a bit less.

He uses this guage to go by:
If you only have 2,000 or less go with steel
If you have around 3,000 go with carbon
If you have more than 3,000 than titanium

There are great frames made of aluminum, of steel, of ti, of carbon fiber, and of combinations of the above. Frame designers choose their goals (often, unfortunately, with too much input from the marketing department) and choose the material(s) that will meet them.

If you watch professional races, you'll see all of the above materials represented, including aluminum frames from Cannondale and others. They are not beer cans, and they're not cheap.

That having been said, it's my personal experience that less expensive aluminum road bikes do seem to be less pleasant rides than competing steel frames. When I was looking at touring bikes in the $700 range, all of the viable choices were steel. When I was looking at $2000 bikes for light touring and commuting, Cannondale had the only aluminum offering that made the first cut -- but I was able to afford ti, and nothing else came close. And last year when I was looking for a sub-$1k road bike, none of the aluminum frames I tried felt as comfortable and responsive as the 853 steel frame I ended up buying.

I don't think it's a matter of what's possible with a given material, but rather what marketing forces tend to move manufacturers to do. If you want to sell a frame that you can back with a lifetime warranty, that you can advertise as being light in weight, and that you can sell for a low price, you're likely to end up designing an aluminum frame.

If I were a racer on a limited budget, and put performance above comfort, I might be more likely to include more aluminum frames when considering a new bike. But as a middle-aged roadie who rides for transportation, fitness, and fun, I choose comfort every time. And so far, no aluminum bike has made the cut for me.

I do think your bike shop guy is being a little too didactic. The beer-can analogy is yesterday's news (although you should realize that once upon a time all cans were steel, and they didn't rust on the inside because there was no air in there), and as I mentioned, there are some great high-end aluminum frames. The fact that he carries brands that don't make any high-end aluminum frames (well, actually, Litespeed does, or did recently) may be influencing his opinion.

In your price range, however, I suspect you'll be looking at the same trade-off as I did: performance vs comfort. The alu frames tend to be a bit lighter and more rigid in that range. The steel ones tend to be more tuned, more vertically compliant, a little heavier.

There may be exceptions; probably are. I haven't ridden every bike.

RichC