Framebuilders - vintage frame material comparison

The last frame I had my eye on fell through.

I have a line on two other frames.

A True Temper Steel double butted frame 1987 and 6061 AL from 1988.

I have been riding 853 steel for a while (2 years) with a carbon fork. The fork will go to the new frame as will my current wheels. Question for me is if the geometries match, within reason, will I notice a huge difference in ride quality?

My last experience with AL nearly shook the filling from my teeth. I think that was a Cdale cross bike. I do not remember the year perhaps mid 90s.

Thanks

the older aluminum bikes have a reputation for a certain lack of vertical compliance. I can't really address that since I've never ridden one. I don't think you'll be able to tell the difference between the 853 and TT bike. I think it really depends more on your expectations than anything.

Thanks for that.

And I assume by vertical compliance you mean road buzz and vibration.

Steel is steel. You could make a better guess in the difference in ride quality if you knew the tube dimensions (OD & ID). 853 comes in many ODs with thin walls, and TT comes in many forms (std. dia, OS, high strength, etc.)

That being said, in the end the differences should be subtle, given that the rest of the components are the same.

True Temper makes tubes as thinwalled as you can imagine, equivelent to 853, and some that are better. They also make tubes equivalent to Columbus SL, that should feel no better and no worse than SL, but not likely to be as good your 853.

It doesn't mean much to just say it's a TrueTemper frame. It might be better than your 853 one or it might be a step backwards. Hard to say.