riomx

I got a Cro-Moly Diamondback frame for free from a friend and thinking of building a touring bike from it for weekend trips this summer.

I'm not sure if it's the greatest idea because another Cro-Moly Puch bike I have is quite possibly the heaviest thing I've ridden and feels like a tank.

This bike feels lighter than my Puch Alpina and I was thinking that to ease the pain, I would get some very lightweight wheels, tubes and tires. I also want to make sure i get decent components that are lightweight but can handle extended rides.

I'd greatly appreciate some opinions from you guys. Maybe someone has experience riding a Cro-Moly bike on a long trip and can share some details?

Niles H.

The touring forum has a lot of people who have toured on Cro-Moly bikes. Most touring bikes are steel, many of them Cro-Moly.

It might help if you mention the model and year. Diamondback has made many different frames.

RK1963

from what kind of cro mo is your puch made? I had 2 puchs, however, they were both reynolds 531

cyclotoine

i wouldn't tour on anything else.

SweetLou

What kind of touring will you be doing? Loaded, light touring, credit card?

huerro

Difference in Frame weight is a really small percentage of total bike and rider weight, especially on a touring bike. Once you've got 40 lbs of gear on the bike, you probably won't notice an extra 2 or 3 in the frame.

jgedwa

I would think that a properly set up touring bike could be made of most anything: steel, alu, ti, or cf. Seems like cf might be least likely to be the right material, but not necessarily. Aluminum might be a bit harsh, but maybe not.

A good steel bike can be fairly light, and nearly bombproof. That is a good thing for touring. When I go to war, I will go on a steel bike.

jim

jfmckenna

No doubt. After you consider all your pack weight the difference of 1.5 lbs in a frame is meaningless. My tourer is Tange 2 and rides smooth and nice.

unworthy1

I agree with cyclotoine, it's my only choice. I have a Holdsworthy Touring bike, made of 531 and a Cannondale Touring bike made of aluminum. The C'dale is stiff and well-made, but after an 8-hour ride: I'm much happier on the steel, tho the C'dale ain't as bad as I thought it would be. Relaxed geometry and a steel fork is why, I reckon.

Mooo

For perspective, I've been known to carry 5-6 pounds of water on the bike.

There have been days when that wasn't enough.

ricohman

My new Rocky Mountain Sherps 30 is Reynolds 853. I only tour on steel.

riomx

Just got home from a long day of work. Thanks so much for the replies guys. Lots of opinions, but for the most part, it seems that CroMoly might not be such a bad choice.

The frame I'm considering using is a Diamondback Expert TG. The labels on the bike say it was designed by Centurion, it's 100% OS CRMO tubing, Avenir Equipped. The serial number is U01003273 and it was exclusively built for WSI, Inc. in Camarillo, CA 93010.

I found this on another thread about this model:

The other CroMoly bike I have is a Puch Austro-Daimler Alpina (not sure what year) and it is made from 2700 tubing.

Anyway, this will be my first year touring, so I'll probably start with weekend trips to camping spots close to home (I live in Denver and may ride out to Boulder or farther if my legs can handle it). I still need to buy wheels and a whole drivetrain, so I haven't thought about what kind of rack or bags I'm going to get yet

hhabca

Touring on a steel bike is pretty much the best way to go - if anything breaks while on the road almost any decent welder with a torch can braze up a repair and get you going again. Any other material and you're using duct-tape, wire and epoxy, or you're on a bus home.

I'd be more concerned with being able to fit fenders and wider tires (28 to 32mm) for touring. It sounds like the frame you got might be more of a sport bike design, allowing 25mm tires and no fenders.

However, that frame might also be great candidate for a 650B conversion. If you got only a frame and need to buy all the other parts it might not cost much more to convert to 650B. Brakes, and 650B wheels and tires are all that's needed. Of course you can't exactly buy tires at the local hardware store...

Here's three places I found on the web describing the conversion.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/650b.html

https://www.chainringtransitauthority...50b/650b.shtml

https://www.bikeman.com/content/view/1161/33/

And Rivendell sell tires.

[edit]. A Denver to Boulder trip would be nice! So would a Denver to Colorado Springs trip - a bit less climbing and great views.

John E

First, steel is steel, and I doubt anyone can feel the difference between a MnMo frame (Reynolds 531, etc.) and a CrMo frame (Columbus, etc.), geometry, wall thickness and all other factors being equal. We love our molybdenum alloy steels because they are stronger than ordinary carbon steels and can therefore be made into lighter weight frames with thinner walls and that resilient road feel we all crave.

Second, while I do concur that one can make a great bicycle out of any of the popular frame materials, I think steel has the edge in longevity, reliability, and repairability, and that is what I value on a long tour.

ricohman

You seem to be concerned with weight.
Once you attach racks, fenders ect you will have a heavy bike. Regardless what it is made of.
I would focus on these specs:
-wheelbase
-chain stay length
-top tube length
-fittings for canti brakes and front and rear racks and fenders.
A real touring frame will keep you comfortable. Others will torture you on a long day.

SweetLou

Since you will be camping and carrying bags instead of a credit card tour, I would be careful about going lightweight with the wheels. It's true that you won't need tank wheels, but you do want some that are strong. You don't want to be out in the middle of nowhere with a broken wheel. There are some light strong wheels, just don't go with the lightweight 20 spoke racing wheels. Since you want a mountain bike using 26" wheels, I would recommend a good 36 spoke wheel, but a good 32 spoke wheel would most likely be good also.

As for using an older steel mountain bike frame, I say go for it. I am building up a tourer using an older Bianchi mountain bike frame. I just need the wheels and a new set of brakes and it will be done. Well, I will still need to get the extras like the racks and pedals that I want and maybe a different handlebar.

I've changed it to use drop bars and bar end shifters. I haven't had a chance to take it for a long ride, but I have given it a couple of short rides with my dog. It is really comfortable.

GCRyder

Same here. And I don't. My own touring bike, and backup commuter, is a Diamondback Crestline c. 1990. I think it was the touring model in the same line as the Master TG road bike the OP's looking at. I believe the Master TG uses caliper brakes and is about 2 pounds lighter in frame weight, though. Since painting the Crestline dark gray, I've been toying with the idea of a faked model name decal - "Le Percheron." (I guess I like jokes no one else gets.) So I guess you can infer that it's not especially svelte. But it performs better with a load than the bikes I own that weigh quite a lot less.

From the description, though, I'm also wondering if the OP's mistaken about the composition of the 2700 steel used in that Puch.

riomx

It seems like I touched a nerve with some CroMoly fans here

I certainly have nothing against the material - and who knows? Maybe it's the cheap steel wheels on that are causing my Puch to feel like a tank.

I was just concerned about weight because I don't want to die going up steep hills, and it's much easier to do them on my Peugeot Triathlon, which is made from Reynolds 501 and has lightweight wheels.

Also, thanks for the tips regarding specs. I now have much more to think about when I'm piecing together parts for the build-up.

Finally, does anyone know if the Expert TG was a mountain bike? It's pretty lightweight in construction and the fork has the same bend that road bikes do. Because of that, I plan to build it up as a road bike

Niles H.

The OS tubing will make the frame less flexy than most of the (many) bikes that have smaller diameter tubing. Diamondback seems to have favored OS tubing. You ended up with a good frame in this regard -- it's probably better for touring than most of the others that are out there.

***
(As I recall, DB started out making BMX frames, and had a reputation for reliability. Maybe they saw advantages in beefing up some of their other frames a bit more, coming from this background.)

splytz1

+1. I have velocity dyad rims and phil touring hubs on my tourer (36h) w/DT double-butted spokes. They have worked out great. They are relatively heavy but bombproof. Of course the phils are expensive (at the time, I could afford them) but the wheels will probably last forever and you could certainly make do with cheaper hubs. Ultegras seem popular in the touring forum.

Steel wheels? Steel wheels + 250+ lbs. + mountainous descent + rain = a trip to the hospital.

GCRyder

Now you do have me confused. 501 is Cro-Moly.

The only Expert TG I've seen or heard of was a 700c road bike. IIRC, what looked to be the same frame was sold as Expert TG and Master TG, with different components. (For some reason, I had "Master" stuck in my mind when typing the post above.) But there is always a possibility (though it seems unlikely) that there was also an MTB using the same name.