Cot Du Trent

I see some people on here that are interested in owning, or do own, steel bikes. I'm just curious as to what you see in steel opposed to some other materials? It seems incredibly heavy (but maybe that's just my wal-mart bikes talking from my childhood). I'm sure it's really stiff, though. Is that why one would ride steel? Just interested in your responses!

linux_author

- Why plastic?

:-)

bdcheung

See this thread

dsb137

The main thing for many is the ride...
Durability...
Repairability...
Failure mode... They tend to bend rather than snap...
Coolness factor ...
You're going to have to define "heavy"... My Peg is 19.25#... if I put Neutrons on her she'd be in the mid18# range... Hyperons and she'd be 1/2 a pound less than that... It's not like I went all weight weenie to get there either... https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...with+the+hands

Actually, there's a guy that posted a Marcelo on weight weenies that he claims weighs 16.6# with DA...
https://weightweenies.starbike.com/articles.php?ID=92

late

You have never seen a carbon touring bike. I doubt you EVER will.
If I had more money I would get custom Ti. You can make a carbon frame last if you baby it. I can't even imagine doing that. If there's nothing but rocks it gets leaned up against a rock. Yeah, it doesn't look great. But that just means nobody is
going to want to steal it

Old school was to buy one good bike and ride it the rest of your life. People are
wealthier now, they have more options. It's not that big a deal for a guy to have a number of bikes. I have two, a commuter and a sport bike. A sport bike is just
a road bike with relaxed geometry.

If you are going to be buying a bike every year or two none of that matters.
Personally, I would love to have a carbon bike, but I go on group rides so rarely it makes no sense to do it. I am an old fart and can't keep up. If I ever pull off a miracle and get back in shape I just might treat myself to one. But...having said that... if I had my druthers the performance bike I would get would be something like the Litespeed Tuscany or one of those Carbon/Ti bikes.

Reynolds 

Why I like a lugged steel frame:
Looks (thin tubes and lugs)
Tradition (Coppi, Merckx, Hinault...)
Ride (great)
I don't mind if my bicycle weights 1 or 2 k more. My fitness is not so high as to notice the difference.

michaelmc

Steel is not a magic material, despite what some of its partisans write on this board. It's main advantages are:

1. repairability (easily bent back into place if wrecked)

2. tradition.

It's not necessarily lighter or heavier than other materials, nor is it necessarily better- or worse-riding. Lugged steel frames can be aesthetically pleasing, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. People drool over Orcas all the time, too.

bfloyd

The old saying goes, "steel is real". And the meaning of this is the ride is very natural. You can feel the spring in the frame (a good thing), you can feel the road (more of a true ride), and if taken care of properly will last a life time. Steel is not always heavy. A quality built steel frame of good material is not much heavier or at the same weight as many aluminum frames.

Trogon

I like the ride, it can be made reasonably light and one can do nice artistic things with it (like fillet brazing) that you can't do with other materials. At the custom level it's far, far less expensive than titanium and carbon and the same as aluminum. And for the average or advanced amateur rider what advantage does aluminum offer over steel - weight only.

In my book it's the best all around material for the things I care about - ride and aesthetics. Don't need the weight loss, because a 16 lb. 12 oz. steel bike is light enough for me.

I own bikes in all the materials and various combinations and when I start thinking about next year's project, steel is always what comes to mind.

Cot Du Trent

What's fillet brazing?

Cot Du Trent

Steel is springy? That's interesting. I thought it was more along the lines of aluminum (very stiff)?

Cot Du Trent

Sorry! Guess the search function would be a good use of my time when asking generic questions.

margoC

I don't understand why the lugged cro-moly frame went the way of the dodo because they weren't all that heavy.

I know they say it's not the material but how it is made but I had 2 alum bikes and the ride was very uncomfortable and harsh. I now have steel frames, albeit not nice lugged ones. I have degenerated disks in my neck and I may be more sensative to vibration than some folks, at any rate my steel bikes are more comfortable to me. I'm not competing in the tour de france so a lb here and there is of no concern to me, it only adds to the satisfaction when I drop a rider on the latest "lightweight" frame. And if I don't drop them who cares, I'm just an old lady on a steel frame bike. It's win/win for me!

Steel is real.

michaelmc

Carbon is imaginary and aluminum is illusory [eyeroll]

pokalex92

durability, less vibration, and quite frankly, a smoother ride!

dsb137

It's where you braze the tubes together without a lug, using extra 'filler' to reduce the stress on the joint...

botto 

everybody should listen to the old, wise, and thoroughly experienced poster, who happens to be 2 years younger than my 16 year old pinarello.

Trogon

As described below, the result is a very beautiful, smooth, fluid joint

Reynolds 

Age is no excuse in cycling, remember?

PsySal

Haha, all these messages and nobody yet has said the obvious. Steel is cheaper! You can get a nice 1980s steel racing bike for like $100 if you are lucky, and it will be practically speaking as good as a new $1000 alum bike (excepting brifters I suppose, not that I would know...)

botto 

that is true when it comes to actually riding a bike, but we're talking about the qualities of a steel bike.

personally i'd pay more attention to someone who's tried a variety of different materials weighing in with their thoughts, and take the opinion of a 14 year olds with a grain, hell a box, of salt.

ymmv

botto 

you can get the same result with aluminium, CF, and Ti

Bike Lover

Maybe not quite, but aluminum may be transparent if Star Trek is any indication of what technology can/will bring.

wneumann

And Jell-O!

Dubbayoo

I think every frame material has a certain quality that you can't quite duplicate with other materials. I personally have a soft spot for steel, although I now ride aluminum and hopefully next summer will have a CF bike.