Originally Posted by
Cleave
Hi,
I have to respond, if for nothing else, because I had a Lambert Pro which preceded the Viscount by a year or two. The aerospace tubing was just 4130 steel and it had the aluminum "death" fork. Fortunately, I only weighed about 120 lbs while I had it. I raced on it as a Junior and eventually cracked the head tube along it's length. The crankset and pressed in bottom bracket were also a nightmare.
Regarding steel frames, I am still not that heavy and you can certainly feel a difference between the bottom bracket stiffness of carbon versus steel, but I don't understand why people think that steel bikes are too flexible. For decades, professional racers rode steel frames faster than I'll ever be able to ride a carbon frame.
A good steel frame is a joy to ride and cheap steel bike feel cheap by comparison. In short, if you want a steel bike that rides well it isn't going to be cheap though it will probably be cheaper than a carbon frame. You might want to check out Serotta as they make stock steel frames which a reasonably priced. Most of the other builders only do custom steel frames. I don't know how they ride but I think Specialized makes a steel bike but I don't know if they sell it as a frame.
Hope this helps and glad that you survived your Viscount ownership.
Yes, I had the dreaded death fork but it never broke on me. But if I stood on it to climb it would hit the derailleur in anything but the middle gears.
It wasn't a lugged frame but for the time it was reasonably light or at least I thought till my neighbor got something even lighter.
I haven’t been on a steel bike in years, except a friends Bianchi, and it does ride different. But like I said I am not interested in Vintage unless the frame will take a 130 hub. I did see that Masi sells a steel frame called the Gran Critium and it is threadless. Just don’t know what they charge yet.