Originally Posted by
Inertianinja
Serious question. There are many brands, but I'm just using colnago as an example.
There's a wine store by my apartment that puts little cards next to each bottle of wine that describe what the taste is like. Some might consider it cheating, but it helps helps me develop a palate - tell me to look for subtle flavors of X now, and maybe next time i can find it on my own.
So, as I mentioned in a previous thread, I have caught this bug and i'm doing research and monitoring the sites for italian steel, high-end columbus tubing, probably 90s since i would prefer 130mm rear spacing. I have only owned stiff aluminum and carbon fiber bikes in recent memory.
Maybe some day it would be nice to invest in new custom steel - Bishop perhaps - but I think to fully appreciate something like that, I should have more experience with the material. Unfortunately, when buying used/vintage, I will probably have to buy the first frameset based solely what i have read about it.
So my question is - How would you compare the ride of a current carbon or aluminum racing frame to a 90s lugged italian steel colnago? What would you write on the little card by the frameset?
The only Colnago I've tried was too big for me, so my experience with that brand isn't usefull. However, it will share some characteristics with other high-end steel frames in comparison with aluminium or carbon frames. It is less rigid, meaning that for sprints, climbs and descends, it will act differently. For sprints and climbs, you will have to use more power to keep a certain speed, and for descends you will have to be more carefull, in particular in curves. On the other hand, the fact that it's more "sloppy" will (probably) mean that it's less tiring to ride for longer stretches.
How a high-end Colnago will differ from a ditto Bianchi or Masi or ... I can't say. Depending on vintage, there will of course be minor (but real and noticable) differences in geometry and thus handling.