Originally Posted by
divtag
I currently have a Salsa Vaya as my primary road bike. As I have been upping my riding/miles and going beyond metric centuries, I have started thinking about getting something a little more nimble. The Vaya is a bit of a hog.
Anyhow, obviously steel and light don't necessarily go together, I figure there has to be lighter options. The ability to run 32mm or higher is also something I am looking at.
Not looking to break the bank. Looked at the usual suspects like the CrossCheck, but doubt it will ride much different than the Vaya and the Casseroll no longer seems in production. Not sure what else to look at.
This might seem strange, and goes against the desire to buy new because it is best, but the bike that I like to ride the most out of my stable is a Shogun 400 lugged steel frame that has been converted to a fixed gear.
Every time I get on that bike, I feel comfortable, and I can ride a century over somewhat hilly terrain and not think about it. It has a Brooks saddle, moderate gearing (around 68gi), and bullhorn bars.
Without the extraneous stuff that a fully geared bike entails, it feels light enough end nimble enough on 28C tyres. Some of the ride quality may have to do with the length of the chainstays (longer than a modern road bike) and the fork and the tyres I use.
It was recovered as a parts bike from a local rubbish dump, and cost around $400 to $500 for new wheels and brakes and other parts. I did a year of centuries a month on it, and a quarter of PBP straight through. But it's not the FG part I am getting at, it's the comfort of the frame.
I considered getting a framebuilder friend to do a clone in one of the Reynolds lighter tubesets, and I may still do so, but there are other bikes on the acquisition list at the moment, and the Shogun is still intact...