Hey Scrod,

I'm curious for your opinion about how tubing/lug quality affects the final quality of the bike and ride.

I want to build up a keirin-style frame for road/commuting use (~100 miles/week), and I have the following materials options from a custom builder:

$700 – Tange tubing + standard lugs
$1300 – Tange tubing + Nagasawa lugs
$1500 – Columbus tubing + Nagasawa lugs

I’m pretty sure the first option is Tange Chromo, but I’m not sure about the grades on the other two options; still waiting for the full spec sheet.

My personal guideline: I’m more than happy to pay a premium for a genuinely higher quality bike/ride, but I don’t want to pay more just for street cred or dropping a few grams or shaving a few milliseconds off a race time.

So, finally, my question: Assuming the $700 option is Tange Chromo, and given that the frame builder is the same and that I’ll build the bike up with the same components in all cases, do you think it would noticeably improve the quality of the bike/ride to upgrade the tubing/lugs? What are the relevant considerations here? I’m 5’10"/175lbs for reference.

Thanks man! I love your work in this forum.