Originally Posted by
adlai
Yup. most of my bikes have been bikesdirect mid to low end, or stuff I get off of ebay mid to low end. I've never spent more than...$600 on a single bike.
But I've gotten a good education today about how bike frames work out.
http://rolobikes.com/pdf/rolo-wheel-...FJXf4LMddysX1g
Although I do not know the type or quality of the steel bikes you have ridden, I must say that there is a vast range of bicycle tubing quality from small-gauge-sewer-pipe to Columbus XCr. The Italian company Columbus makes at least 7 different levels of steel bike tubing. The Columbus XCr is stainless steel, cold drawn (not welded) triple butted, and paper thin. It is also very expensive, almost $900 just for a raw set of tubes. Many cheap steel bikes are very heavy, mass produced and of generally poor quality. It is not fair to equate their ride with that of a handmade steel bike using good quality steel tubing. It would be like comparing the ride of an old pick up truck to a Maserati.
Most of the riders who are commenting about steel frames are most likely talking about handmade steel frames using good quality steel tubing. Handmade steel frames are not inexpensive. New frames from well known frame builders in the US can easily cost over $5,000. They may also be talking about many of the old classic handmade Italian or French racing bike frames which in their day were the very best and are highly desirable collector's items.