Originally Posted by rustystrings61

The quickest way to get a sense of the quality of a steel frame may be to pull the seat post and measure it. Assuming it's not French/metric, the seat tube exterior will be nominally 28.6, perhaps a bit more due to layers of paint. If the seat post is 26. something, it's probably decent steel, and if it's smaller then it's some sort of hi-ten or comparable.