Originally Posted by Gotte
I see often people talking about the need for tourers, esp tourers that go into the wilderness, to be sturdy. I was wondering why no one reverts back to the steel bikes of the past. I have a beautiful old Raleigh 3 speed that weighs around the 301b mark with all the stuff like chainguard and steel mudguards removed. Weight seems less of a worry to tourers, so why don;t people use steel rims. I can;t imagine the weight difference will be massive, and they must be much more resilient.
Or is it simply a case of not being able to get steel parts in madern sizes anymore?
Just a Saturday morning musing.
Steel rims can be strong, but pound for pound, I don't think they are as strong and resilient as GOOD quality alloy rims. You will also get better braking out of the alloy. I am a huge fan of the Nottingham Raleighs and have several of them. Remember when Raleigh was at the pinnacle of bicycle technology steel was the best material available. And the Raleighs were almost overbuilt. I know the steel rims on my Raleigh weigh nearly twice what the steel rims on an inexpensive made in ROC bike from the 80's does. I think too, as manufacturing techniques and materials have improved they make things closer and closer to the engineered failure point, where in the past they overbuilt the safety factor. JMHO
Aaron
