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Originally Posted by mtnbke
(Post 9858426)
Steel bikes, even the highest end ones, were cheap to produce, and relatively accessible to cyclists.
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Originally Posted by meanwhile
(Post 9858726)
..And that's nonsense too.
that was a true statement for sure! Huffy makes alot of steel framed bikes so does Next are they made in the USA by skilled craftmen/women that work at Waterford, Independent Fabrications, Davidson, etc etc? the answer is NO. there is low end carbon just like there is low end Ti and steel... as normal the good stuff is going to cost you !!! |
Originally Posted by mtnbke
(Post 9858413)
Where do you make this stuff up? I've built ONE wheel in my entire life and it failed before I left the cul de sac. My too tiny XL Giant OCR1 did come with paired spoke Xero Xtra Lite wheels. They do have a low spoke count. I do weigh 375lbs. I've ridden that bike MAYBE 250 miles because it just doesn't fit.
Get your facts right, don't be disingenuous or duplicitous.
Originally Posted by mtnbke
(Post 9858413)
Furthermore I don't ride that Giant, let alone the wheels.
Originally Posted by mtnbke
(Post 9805876)
At your weight I'd avoid Carbon like the plague.
I'm 375lb and I've been riding a Giant OCR1 with paired spoke aero wheels (Xero X-Lites). Oh my GARSH! I'm a TROLL!:eek: Let me see, where do I get my facts? Uhhh,maybe from what you write here in the forums! I read something that says "I HAVE BEEN a Giant with X-Lite wheels" in quote #3 posted about a week ago! Sound familiar? I read your statements then a flag raises later when you change your claims in an opposing statement. Now I'm making suff up according to your staements in quote 1 and 2?:eek: No, I'm not obsesssed with your statements, just trying to make heads form tails as you continue to contradict yourself. One day you say you ride a certain bike, then the next day, you say you don't, after you've given wheel advice to others on which wheels support you Clydes. My thinking you were a wheel buiulder was whenyou said, do it yourself plus all the technical advice you are throwing out about dish, washers, blah blah blah. If you had sid you buiilt a wheel that failed, then I would have discarded all of your staements a LOOONG time ago. But you sounded so much like an expert with all the technical advice tha you know so much about!:p ------------------- C'mon man, the stuff you state is rediculous! Without going back, I read you were about to do a 55 down hill on your tandem, new wheel, with your wife and a child chariot on the back of the bike? On a family freindly century with 10,000 ft of elevation gain. Whether it was all in one climb or not, you are full of it! Family friendly, Shees!:rolleyes: |
Originally Posted by meanwhile
(Post 9858726)
..And that's nonsense too.
Don't worry, he will change the statement in a future post!:eek: Then I'll be THE TROLL when I catch it!:p |
First off, there is no way I would even think about doing a century on an untested wheelset.. That is just a recipe for disaster.. You do long rides on tested wheels and equipment to minimize problems.. There are plenty of other issues you can have on a century..
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Personally I like Ti and Steel. Had a steel Lemond Alpe d'Huez from '98 for a while until I upgraded to Ti. Currently own Litespeed Blue Ridge and Lightspeed Solano bikes. The Blue Ridge has Mavic Open Pro's and the Solano has Mavic CXP33's. I've had to true the Open Pro's a few times but after 5,000 miles, that is to be expected. The Solano is newer with only 1,500 miles and the CXP33's are still true.
I'm currently saving up for (and hoping my wife gets a new job) to get a Ti 29er MTB. I've been looking at Bikesdirect - they have a 29er in Ti for $2k. I got the Blue Ridge from a local shop at the end of season and saved a few hundred. I picked up the Solano off eBay from a Colorado shop that stopped selling Litespeeds. The Solano was on their shelf for 2 years but it was still a new bike and got that one in the winter for less than half the list price. You just have to look around for good deals. You can go used too, the Ti frames don't wear out and you can always replace components. |
Originally Posted by markm109
(Post 9862618)
Personally I like Ti and Steel. Had a steel Lemond Alpe d'Huez from '98 for a while until I upgraded to Ti. Currently own Litespeed Blue Ridge and Lightspeed Solano bikes. The Blue Ridge has Mavic Open Pro's and the Solano has Mavic CXP33's. I've had to true the Open Pro's a few times but after 5,000 miles, that is to be expected. The Solano is newer with only 1,500 miles and the CXP33's are still true.
I'm currently saving up for (and hoping my wife gets a new job) to get a Ti 29er MTB. I've been looking at Bikesdirect - they have a 29er in Ti for $2k. http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...TI_29_2010.htm http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...s/ti29_600.jpg |
Originally Posted by mtnbke
(Post 9858413)
Where do you make this stu...
...l issues with me are, move on man... |
Originally Posted by mtnbke
(Post 9805887)
If you're ...
...ant to. |
Originally Posted by mtnbke
(Post 9805887)
If you're really a Clyde upgrading the bike isn't really going to affect your riding all that much. A fat human engine isn't going to get the performance limit out of your current bike, you don't need a better bike, you need a better body.
That being said if a new bike is the thing that will motivate you to ride, lose weight, and be healthier, go for it! Make the changes. However, forget steel. Steel is cheap. Steel bikes are cheap to manufacture. They don't make good bikes. The whole 'steel is real' nonsense is more about the history of Italian cycling (and Italian steel) than the quality of the bikes. Competitive road cycling teams don't use steel bikes. They are, as a rule, heavy, flexy, inefficient, and they are very unpredictable under heavy riders when cornering on fast descents as the tubing flexes. Cycling will always have the snob appeal of the vintage De Rosas, Olmos, Colnagos, Cinellis, Masis, et. al. Usually these are dripping with Campy components. In the US the older Lemond nameplate, Independent, Masi (again), and Trek made (or marketed) very good steel bikes. However, the funny thing is that what is desirable, and what is actually 'good' are two different things. A classic Cannondale 3.0 frame was the lightest frame on the planet when it made its debut. It set the standard for being the stiffest frame ever measured on the Bicycling 'tarantula' frame testing jig. If performance was truly your benchmark I'd find a classic Klein or Cannondale aluminum bike. The funny thing is that an '89 Cannondale 3.0 frame is still a better frame today than all but a handful of multi thousand dollar Ti or Carbon frames. Throw a modern carbon fork and carbon seatpost on it, spec it out with your dream wheelset and components. The frame and wheelset are the bike. Trust me, they aren't building frames in Taiwan in 2009 to the quality that they were building them in the 80's and 90's while they were 'Made in the USA'. Buying a modern bike is like choosing what nameplate you want for your Taiwanese/Chinese frame. The pinnacle of cycling quality passed during the late eighties, early nineties for most companies except at the extreme high end. If you can afford Ti, and you can find a build with a tubing set that makes sense for your weight and riding style, go for it. Other than that look backwards not forwards. Buying a bike today is like buying a car in the 1970s. You don't want to. The frame and wheelset are the bike. Trust me, they aren't building frames in Taiwan in 2009 to the quality that they were building them in the 80's and 90's while they were 'Made in the USA'. Taiwanese made frames are at a level of quality that equals-and in many cases, exceed- what the US built ones offer. A CAAD frame is an exceptional frame regardless of where it's built. A Fuji Team SL from 2003-2004 is an aluminum frame that is still a technological wonder. hopw many aluminum bikes have you seen that weigh less than 16 lbs. (in a 60 cm frame size) with only a carbon fork and seatpost. On top of that, it was running Shimano Ultegra- not Dura Ace or Record. The rest of the components were aluminum. Made in the USA just means that it costs more to build- not much more than that from a practical perspective. The mentality in our pretentious cycling community is that if it costs more, it must be better. Not always the case. It just means that someone with a smaller wallet can get a bike of similar quality as some one with a larger wallet and not get scoffed at for buying for a lower cost. The elitist mentality doesn't fly anymore and bike snobs are mad. So they find other ways of putting down the smaller companies (ie. Bikes Direct). funny thing is that their bikes are made in the same factories and are selling for less because they don't have the name, team sponsorship and heavy marketing to pay for. |
Originally Posted by mtnbke
(Post 9858209)
Spend some time on these forums and you'll read thousands of horror stories of people with FSA bottom brackets, and FSA cranks that work themselves loose from the BB.
I'd avoid FSA cranks and Bottom Brackets like the plague. knock it off with the slant , i know quite a few people using fsa equipment and they love it , to each his own though |
When recommending steel bikes, why are the newer Masis rarely mentioned? I'm just curious as I was considering the 105 Speciale at one point.
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