big john

Could we find 100 riders on modern steel frames? I'm a member of 2 road clubs. One club has 500 members and I have been a member for 33 years. The other club has more members but turnout is smaller. I also ride in areas where I see dozens of other road riders on weekends.

From my experience modern steel bikes are extremely rare. I can only think of one regular in either club who rides steel. I know when I ride my steel Gunnar people often comment on it and many commenters think it is older than it is (2006). I see way more aluminum frames than steel.

I don't have any stats but I suspect steel frames are a tiny fraction of the high end road bike market. Like really tiny.

big john

That might be quite a leap. Anyone who can drop $10 or 12 grand on a road bike is obviously well off enough to buy whatever they want, whenever they want it, at least as far as bikes.

To your point, though, maybe the person who seeks out a steel frame in this day and age will cherish it, like some art object. Or they just want something different.

Trakhak

A Wiggle manager mentioned in a recent GCN video that their bike sales currently comprise roughly 60% aluminum, 18% each carbon and steel, and the rest titanium.

big john

I've tried (out of curiosity) to find data breaking it down to "high end" road bikes and I found two marketing studies but you have to buy their report. The only data I saw that hinted at total sales was in line with what you saw on the GCN video. I'm sure bicycle sales world wide are dominated by utility bikes and kids bikes, with road bikes a small sub-group and racing or higher priced bikes being a segment of the road bike group.

rekmeyata

Most sales in a bike shop are going to be to average people spending the average amount of money for a bike, and that's going to be around $550 dollars which is why aluminum bikes sell more because it's cheaper in materials and labor than CF or TI. Since Titanium is on the higher end spectrum of price point vs AL or CF, most people are not going to buy one.

vespasianus

What makes that better than a steel bike, like a Fairlight Strael? Weight? - which I think is the stupidest thing to consider as it represents a fraction of the overall weight of the cycling unit.

If it is weight, the BMC is about 8.82 kg listed (~19.5 lbs). A comparable steel bike, such as the Fairlight Strael, would be around the exact same, cost around $3000 and come with an Ultegra groupset.

I would make the argument that the steel bike would be a much more robust tool that would be easier to live with.


https://99spokes.com/bikes/bmc/2022/...hine-slr-seven

https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/bi...el-3-0-review/

https://roadbike.io/the-fairlight-strael-review/

big john

First, I never said the BMC was a better choice than other bikes. Nor did I ever say one material was better than another.

I can assure you that I am not a weight weenie, though weight is an important factor for many, whether you think it's stupid or not.

I like the looks of the BMC, the geometry would work for me, and there is a store not far from me which has one in stock, in my size. The Fairlight site says maybe November. I did look at their geometry and their "tall" model would probably work for me.

I don't know if one bike would be more "robust" or easier to live with than another. I'm not against another steel bike, it could happen.

I've had a number of steel road bikes, an aluminum CAAD5 and a Seven Titanium. Maybe I'd just like to try a cf frame for once? I'm a lot less brutal on my bike stuff than I was in my younger days. My carbon fiber mtb hasn't failed yet despite me slamming into holes and rocks with it.

Recycled Cycler

I've not ridden much in the last 6 years, and when I went looking for a good used bike this summer I was focusing on Ti. I had a Seven Cycles Ti road bike about 13 years ago and loved it. Anyway, I could not find a Ti bike that fit me, and ended up buying an Indy Fab steel Crown Jewel Factory Lightweight. Very close to what the Seven Ti felt like. Great riding steel bike.

rekmeyata

Those IF bikes are very nice bikes, I'm talking top of the food chain nice. You found one of those used you probably got a good price on it. Is that IF bike a maroon color with gold colored accents, stem, headset, etc?

Steel is close to the feel of TI, but all my steel bikes, except for my touring bike, are all race geometry, so they tend to be stiff, the TI bike I have is more of a sport geometry, sort of in between a race and a touring bike, but leaning a bit more towards race than touring when I compare it to my other bikes.

Recycled Cycler

Nope. Silver with maroon decals.

rekmeyata

I saw the maroon gold job at The Pros Closet so I thought that was the one you bought. They are very nice looking bikes

big john

How about a picture or two?

Recycled Cycler

I looked at that one at TPC. But it was a tad too big for me. The one I found was on eBay. Sloping TT with a 31" standover middle of TT, and a 56CM virtual TT.

Recycled Cycler

I'm doing a bit of a rebuild on it. When rebuild done next week I'll be sure to post pics

Recycled Cycler

Pics. It was pretty ugly, even for an Indy Fab, when I got it. New handlebars and bar tape, new chain, new cassette, removed chain stay plastic protector with insects and crap melded to it (yuck). Now looking like the fine steel bike Indy Fab originally built!

Recycled Cycler

Here is what it looked like when I bought it, before sprucing it up.

big john

Looks like the frame is in great shape!

Recycled Cycler

Frame is nearly perfect. A few paint blemishes. It was a bit rough when I received it. I think it had been stored in a very humid place for years. It cleaned up well. New 12-30 cassette and new chain. Installed traditional drop bars, and new yellow bar tape for a fresh & bright look. New Campy cables and Torelli housings. New bar tape. Gold colored spacers add some bling.

gthomson

Of course, not all steel is considered equal. I've read the term "gas pipe" frames which does not sound like it's good. One of my old steel bikes which is usually my go to bike because it shifts well and is very reliable but would have been a low end box store bike that must be made with this "gas pipe" steel, as it's heavy and doesn't seem to have any characteristics of smooth, flexible or stiff. Just heavy ha ha.

t2p

double sweet !

rekmeyata

Gas pipe is not the same as steel used for bicycles. Modern gas pipe has steel, black iron, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and copper; of course way back in the 1800's and early 100's gas pipe was used because that's all they had, but back then it didn't contain PVC or HDPE; and yet that stuff held up pretty decently, they did races across the world, touring trips across the world, TDF was done on that stuff, so it did hold up reasonably well.

Steel bike frames, depending how what it is can have different stuff in it. Reynolds 531 in it's earlier years was made of either High Manganese, or High Molybdenum, I can't remember which; then they changed it to Manganese Molybdenum. That's different than Cromoly, Cro-mo. Since I don't know a lot about this stuff, so I'll refer you to a website: https://www.tekton.com/blog/crmo-or-crv-steel

You'll find the same sort of steel used in bike frames is also used in tools.

Recycled Cycler

"Gas pipe" used relative to a steel bike isn't to be taken literally. It's a derogatory put-down insult of cheap steel bikes. "The thing is made of gas pipe". Sorta like, "did you get a good look at that Fred we just passed?" They didn't mean the dude's name was Fred lol!

rekmeyata

What did they use back in the 1800's and early 1900's if it wasn't gas pipe?

Recycled Cycler

It doesn't matter. Whenever anyone says "that bike is made outta gas pipes" they're making fun/ putting down the bike basically saying it's garbage. That's the current usage of "gas pipe" relative to a steel bike. You'd never call a Waterford a gas pipe bike. But you may call a Bikes Direct steel bike a gas pipe bike, depending on if it's cheap steel or not.

rekmeyata

But that's not my question, I would like to know what kind of steel tubing, or piping, was used back in the 1880's to early 1900's in the construction of bike frames? I can only assume from your answer that you don't know just as I don't know, fine, I can live with that.

Does anyone else know?