It depends on how the material is utilized. My steel mtn. bike feels about as stiff as my AL road bike, but I've also ridden a steel road bike that rode like a magic carpet (not a good thing, IMO).

Some steel is cheaper (lower end Fujis + Lemonds), some steel is insanely expensive (waterford, vanilla, etc...). Some steel is heavier (my gf's fuji finest is 25lbs in a 54cm), some is lighter.


One thing that all steel frames share is a tendency to rust and fall apart within 2 years. Just a heads up ;)

Oh! Gotcha. Thanks. :)

I doubt the aluminum and CF frames of today will be still rolling after 30 + yrs, as a lot of steel frames do. Titanium is another matter, of course.

When armageddon comes all that will be left is cockroaches, plastic and titanium bikes.

Wow. Are you kidding?

it is easy to prevent steel from rusting. my dad went back to riding his 1978 austro daimler puch 5000 miles a year, after experiencing a variety of catastrophic failures with other materials (he is a serious tourer).

I have three steel bikes which date from the late 70's to mid 80's which have nary a spot of rust on them. I just keep them clean and out of the rain.

high quality steel frames will last for decades with 10 hrs a year of maintenance.

wow guys...

I even put a smiley at the end of that.

Should I have included a written disclaimer?

Why not?

sorry... you just never know in the road bike forum...:o

Why steel ? Very simple answer : Price ! I bought my new commuter, a Campy Athena equipped fillet brazed Columbus Neuron frame made by Dacordi for less than 200 $. Wonderful ride, around 9 kilo what more can anyone approaching 50 ask for ? I am not at a level where those last ounces means very much.
Aside from that I grew up with steel and find a well made steel frame to be a thing of beauty ( and it often rides nicely):D

Why do I own a steel bike?

Simple....


I own a bike made of every other material, so I might as well have one of those too.

Sure, you can putty in the TIG welding on Ti and AL, sand the crap out of it, paint it and it will look similar. And with CF you can wrap and wrap and wrap the joints until they're the size of a linebacker's swollen knee in an Ace Bandage paint them and they will look similar.

You can do lots of things to make them look like a finely fillet brazed steel frame. But you what, they don't really look the same.

And as contrary as you love to be, I know deep down inside we agree on this.

A quality steel frame has great ride qualities.

Some of these CF bikes ride pretty well and the newer Aluminum frames are smoother now that they are producing more refined tubesets. I also appreciate that they tend to be more efficient and more responsive than steel when made well. But they still feel soulless to me.

Not to mention that I, at 225 lbs., tend not to trust Aluminum or Carbon Fiber. My compromise has been to ride a Lemond spine frame that provides me with a steel chassis and CF cockpit. It's got the soul of steel, the durability of a steel bottom bracket/downtube/chaintays, and the added efficiency/responsiveness of OCLV. So far so good.

I paid $20.00 for my '83 Trek frame, $30.00 for my '79 as a complete bike, in my opinion nothing better looking than a lugged steel frame. Neither of my vintage Treks have any rust on them, I expect to hand them down to my grandchildren.

The opposite. Aluminum is the stiffest material. Carbon can have some flex. Steel is the most forgiving ride. I haven't ridden titanium so I can't comment on that material but I've heard that it is similar to steel . . .

You wouldn't say that if you rode an 80's era Vitus...

Here's a good read, I don't know if he knows what he's talking about, but he builds bikes for a living...

http://www.anvilbikes.com/?news_ID=16&catID=3

I have riddden them all, alumn, steel, carbon, ti, and it really comes down to what you personally want in the ride, as well as handling characteristics.
I have always owned a steel bike since 1979, the allez tange 1979 and the razesa columbus slx 1980
are still top notch riding frames, heavier compared to my waterford but still very functional and enjoyable.

My Trek Madone is light and it rides as well as the steel, just somewhat lighter,. The beauty of my lugged waterford by far surpasses the trek when it comes to asethetics, since they both ride good it is a toss-up in regards to comfortability.

It all depends on what you really want . If you are sized wrong and set-up wrong it dosen't matter what you own it will be a crappy ride

Every now and then you read a post and say, that's perfect, I can't top that. Just saying "+1" isn't enough. For me, this is one of those posts.

Are you sure that isn't an aluminum frame? I'm probably wrong, but it just looks.. aluminum-y.

Cost only. It's cheaper to TIG weld a steel frame than it is to braze it. It's also, on a production line, cheaper to produce a TIG welded aluminium frame than a TIG welded steel frame. Hence, we've got the aluminium bike forced upon us, and seeing the ride is so harsh, you have to improve them by adding carbon forks. I'm cynical enough to believe the thought that the lack of durability featured in the marketing men's thinking as well. Bikes are now a throw away item and anything that promotes that is good.

Weight? There isn't much difference in weight between a good steel frame and a similar level aluminium frame - there's no real difference if you want the aluminium frame to last (carbon just won't). But, the thing the weight fetishists fail to consider is total weight of the bike and rider - stuff an average sized human on a bike and the difference between a steel frame and an aluminium/carbon composite frame is less than 1% - it makes a difference over your cappuccino and when racing but not in the real world.

Richard

Agreed :)

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/637/wedge2pq4.jpg

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/8493/wedgedu1.jpg


Why Steel? I think Steel makes the most beautiful bikes.

It's zona steel. Most of the tubes are not round which is kind of a pain in the but when you are trying to mount a pump or something. I would have prefered a nice lugged frame but they are few and far between, in my size anyway. My other steel framed bike is a jamis nova which has round tubes, but no lugs. I used to have a viner, I can't believe I got rid of it.

Oh well, the ones I have are comfy and fit well and that's all that matters at this point.

Not fair. You're supposed to post things we can argue with :D

Richard

If you want to know "why steel" go read ViperZ's write up of the first ride on his Colnago. He said it about as good as you can.

DORK DISC ALERT!!!!!

I mostly like steel because you can get a really nice frame for $1000. My Ritchey Road logic rides like a dream. I've only ever owned 2 road bikes in 15 years of riding, an RB-1 and my Ritchey. That should say something about steel right there.

I used to race a lot on my RB-1, and won some too. Upgraded from Cat 5 to 3 in 2.5 months. It has ~130,000 miles on it, and I'm converting it to SS/fixie now and will probably ride it another 20 years. I'm going to race it on a local hill climb (Jester) as a single speed this spring. Should be fast as hell.

Steel is a nice conversation piece, and you won't ride any slower on a steel bike. Plus, you get a lot of love from traffic lights when you're by yourself (steel bikes change them easier).

Anyway, it's all about the motor. Ride whatever you want, but make sure you ride it.