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Why is steel out of favour?

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Old 10-01-20, 07:10 PM
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Originally Posted by Johnk3
My frame was $3,600 including shipping, the Viva fork with CF steering tube, Chris King headset, direct mount brakes, name plaque, Italian shield, nickel head badge and extra paint colors. I'm not sure if I could have had any more options other than exotic paint. But, I ordered my frame almost a year ago so prices may have changed.
Err, that price included the CK headset and brakes, and a fancied-up paint job? That is a pretty good deal.
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Old 10-01-20, 07:26 PM
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[QUOTE=Mulberry20;21723546][QUOTE=Johnk3;21723540]My frame was $3,600 including shipping, the Viva fork with CF steering tube, Chris King headset, direct mount brakes, name plaque, Italian shield, nickel head badge and extra paint colors. I'm not sure if I could have had any more options other than exotic paint. But, I ordered my frame almost a year ago so prices may have changed.[/

Actually it was 3,320 euros which with todays' exchange rate comes out to $3,896, but the exchange rate has changed since last year.
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Old 10-01-20, 07:39 PM
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Originally Posted by Koyote
Err, that price included the CK headset and brakes, and a fancied-up paint job? That is a pretty good deal.
It was 3,320 euros which was $3,600 last year, today almost $3,900. It did not include the actual brakes, only the extra cost of adding the dual brake mounts. I spent another $3,700 on the group set, seatpost, handlebars, stem, etc. I had the wheels made here. The actual brakes are not expensive, about $85 each.
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Old 10-01-20, 07:58 PM
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Originally Posted by Koyote
Err, that price included the CK headset and brakes, and a fancied-up paint job? That is a pretty good deal.
I have the paint samples for the Cangiante paint job. There are at least 25 paint choices. That paint job is 500 extra. I might just get Spirit and have that paint on the entire bike. With Chorus I can get the whole bike done with Campi Boras and Deda carbon for about 7k. Or Shamals for a few hundred less.
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Old 10-01-20, 08:27 PM
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Originally Posted by Mulberry20
This is the steel/carbon frame. Drooling.
it appears this combo makes easy to repair if ever needed.
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Old 10-01-20, 08:37 PM
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Originally Posted by Johnk3
The bike is made of TIG welded Columbus XCr stainless steel. It is one of Columbus's newest steels, only available for about 12 years and as steel tube sets go, it is pretty expensive, I believe the MSRP for a tube set is about $900. It is very thin, very strong, triple butted, cold drawn and seamless, not rolled and welded. It is made in Italy.

My bike weighs 18.675 lbs with the pedals. It is a size 58.5 cm and has a stainless steel fork with a carbon fiber steering tube that is Barco's own design and invention. I could have cut off more weight by getting a carbon saddle and light weight wheels, but I weigh about 215 lbs and ride on some rough country roads with cattle guards, so delicate wheels were out of the question. .
that is a very clean seamless TIG Weding
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Old 10-02-20, 01:18 AM
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Originally Posted by Koyote
Nice bike. As another option, a person could go for a tig-welded frame made of the latest heat-treated and air-hardened steel and a cf fork and get to within a pound of that weight -- and for a lot less money. Even lugged construction would get you there for less dough. But I admit that SS does have its appeal.
Never mind the fork, Reynolds 853 (heat-treated and air-hardened) is available in the same wall thicknesses as XCr. So the bike would ride and weigh just the same. Only it wouldn't be as shiny and you would have to budget 20g for paint.
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Old 11-11-20, 12:53 PM
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Originally Posted by BlazingPedals
I've never heard of Campy being described as "cheaper," but it is definitely a nice-looking setup.Stainless steel is unusual for a fork.
The way the steerer is bonded to the fork looks like it could break in any moment. He should've went with an all-steel fork.
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Old 11-11-20, 01:49 PM
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Originally Posted by satrain18
The way the steerer is bonded to the fork looks like it could break in any moment. He should've went with an all-steel fork.
Your opinion is based on a picture.
Seems well informed.***
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Old 11-11-20, 07:16 PM
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Originally Posted by Mulberry20
Not sure I would agree. The Columbus XCR tube set is fairly new. It is the only seamless, stainless steel tube set available and it is lighter and stronger than any metal tub set. Walls can be a thin as .4 mm. The Cicli Barco reviewd in the link is 17.7 lbs with Barco’s in house stainless fork. A carbon fork would probably bring it to flat 17. That bike is spec’d to the gills and came in at 12k. A new Trek Domane weighs 20lbs.

Honestly, would you pick a 12k Giant, Specialzed or Trek over that gorgeous, custom, handmade Italian beauty?

https://www.cyclist.co.uk/reviews/66...rco-xcr-review
Yes, I would.
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Old 11-11-20, 07:31 PM
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I hate to say this, but 16.9 pounds is not 20.
https://www.cyclist.co.uk/trek/doman...-9-2020-review
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Old 02-08-21, 07:03 PM
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Cicli Barco XCr custom stainless steel

Originally Posted by satrain18
Yes, I would.
My bike has the same specs as the one in the review except for having HED alloy wheels. Mine weighs 18.67 lbs in a size 58.5 frame and the total cost for mine was about $8500. That is a lot less than 12K.
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Old 02-09-21, 02:36 AM
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A CF frame weighs about 1kg. A respectable but not super high-zoot steel road frame (using e.g. Reynolds 631 or Columbus Zona and .8/.5/.8 tubes-- i.e. not overbuilding the crap out of it like many commercial frames are) is 1.6kg. So if you got the same high-end parts for everything else the steel bike would be about 7.4kg. With realistic mid-range components (Shimano 105 that kind of thing, and aluminium rims and no carbon anything except fork you can easily end up with about 9kg (or 19.8lbs) for the whole bike.
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Old 02-09-21, 09:57 AM
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While the OP may think steel is out of favor, there are some of us that simply would not buy the obscenely priced plastic bikes they are selling these days. Any of the three or four metals that bikes can be made out of is far superior.
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Old 02-09-21, 11:09 AM
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Originally Posted by rydabent
While the OP may think steel is out of favor, there are some of us that simply would not buy the obscenely priced plastic bikes they are selling these days. Any of the three or four metals that bikes can be made out of is far superior.

Care to explain why you have such an opinion?
...and I only own steel frames.
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Old 02-09-21, 11:21 AM
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Originally Posted by rydabent
While the OP may think steel is out of favor, there are some of us that simply would not buy the obscenely priced plastic bikes they are selling these days. Any of the three or four metals that bikes can be made out of is far superior.
Three of my five bikes are steel, and even I don't agree with this.
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Old 02-09-21, 11:45 AM
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I have been riding steel bikes for over 45 years and will continue to do so in the future.

Steel is Real!!
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Old 02-09-21, 12:06 PM
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Originally Posted by rydabent
While the OP may think steel is out of favor, there are some of us that simply would not buy the obscenely priced plastic bikes they are selling these days. Any of the three or four metals that bikes can be made out of is far superior.
This is your opinion, not a fact. I've ridden and raced bikes make of steel, aluminum, titanium, and carbon fiber, in the dirt and on the road. The top of my list for favorites is all CF. This is my opinion...and it's worth exactly how much you pay use this site.
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Old 02-09-21, 01:16 PM
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Originally Posted by rebel1916
There is no could be about it.
My post was entirely tongue-n-cheek in that if you can build a steel bike heavy enough the pure weight should make it extremely fast downhill. Solid round bar stock is a good choice for the ultimate downhill rocket.

John
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Old 02-09-21, 04:52 PM
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Originally Posted by rydabent
While the OP may think steel is out of favor, there are some of us that simply would not buy the obscenely priced plastic bikes they are selling these days. Any of the three or four metals that bikes can be made out of is far superior.
By the way, you should really poke around on the internet a bit. Carbon Fiber isn't really that expensive. A decent cf-framed road bike will cost about as much as one made of a decent (better than 4130 chromoly) grade of steel.
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Old 02-09-21, 05:19 PM
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Originally Posted by Koyote
By the way, you should really poke around on the internet a bit. Carbon Fiber isn't really that expensive. A decent cf-framed road bike will cost about as much as one made of a decent (better than 4130 chromoly) grade of steel.
4130 is pretty much what all the quality grades are anyway. Columbus Zona is 4130 (well, 25CrMo4 which is the European equivalent) as is Reynolds 525. There's a bit of product differentiation going on with the other tubes in the range being a bit better ("air hardening", heat treatments, etc.) but they don't make a huge amount of difference as the wall thicknesses and butting profiles are mostly about the same. It's a step up when you get to the stainless ones like XCr and 953 but before that point they're basically 4130.

But anything lower grade than 4130 like 1020 etc. is certainly something you should look down your nose at.

I'm not riding steel frames if/because they're cheaper though
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Old 02-09-21, 05:35 PM
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Originally Posted by guy153
4130 is pretty much what all the quality grades are anyway. Columbus Zona is 4130 (well, 25CrMo4 which is the European equivalent) as is Reynolds 525. There's a bit of product differentiation going on with the other tubes in the range being a bit better ("air hardening", heat treatments, etc.) but they don't make a huge amount of difference as the wall thicknesses and butting profiles are mostly about the same. It's a step up when you get to the stainless ones like XCr and 953 but before that point they're basically 4130.

But anything lower grade than 4130 like 1020 etc. is certainly something you should look down your nose at.

I'm not riding steel frames if/because they're cheaper though
You obviously have a lot to learn about the metallurgical properties of the different steels that are available for bike frames.

It's not my job to educate you, since this info is easily found on the interwebs.
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Old 02-09-21, 07:47 PM
  #173  
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Originally Posted by guy153
4130 is pretty much what all the quality grades are anyway. Columbus Zona is 4130 (well, 25CrMo4 which is the European equivalent) as is Reynolds 525. There's a bit of product differentiation going on with the other tubes in the range being a bit better ("air hardening", heat treatments, etc.) but they don't make a huge amount of difference as the wall thicknesses and butting profiles are mostly about the same. It's a step up when you get to the stainless ones like XCr and 953 but before that point they're basically 4130.

But anything lower grade than 4130 like 1020 etc. is certainly something you should look down your nose at.

I'm not riding steel frames if/because they're cheaper though
From what ive seen, the UTS for Zona is higher than the UTS for 4130.
And then there is butting profile for which Zona main tubes are different from 4130 tubes I've looked at.
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Old 02-09-21, 08:26 PM
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Originally Posted by mstateglfr

Care to explain why you have such an opinion?
...and I only own steel frames.
Metal is metal and plastic is plastic. As I have explained before so call CF bikes are nothing more than carbon fiber reinforced plastic. Plastic makes up most of the weight of a CF bike. Dont get me wrong if you want to blow your money on a plastic bike go right ahead, it is not money out of my wallet, and it is a free country for the most part.
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Old 02-09-21, 08:29 PM
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Originally Posted by HD3andMe
Now you are getting the picture!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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