what is better for trails and mtb riding, steel or aluminium frames?

Neither. It really has to be carbon or titanium.

What do you mean “better”?

depends if you like it stiff or supple

what do you prefer? how much more supple can one be compared to the other?

you’re more rad if you ride steel

with rigid forks

and no gears

and rim brakes

on the front wheel only

Aluminium, bro.

953 steel custom built

full suss- aluminium
Racing- aluminium (if carbon/ titanium isnt an option)
Fun riding – i would prefer a steel bike, aluminium is a bit harsh up here.

its a very noticeable difference, for example the orange p7 feels smooth but alive to ride where as the sub zero feels taught, solid and quick

i’ve got 5 bikes, 2 of them have aluminium frames, 3 are steel.

i’m not sure it really matters all that much, all things considered, imho.

both are better than carboard frames, they’re f**king rubbish, and that’s a fact.

i havn’t really ridden a wide range of bikes, only my own.

Steal is Real

Nike or Adidas?

Op it’s subjective

Don’t get too hung up on it. I do miss the rear end feel of my Soul when I’m on the Mmmbop but I like the lightness. Always said if Cy did an alu Soul I’d buy it, all that “steel is real” crap but it’s the handling I love not the material.

There are stiff steel bikes and flexy alu bikes, I stupidly bought into the whole “alu is stiff” thing til I got my Scandal, I honestly reckon if you stuck Inbred stickers on it people would ride it and declare how lovely the steel ride is.

I’ve ridden a range of bikes, from carbon full sussers, aluminumuminnnum, FS and HT, Ti and steel.

Can honestly say my personal fav is steel, very closely followed by Ti.

The others were fine but me and steel just seem to get along well.

Of course that’s my personal preference based on experience.

You’ll find many if not all riders go through owning many bikes built of different materials, and drift from HT to FS or own both. And quite often along the way, they find something that suits them, a bike they can feel at one with, this can be as much material as it is geometry, set up and build.

So what’s better for trail and mtb is the right one for you.
Spend well, carefully and most all enjoy riding.

I can jump on any bike now and just be happy to be able to ride free.

I’ve gone back to all aluminium MTBs recently. Having started hacking about the woods on cheap compact ali frames after riding a kona xc steel frame before that and then flipflopping between the two materials for the last decade I can conclisively say, either can be good or bad. Geometry makes a far bigger difference to how a bike actually handles. I will say this though, now the whole world has a hardon for steel you can find a few aluminium bargains I reckon.

….

ookeaa Geometry makes a far bigger difference to how a bike actually handles.

+1

I can’t believe people still worry about this stuff

The ride is more influenced by the bikes build than the material.The handlebars,seatpost and tyres will be more noticeable than the steel or alunimium thing.Sure there are peps on this forum that will swear by one more than the other but thats more to do with image/fashion than fact

was the OP’s original question which frame material? not what tyres, bars or geometry, of course those factors all have influence, no one said otherwise. And to say that the both feel the same to ride is just ignorant, the same frame, built with the same components would demonstrate a marked difference both in weight, strength, stiffness and feel. no?

For FS – alloy seems the better material – cheap and light.

For HT – alloy beats me up, steel is nice but heavy and the only carbon ones I’ve ridden were race bikes – so Ti for me.

Your all wrong – it’s bamboo innit 🙂

MrNutt – Member

was the OP’s original question which frame material? not what tyres, bars or geometry, of course those factors all have influence, no one said otherwise. And to say that the both feel the same to ride is just ignorant, the same frame, built with the same components would demonstrate a marked difference both in weight, strength, stiffness and feel. no?

Depends on how it is built. Its perfectly possible to build a very harsh rigid steel frame and a very flexy aluminium frame.

Its perfectly possible to build them both to the same weight. Infact you could proabably build two frames one light harsh steel one and one heavy flexy alloy one if you wanted.

b r – Member
… steel is nice but heavy … so Ti for me

i’m just imagining what kind of lovely, light, custom steel frame you could get for (half) the price of a Ti frame…

custom curtis anyone?