My Bill Nickson steel frame was great - I am it's 3rd or 4th owner, and when I got it (for £200) it was covered in 8 speed DuraAce. Did LEJOG on it, and some competitive road rides, and many many training rides, and have only had to put it to bed as the frame has rusted through at the bottom of the seat tube. Love riding it though (it's Dedaccia tubing, and weighs about 5lb, whole bike around 20lb). Still great to ride 20 years after it was made. I wouldn't hesitate to have another one, but now lust after a carbon loveliness type road bike.
Bike Forum
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Old steel road bikes vs Carbon
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Posted 1 year ago #
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Blatant plug for my old 531 steel bike on classifieds :wink:.
I solved the carbon/steel/alu debate the easy way, i went titanium.
Posted 1 year ago # -
it occurs to me that good steel bikes - and their riders - will likely last a lot longer than modern carbon bikes - and their riders!
That is total cobblers mate. I ride a carbon road bike, are you telling me I'm a fair weather biker and will give up in a few years? I ride a carbon bike because it's cool and I love how it rides. If an old codger could've bought a great riding carbon bike when he was in his 30s, do you think he would? Talk about nostalgic rubbish!
I was under the impression that carbon fibre had excellent fatigue characteristics. How long will my frame last?
Posted 1 year ago # -
TheDoctor - Member
@crikey
What an Idiot
If you are going to be so incisive in your commentary, at least be imaginative in your insults...
Posted 1 year ago # -
WTF comparing off the shelf alu to custom steel. IRRELEVANT.
Not irrelevant. Totally relevant, in that it's about the ride, it's about the actual thing that you do with the bike, not what the tubes happen to be made of.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Not really, I was told by a guy I know in a bike shop who was contemplating buying a Cervelo that his 'trade price' was around £1200, retail on the frame was £2150....by my reckoning thats about 50%
I think I need to start selling different bikes. Nearly 50% margin? From my experience, that's only available on bikes that get reduced so much (because they're not so great?!) that the margin is reduced to normal anyhow.
Trade prices are usually quoted without VAT, while RRPs are always including VAT. Bit of a joke but it hides real margin.
I know it's off topic but I believe that it was quite a statement and should be answered.
Posted 1 year ago # -
"Not really, I was told by a guy "
thus it must be fact .... do not doubt the power of "i was told by a guy" makes ANYthing fact
Posted 1 year ago # -
WTF comparing off the shelf alu to custom steel. IRRELEVANT.
Not irrelevant. Totally relevant, in that it's about the ride, it's about the actual thing that you do with the bike, not what the tubes happen to be made of.
my point was about your price comparison which you ahve conveniently ignored.Anyway your tedium has ground me down. Well done. Night night.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Steve-Austin - Member
If steel is so great, then why don't the big companies sell frames made of it anymore?
easy, it's a well known internet fact that the only reason manufacturers started using fat aluminium tubes, and now fat CFRP tubes, is so that they can print their names in bigger letters.
as in:
'whoosh...'
'what bike was that?'
'don't know, something with skinny tubes'
'whoosh...'
'what bike was that?'
'a Look, with Reynolds wheels...'
it must be true, i just made it up.
Posted 1 year ago # -
@flyingfox, should have qualified it a bit more, it was a frame and fork only not a complete bike - I know on bikes the margins aren't that great. The VAT point is a good one and is probably right, its still a 35% margin though, or about £650 in real money
Posted 1 year ago # -
If steel is so great, then why don't the big companies sell frames made of it anymore?
Colnago Master?
De Rosa Neo Primato?
Orange P7?
Genesis?There will be many more, I just can't be bothered to think of them
My mate has a Master, its light, handles beautifully and looks stunning. and with full super record 11 its very expensive!
Posted 1 year ago # -
I've got a Salsa la raza (54cm) which I'm looking to shift. It's platinum ox tubing, ultegra / 105 9 speed, with a triple. Let me know if this is interesting.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Steve-Austin - Member
If steel is so great, then why don't the big companies sell frames made of it anymore?
i've had something itching at the back of my mind for the last few hours, then i remembered:
it's a speccy allez double steel.
about £600 new if you can find one...
(s'quite nice inna 'my dad used to have a bike like that' way)
Posted 1 year ago # -
I think I need to start selling different bikes. Nearly 50% margin?
He said mark up, not margin - big difference. And as you say, there is the VAT element as well. Around 30% is normal IME. Anyway, i don't think it is cost/margins which has brought about the decline of the steel frame. And as I'm glad to report, there are still a number of people out there who prefer to ride and are happy to buy new steel frames.
Buying an old frame is also just a nice thing to do to offset rampant consumption. Call it recycling.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Try bikesandprams.co.uk as they do great value road bikes [Shimano equipped] that are ripe for upgrading
Posted 1 year ago # -
Haven't read all of the above (yet), but I have started riding a steel framed road bike I built in the early - mid 90s.
The ride is absolutely sublime. As on antoher thread on here, the only thing I can compare it to is a Lucky Strike Ti HT (obviously the bikes are very different, but the subtley and balance of the handling is similar)
Posted 1 year ago #
Topic Closed
This topic has been closed to new replies.
