I just had a go on an ancient steel framed road bike (my comuter is in pieces) and man was it a smooth ride! so much better than what i’m used to. i ride an alu frame/steel fork bike with 1.5″ tyres on 26″ wheels. was it the larger wheel that makes the difference? couldn’t have been the tyres could it? – my normal tyres are much fatter than the ones i rode today. or am i getting the “feel of steel” where the more forgiving frame material is producing a a comfortable ride? or is it just down to a comfier saddle – my commuter has an i-beam saddle, which aint the most forgiving. I really need to know, cause now that i’ve tried this bike, i feel like i’m missing out on something with my current bike 🙁

It’ll be the I-beam saddle, I have one on my full suss and it feels bloomin firm, there is no way I would put it on a road bike or hard tail.

bigger wheels will make a massive difference i would have said?

the “spring of steel” i would imagine to be much more relevant on a road bike too.
pingy aluminium doesnt bother me at all on 2″ tyres, but on narrow 100psi roady tyres, i think i would like some forgiveness

wheel size will be barely noticable, probably 10mm in radius between a 26×1.5 and 700×23?

I found wheels made a huge difference. 32spoke 3x handbuilds are very stiff and harsh. Lower spoked and different laceing make for much more forgiving wheels over normal roads, there’s no way im going back to handbuilts!

That and steel road bikes are just nice 🙂

Is it an old 10 speed with touring bike tyres, not pumped up very hard?

I have a 70s steel road bike at my parents’ house, and it feels lovely and smooth whenever I use it because of that. Although it is not as fast as my normal bike for the same reason.

I found wheels made a huge difference. 32spoke 3x handbuilds are very stiff and harsh. Lower spoked and different laceing make for much more forgiving wheels over normal roads, there’s no way im going back to handbuilts!

Really? Surely any decently built wheel is jolly stiff. If a wheel flexes enough that it makes a noticeable difference, then you’ve just got a weak wheel and are heading for broken spokes? You didn’t change tyres at the same time did you? Or change rim depth or something else?

Joe

Itll be the frame, much less overbuilt than a mtb.

Ive got a old steel saracen tourer, strong enough to survive heavy loaded panniers but the ride is smooth as butter. Same wheels, tyres and bits put onto a on-one pompino and it feels like your riding a beadstead, bounces all over the place and very jarring over potholes. Basically the on-one is overbuilt compared to the tourer as its expected to survive cyclocross and over enthusiastic mtbers ;0)

i don’t think the tyres were perticularly flat, and i’m really not sure it was the saddle, cause the whole bike felt smoother. from what i felt (and i’m not that expereinced) it felt most like the larger wheels were smoothing out the bumps better, but it could very easily be something else. and it is a ten year old semi-tourer with fairly narrow tyres. 7 speed, lol.

Is you usual bike a straight steel fork and the tourer a curved fork? The curved fork is much more compliant

handbuilts were shimano/DT/mavicCXP (aprovinately the same flange size and rim depth)

factory builts were shimano r-550

yes the shimano’s are more felxy, but its not noticable in a bad way. They just stop the vibration from the road reaching up through the saddle/bars. Took an extra quater turn on each spoke to cope with my heft/power but have otherwise been faultless. Also helps that they weigh a lot less.

I’m sure in a sprint the handbuilts would be stiffer, but after 100miles im definatley more fresh and probably more inclined to sprint anyway on the shimano ones.

Tires in both cases were conti GP4000 with 50g conti tubes.

If i can pick up a cheep 10sp groupset and wheels i’l be transfering them to the steel project for some silky smoothness 🙂

I’ve got an 853 road frame and I swapped the bit from an Allez on to it initially. The difference was massive, much more compliant ride, much more flex when accelerating though.

“I found wheels made a huge difference. 32spoke 3x handbuilds are very stiff and harsh. Lower spoked and different laceing make for much more forgiving wheels over normal roads, there’s no way im going back to handbuilts!”

I’m not an engineer, but I don’t think that’s how bicycle wheels work…

In my opinion the difference is mostly about wheel size and geometry.