First "proper' road bike

So ….. build a steel bike and live with the fact it will share similarities with the Camino in weight and ride ( I have a fearless Warlock*) or be bold and build a racier bike based on a lighter frameset?

Think you've pretty much answered your own question there. Get a proper modern road bike - carbon, not too relaxed, light. You've already got the relaxed touring steel bike.

Weight isn't everything, but both my vintage steel bikes are 9kg (just under 20lbs) without any weight weenie stuff going on. Steel Columbus SLX with 90's Dura Ace and handbuilt wheels and a 653 with 90's Ultegra and Mavic wheels.

You'll have at least 1kg penalty with steel.

I’d pick something carbon or aluminium personally - if you want it full road you may as well have a bike that feels like it has instant acceleration and not pay a weight penalty for steel. Steel probably filters out more buzz on longer rides though going on my steel hardtail.

I'm with @mogrim. If you're going to have another bike, make it different to what you already have. Have a look at something in carbon.

Steel Columbus SLX with 90’s Dura Ace

Unless it's "new" SLX that's a pretty weight weeny set-up for it's time.

Depends what you want - an 80s style road bike can be a wonderful ride but it's not the same as a modern race bike. If you want the stiff and efficient feel, the rewarding kick, I'd go aluminium tbh. There's some great Al frames around now and they're not all tooth-rattlers.
Steel frames that are both light and stiff-ish are not cheap. I have an 1800g-ish old school steel frame that rides beautifully if you're ok with it being more of a smooth wind-up kind of ride rather than a rapid acceleration bunch riding, sign-sprinting sort of thing. Those old steel framesets were fine when the whole peloton were on similar bikes but the difference between those bikes and a CAAD13 or Allez Al in feel or response over a short distance is quite noticeable.

As above, weight isn't everything, but it can make a road bike feel dull as you like afterall a road bike is for roads, apparently. 22lbs is bloody heavy and only slightly lighter than mt Scott Scale.

My aero carbon bike is under 8kg and it feels plain fast, all integrated this, Di2 that etc. But on a tighter budget go for alloy and be careful with wheels, tyres and finishing kit as some alloy stuff and plenty of saddles weighs a bloody ton.

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As a comparison, my lads Ridley alloy bike - granted it's a 47cm frame, weighs in at 8.15kg with Fulcrum Racing 4DB wheels, good tyres, light finishing kit inc. saddle and 1x10 (its used for CX and road) but it's also disc (TRP Spyre mechanical) and has square taper cranks, not light, if it were 2x it'd probably be in the region of 8.5kg, so you can build a nice light alloy road bike for not a huge amount of cash with the right parts.

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Think you’ve pretty much answered your own question there. Get a proper modern road bike – carbon, not too relaxed, light.

Perfect answer in the first response.

I'd also suggest looking at full bikes secondhand. There's not much risk with road bikes and prices are low now. You could do a bit of parts swapping and just buy some nice wheels.

Thanks all.

You're definitely helping the "head" decision and highlighting how I've ended up with a garage full of steel mountain bikes!

Interesting thoughts on carbon - I'm not sure my (still to be determined) budget will stretch that far as they appear to realistically start at the £1k price mark and with alloy BSA sleeves* don't seem to give that much away to an alloy bike - I could be completely wrong here 🙂

I'd rather not go press fit.

Whatever you do, budget for some nice wheels. The ride of a decent frame can be ruined by rubbish wheels, whilst an average frame can feel great with decent wheels.

For under £1K you could probably get a 2nd hand carbon frame and carbon wheels. You could probably pick up a Planet X Carbon Pro Evo frame for £500ish next time they have a sale.

A decent carbon frame can be stiffer, lighter and as comfortable as a steel one.

And as someone said above, there are some crazy 2nd hand bargains around at the mo on full bikes.

I’d rather not go press fit.

I have a press fit BB on my 2009 Cube. It's been replaced once. It's just not an issue.

I'm also no fan of press fit BBs but I've had them on several road bikes with no issues at all.

Certainly wouldn't let it put me off secondhand bargains or big discounted new frames, but if I were forking out top dollar for a new frame I'd want BSA like you, just because.

If you go 2nd hand and find something like a caad12 disc frame that’s a nice light alloy frame - weighs about 1150g I think give or take.

I’m going to be selling mine at some point this year when my new carbon frame arrives - I’m assuming frame and fork they go for around the £300 mark (just a guess really) but I’ll be selling mine with cranks as well as it’s a bb30a standard so Shimano cranks don’t fit / my Cannondale Si cranks won’t fit the new bike.

I wouldn’t rule out pressfit for road bikes personally - never had a squeak out of mine and the bearings have lasted ages. After 3 years I bought some new ones as I thought I may as well change them whilst everything was apart to fit di2 and the old bearings were still in pretty decent shape.

My winter road bike is an older alloy Specialized Allez. Cost me £100 on EBay. I then used spare parts I had to build it up and put a pair of Mavic Kysriums on it. Used it for the past 3 winters. It’s wrecked now but I can still average over 20mph on it.

I’m thinking of stripping it down and fitting a new 105 group set on it, replacing the headset and sticking a new cheap set of wheels on it for next winter.

It’s not a patch on my summer carbon roadie with di2 though.

I’d look on 2nd hand sites and pick up a cheapo rim braked road bike or frame set. They may be obsolete but will be great fun to fly about on.

if you want comfort just make sure you drop a 27.2mm seatpost into the frame. The rear triangle of a frame basically never compresses (or does by such a small amount is immaterial), regardless of material. All the "softness" you're feeling is a skinny seatpost bending. Larger diameter (and particularly aero) posts don't move as much, causing a harsher ride. You can shim a carbon frame designed for a 34.9mm post down to 27.2mm - that said an aero frame might be a bit harder.

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/FTPXEC130D/planet-x-ec-130e-rivet-rider-disc-carbon-aero-road-frameset - cheap, plastic, proper road. What more do you want?

edit : ok you might want a frame larger than xs 😀 their pro carbon is there though, if you ring them up they'll probably let you have it at "sale" price

I don't know if I am allowed to say this, but I have an 8kg road bike on the classifieds at the moment that would probably suit you perfectly. Price negotiable.

Apologies if this is not allowed. In which case, mods, please delete and forgive me!

Current wisdom is that unless you're going to shell out the £££ on a high-end carbon frame, you're best off with aluminium. The thinking being that a high-end aluminium frame will feel and perform better than a low-end carbon frame, but still be comparable on price (if not cheaper!)

*this applies if you're buying new, of course

There are plenty of quality used road bikes around it seems. You get a lot of spec for your money. If you are buying new then it will cost a lot more of course but I know not everyone wants to buy second hand.
The big question is it for year round road riding, I am thinking heavy winter use also or are you looking at alternating with the steel rig you already have for mixed riding conditions. I would prefer to go carbon as its very light of you are planning on doing a lot of climbing, mine weighed in at about 7.5-8kg which was OK. I have ridden alu bikes that were more 9.5kg which still were good and I guess the advantage of alu is its a safer bet buying second hand also but depends how worried you get about these things. I would get a nice second hand road bike and then bring it to life with a decent set of new wheels and tyres. I love the road riding when you get to the nicer quiet roads and village routes but like many have turned to riding more off road just as I find it more relaxing away from the traffic but am keen to ride in the road bike again soon.

I think @mogrim and @chakaping have it spot on ^^.

Get a proper road bike, not a sort of half converted gravel bike that's kind of like what you had before.
You can occasionally pick up some absolute gems on ebay/FB Marketplace but admittedly there's a LOT of wading through the dross - if you've got some Ultegra/105 kit lying around that'll help.

There are some decent sale prices still around on various brands at the moment, last year's bikes etc if you're buying new. Canyon Endurace is worth a look; £1449 for the 105-equipped aluminium one with hydro discs.

I mean, if we’re talking about light, fast carbon road bikes, my sub 16lb Madone is also in the classifieds (offers accepted) 😊

I’d rather not go press fit.

All my road bikes have press-fit BB, zero issues.

All on original bearings as well after 10,000s km. I did regrease the races in the winter bike after three years.

I have two Giant Defys. One is 10x the price of the other and weighs 7.2 kilos with pro level carbon frame and wheels and Dura Ace throughout. The other is alloy and rides the same but is about two large full water bottles heavier. First bike, modest budget, get an alloy frame and nicer wheels. Steel frames are nice, and I have one of those too, but for that Road Bike(TM) experience, alloy will give you more for less money. Geometry is what matters most, and alloy is always stiffer than steel (and often carbon too).

Not much to add other than my 6yr old Pressfit has been 100% trouble free, although granted it has only done 8-9000km in that time and has scarcely seen rain.

Triple butted aluminium frame, 8kg with Fulcrum 3 wheels and Ultegra. Have finally found a carbon frame worth replacing it for but it's £1400 for maybe 450g weight saving if I'm lucky (oh, and some cosmetic aero touches 😎).

So yeah, nice aluminium is still nice 👍