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Funny how we talk about stiff carbon frames but we also have flexy carbon bars
And steel frames that give flex but we don't put steel handlebars on our bikes
Funny how we talk about stiff carbon frames but we also have flexy carbon barsAnd steel frames that give flex but we don't put steel handlebars on our bikes
Thats the great thing about carbon - you can tune it to be many things for basically the same weight. Steel bars are pretty heavy compared to alloy ones.
tmb467 - Member
...And steel frames that give flex but we don't put steel handlebars on our bikes
The problem is trying to find a steel bar that isn't gas-pipe thick these days.
I suspect it's regarded as too hard a sell by the bike industry, so no one is game to spend the money on the tooling for a good lightweight steel bar.
Think my point was really that we've got pre-conceptions about so much ... steel is a hard sell full stop, these days.
It's expensive to make it in the strength and weight people want (and are used to) so any scale is much harder to achieve. There's no right answer here - a good bike is a good bike no matter what it's built from. Geometry, materials, looks all come together to make something special...and then we'll spend ages arguing why the one we prefer is better
Bit of marketing (and magazine reviews to be fair) - selling something lighter and (possibly) cheaper in aluminium/CF isn't hard. Thats really why the Treks/Specialized have gone that way.
Steel is now thought of as a bit more artisan. You can still find a bloke in a shed chopping and brazing R531 tubes together. I think the STW appeal of steel is a lot more to do with "look at me, I'm not a sheep buying mass produced goods" more than real material benefits. Not that I'm saying supporting local/UK builders is a bad thing per se. My ti frame wasn't much different to my CF or my alloy frame to be honest, I was a little disappointed.
My mate has a Hetchins Curly framed road bike he uses a lot but I don't think he's ever commented about how smooth the ride it. He says 'ow' as much as me when crashing through the crappy potholed roads up here.
Though that Ritchey (steel) road frame is really tempting me at the moment...
And steel frames that give flex but we don't put steel handlebars on our bikes
Steel is much stiffer than aluminium. But because it's much stronger and much heavier we use smaller diameter tubes for steel frames - that reduces the stiffness compared to an alloy frame made from large diameter tubes. If you made a steel handlebar it would be far stiffer than any alloy bar because you can't change the diameter significantly.