[Closed] Steel road bike

I think you're looking for a clown bike if you need a 44inch head tube?

Steel is real though, I'd be tempted to get something vintage and lush and build it up with modern components. I have a couple of old peugeot frames that i planned to do this with but never got round to

that sort of budget id consider a custom built frame.

http://www.marinoni.qc.ca/html/PiumaSupremeFr.html

http://www.condorcycles.com/collections/road-bikes/products/condor-super-acciaio-frameset

sixth one down on the page:

http://www.chickencycles.co.uk/index.php?cat=54&sub=129&ord=2

[url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/anything-beat-bob-jackson-frames-on-price ]Oldgit's search for steel[/url]

[url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/my-new-built-steel-racing-racer ]Oldgit's bike[/url]

that sort of budget id consider a custom built frame

For a grand?
Unlikely.
Sadly..

Not a 44mm headtube*, but a Ritchey logic (and a respray because I hate grey).

As for custom, Mercian defiantly do lugged 631 frame and forks <£1k. Although the extras list rapidly adds up (lug lining, painted panels etc)

*I've still got 1" headtubes on some bikes, yes 1.1/8 isn't as stiff as 1.5 or 1.25, but it's not the be all and end all, Cervelo still don't use oversized tubes for example. And Sam (singular) makes good case for them on the Swift, because you can't get 44mm downtubes there's little point, as a stiff headtube in isolation doesn't add anything. And 44mm headtubes on road bikes look naff.

And 44mm headtubes on road bikes look naff.

i think they look great. 🙂

[img] [/img]

the WC stripes are naff though but a bit of black electrical tape sorted that.

i think you need to decide on what kind of steel bike you want?
a trad noodly stovepipe lugged frame or a modern oversize steel frame? they ride quite differently.

My Enigma (steerer now cut down)
[url= https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8564/16486643566_96c5e7f4d2_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8564/16486643566_96c5e7f4d2_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

It's a tapered Columbus HT rather than a 44mm one, but same end result.

you can't get 44mm downtubes there's little point, as a stiff headtube in isolation doesn't add anything. And 44mm headtubes on road bikes look naff.

i think they look great.

it's a 44mm HSS tube

What's that weigh?

That Enigma looks lovely, how's it ride? The tube diameters look pretty much the same as aluminium tubes though, does that not make it a bit harsh, and possibly a bit susceptible to knocks?

You'd never catch Dario building a frame with an OS head tube....

What's that weigh?

That Enigma looks lovely, how's it ride?

does that not make it a bit harsh

a bit susceptible to knocks

I have one of these [img] [/img]

except it is the team bike with Columbus EL custom tubing8 speed shifters on the levers and Paris Roubaix rims.

It is my favourite bike to ride by far and it feels great that it is still ridden and not in a museum somewhere.

For a grand?
Unlikely.
Sadly..

£1k buys a Rourke with carbon fork.

http://www.rourke.biz/custom_framesets.php

Thanks all. That enigma looks very nice to be fair. Some others to think about. I have a OS fork (ENVE) hence why I laid that out as a requirement but perhaps need to think about going down the 1.1/8 route. Logic looks nice (but agree on the paint job)

Mr Smith - what bike is that in the pic above. i cannot find it on google.

Chesini

You'd never catch Dario building a frame with an OS head tube....

maybe you should check what Dario is building now. his pfalz fork has an 1-1/8 steerer and custom king headset to match

bike is a custom chesini prima. weighs a smidge over 8k built up with sram force, zip service corse finishing kit and decent wheels. very similar tube set to my pegoretti (older 1/1/8 HT but still 44mm DT) but totally different ride characteristics

what bike is that

They also do gold leaf pannels....................

[img] [/img]

I've got a Ritchey Road Logic, and you're wrong; the paintjob is awesome.

As is the bike.

[edit] I mean look at it, it oozes class

[img] [/img]

THe problem with the Ritchey frames is they never look like they fit anyone properly.

[i]THe problem with the Ritchey frames is they never look like they fit anyone properly.[/i]

Eh? Although if you're basing that on Hora's photo of his... 😉

😀

Another vote for the ritchey road logic here. I bought one from someone on here (not Hora) at the end of last year and I love it The colour is great and you can pick up a new frame and forks for about 650 leaving you 350 to spend on wheels or shiney bits.

That's tapered, not 44mm. The Volare is 44mm.

No it isn't. It's 34mm top, 44mm bottom.

Isn't Hora still selling his Ritchey?

Have a word with him.

They also do gold leaf pannels.

which are a bit marmite. they will do whatever you want as the paint and geometry is custom. mine is a winter bike so i went with a grey/blue and black colour scheme.

if i was budget limited then Enigma or Rourke would be getting my £1k for something in columbus spirit.

All the 1 1/8" full carbon forks I've tried visibly bend under load with my 145lb bulk on board.

lightweight.

don't look at the forks while braking...

If you want something racey the Genesis is hard to beat for something off the shelf.

If you want discs and room for big tyres then could be worth considering a new Singular Kite disc? Available Feb 1st.

[img] ?oh=aa0c19045b559f35382854d6b2d8f9ad&oe=5701FA18[/img]

that Chesini is lovely but a little out of price range. Alarmingly, those gold panels are growing on me.

Sam, please tell me that will have an ebb.

Kite looks nice but not exactly what I'm after.

Does anyone know if Hora is still selling his Ritchey?

I'm fairly sure he sold it as he was giving up on road bikes.

Then he bought a Defy....

Then he bought a Defy....

really ?

And now he wants a cat 🙁 Good job you can't sell pets on the STW classifieds, or can you if marked off-topic ?

Heres my steel crosser with a 44mm HT. I think the King i7 works nicely with the ENVE fork.
[img] [/img]

No it isn't. It's 34mm top, 44mm bottom.

[img] [/img]

Think the volare '16 are taper

My steel bike knowledge is 18 days out of date.I shall go flog myself with a piece of 631 now as penance.

Best make it plain gage!

Evening. The Ritchey is a beautiful beautiful thing. But is subtle. The issue is if its your only (or main) roadbike you can't really ride it lots as it rains lots. I wanted/need something I could ride, dump in the hallway and maybe forget to wash. Also as a heavier rider (97kg) disc brakes are awesome for steep/sharp descents.

It rains too much in the UK for a year round steel bike. A fair comment?

No. I just give them a spray of dinitrol (like frame saver but cheaper and a bigger can) when I get them. And let's face it people rarely keep frames long enough for them to rot. Have you ever kept a frame for a long time? 🙄

😆

you can't really ride it lots as it rains lots

My mtb is also steel. I sometimes clean it.

I have a 2 steel road bike frames(Raleigh and a Peugeot)in the garage from the 80's that are both still solid, the Peugeot was a daily commuter for years and had minimum maintenance.
I would have no issues about using any steel framed bike for daily use.

That Volare up ^^^^ is an old model. Current ones are 34/44 tapered.

I tried the "which will happen first - rust or fatigue?" test on my neglected old Peugeot commuter. Fatigue won, although the crack was slow enough to also rust nicely 🙂

[img] [/img]

And no matter how scratty that looked, the bb shell was cut out and cleaned up like new for another project - this really is the same part:-

[img] [/img]

And back on topic, personal thing, but I prefer the look of a 44mm HT with external bottom cup (taper just looks clunky if other tubes are skinny). For reference, this shows a 44mm with 35mm dt and 32mm tt.

[img] [/img]

Oh my, that Singular Kite is very nice 🙂

Tang - that KING I7 headset looks stunning (paint on that project looks good too). So at the moment I'm leaning towards that but still far from decided. Ritchey does look good but for whatever reason just doesn't grab me. That Chesini is lovely but I cannot stretch that far. So does that leave the Volare (older model if I can locate one) or try see what Enigma (or perhaps Rourke) could do for me? Anything else out there?

And to the earlier point, this is a year round bike but I plan on also running a real winter bike for the worst of the weather.

£1k buys a Rourke with carbon fork.

£1k gets you something conventional in fillet-brazed Zona or 853 from me too.

Go on then Sam - does the Kite have a EBB and what do you expect retail to be on those?

[url] http://fyxo.co/galleries/breaking-away/#1 [/url]

No ebb on the Kite. Retail will be €749 / ~£560.

Nice one Sam, that new Kite looks awesome. Any geometry charts knocking about?

I didn't think it was as dear as £1495, but I'd already got the image, so you can have it anyway:
[img] [/img]

Mason Resolution
Tapered head tube.
Columbus Spirit and Life

I ended up with standard aluminium Defy 0, but I did spend some time salivating over that lovely bright red Surly Pacer frame before I decided to be sensible and maximise my component package within my budget.

I'm not sure how much more comfortable than the Defy it would have been but it there was a simple classic look about it and there's that mystique of steel too. 😀

Those Mason's are lovely in the flesh but seems a steep premium to pay for one.

Maybe I should laugh off the "road-bike" idea till I can afford one of those Chesini's and focus on a winter beauty built around the kite

This thread seems to be taking a detour.

If you like the Chesini's have a look at the Condor Super Acciaio, not cheap but ticks the same boxes for a racey steel bike.

If you like the lugged steel old school of the Chesinis and you take a 51 or 59 I can do a scorching deal on an Osprey...

[img] [/img]

if you like the Chesini i would also look at Casati. i would put them slightly above Chesini in finish and their build/welding is first class (i visited the factory last year)
Comtat cycles down on the south coast are the U.K. importers

Another option for a custom build http://orlowskiframes.com/

I tried the "which will happen first - rust or fatigue?"

Probably a combination of them both [url= https://www.nace.org/Corrosion-Central/Corrosion-101/Corrosion-Fatigue/ ]Corrosion-Fatigue[/url]

It rains too much in the UK for a year round steel bike. A fair comment?

No, steel is fine. You know we even put it in the sea, here is some steel put in during the war

[img] [/img]

Those Mason's are lovely in the flesh but seems a steep premium to pay for one.

I have the alu version, which was £900 I think. It rides beautifully.

It rains too much in the UK for a year round steel bike. A fair comment?

If ... you take a 51 or 59 I can do a scorching deal on an Osprey...

If you do and it's the kind of bike you are looking for (classic lugged look, skinny steel but with decent clearances) then I can thoroughly recommend it, Sam sorted me out with one in November and it's turned out better than I expected, handles very snappily, much more lively than it has any right to be and super comfy.

[img] [/img]

It doesn't fit your original requirement for 44mm headtube and isn't 'racey' as such but it is an excellent all-round road bike and honestly the handling is much sharper than you expect from a bike of this type, it's become my current go-to bike now for all-weather road rides.

Probably a combination of them both Corrosion-Fatigue

Most of that link is about aluminium structures. I broke it open to look at the fracture faces and pretty certain it was regular high cycle fatigue. The crack also ran in a slight helix, maybe indicative of the mixed torsional / bending loading in that area (pure torsion would be a 45 degree helix).

That frame had a long hard life - first a training frame for a triathlete (early 90s Hawaii Ironman), then my boss for UK triathlons, then years of singlespeed abuse from me.

All the joints were internally brazed with incredibly small fillets when I cut it up for a look - I was amazed how durable they were - good mitre and proper flow of brazing alloy appear to be the secret. Photo shows the top tube / head tube joint (and a bit of down tube). And once blasted clean there looks to have been very little meaningful corrosion so contrary to hora's comment steel bikes really are fine for decades of year round use (shock horror).

[img] [/img]

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[url= http://www.shandcycles.com/wp-content/themes/boot/images/bikes/skinny/hero/img1.jp g" target="_blank">http://www.shandcycles.com/wp-content/themes/boot/images/bikes/skinny/hero/img1.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
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[url= http://honeybikes.com/allroads/ ]Honey allroads...nice..[/url]

I'd never heard of [url= http://www.thelightblue.co.uk/Sport/5LB5WU50M/Wolfson-Ultegra ]The Light Blue[/url] before but it seems it's an old british brand that has been resurrected. Might float someone's boat. Bikeradar gave the Wolfson (top one) a glowing review.

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

Can't believe I'm saying this, but this actually looks like it'd build up into a decent bike. Not too long/slack like alot of these steel disc braked road bikes

http://www.thelightblue.co.uk/Sport/FMLBR50O/Robinson-Frameset

But **** me, the paint job is awful. They need to take a look at the Shand and learn how to photograph their bikes properly aswell.

That Skinnymalinky... end of thread!

Those Robinsons'?
Very, er, 'Finding Nemo' inspired colours.. 😳

Those light blues / Robinsons - I live 200yds from their shop in Cambridge and walk past those bikes in the window display every day. They just look 'right' for an commuter / winter road bike. Even the orange one (there's also a nice grey version). I just think they're over-cooking it on the price for that spec compared to what else is available. Steel fork as well. They are definitely on the right track though so I wish them every success.

Some great options for a winter steel here. Love the Shand's but just a little out of my price range. Decisions Decisions. To be fair, it's a nice problem to have.

PS - Sam, afraid I'm more around 57 - 6ft exactly.

Read [url= https://www.rivbike.com/kb_results.asp?ID=41 ]Grant Petersen's guide to bike sizing[/url] and get back to me 🙂