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Lets talk about steel road bikes.
I, on a whim, bought a second hand Road bike last week.
Raleigh race pro, the sticker says "501 Double butted frame" for a shiney 80 beer tokens
Having taken it apart, i think the bearings etc are actually pretty shot.
but i figure, it was still loads cheaper than buying, say, a lincolnshire poacher frame? (what steel are they made of in comparison? DN6 like the Summer season?) and i get to repaint it and build it myself...
toying with the idea of either a Single speed, OR a 3 speed sturmey archer hub.
anyone got a 3spd road (clubman?) bike?
Old steel frames are indeed real bargains.
501 means it was at least made out of metal 😉
Still should be a fine ride if it's not too shot. It might have pressed ends and longer reach for the brakes. And possibly semi horizontal ends which will make a fixie/ss conversion easy.
But not the bargains they were 5 years ago though.
Bought a really good condition bike, a falcon strada (actualy saw another identical one for the first time ever the other day!) reynolds 531, with exage 600 bits on it (ultegra back in the day) for £20 in 2004. Weighed in the low 20's lb.
As the OP found, you can't get a servicable bike for £100 now!
*shakes fist at those trendy london fixie types*
The problem is geometry has moved on in 40 years, bikes are now much steeper and shorter chain stays than they used to be, top tubes and seat tubes are now about the same length or even compact, stuff from the 70's often has seat tubes 6cm longer than the top tube. And head tubes have halved in length to get the riders more aerodynamic.
My Roadie bike was a 90's Peugeot steel crosser for a while. It was nice enough, but angles were steep, and it was a gate. weight was reasonably high as well. I replaced it with a nice Ali one a year or so ago, and I lost a load of weight, and gained a bit of speed.
Nice for a second bike, much cheapness