Old school lugged steel bikes

Yes or no? Sat in Reading station Costa next to a old guy who is the spit of Barry Crier, he has a 531Raleigh, looks 80’s. What do the style police think?

Yes.

Why aren’t all bikes made that way?

‘Reading’ ‘costa coffee’ neither pass the style police.

Look awful IMHO…

But like I said, thats just my opnion..

Loads disagree judging how busy the likes of Ricky Feather are..

I don’t like lugged frames at all.

Lugs are awesome if done in a contemporary style

Unfortunately most aren’t and just look skinny and shit

saw this at the cycle show; absolutely outstanding.

I much prefer the look of fillet brazed steel frames.

Seems like a waste of money there days, can look nice, can look “trying way too hard”.

Yes

My road bike is a lugged steel frame – Columbus ELO tubing.

Obsolete by today’s standards – certainly in terms of weight anyway. Handling is nervous, skittish and fast – needs confidence to drive it properly… certainly not “dead” feeling.

Doing a 100 miler on it in a few weeks, a first, and will be riding with folks on more modern exotica. Will be interested to see how it goes – almost certainly likely to cement whether I “regress” to do more of a mix of road / mtb, and whether I convince myself to buy a new road bike

I think it depends – I mostly prefer making fillet-brazed frames, but I’ve got a Hetchins hanging in the shop window with the most extravagant lugs and it looks gorgeous.

So I’d say either no lugs or OTT lugs, nothing in between 🙂

I have a peugeot PA10 frame, with nice-ish lugs (from about 1975) just waiting for me to start buying bit to get it rideable.

Some of the most beautiful frames IMO

my Mercian has clover leaf lugs, so what, nice bike to ride !

Like the guy drinking the coffee, I wouldn’t care what the style police were thinking. He was riding bikes before they were trendy, and will be riding them after. The same bike. That is cool.

And I have a lugged steel track bike, and it looks a LOT nicer than my welded steel Kona. But fillet braising is also very nice. In fact small tubes always look better.

i think theres been some error in communication with the new breed and the old breed

a custom builder built what you wanted to fit your body, not brazed to gether a load of off the shelf items painted it a **** niche colour and charged you through the **** nose for it

I have two Dave Yates steel roadbikes. A lugged 653 bike with skinny tubes and an 853 fillet brazed bike, both made for me years ago. The skinny 653 bike is super comfy to ride and having been recently resprayed gets lots of attention. The 853 bike ins’t as showy but rides very nicely too. Ditching the steel forks for carbon ones makes a huge difference to the weight. I like to ride them as a alternative to my super stiff carbon road bike.

I have an 853 made for me. It’s my winter bike and is ace.

It now has a 105 black rear mech and 5700 black shifters.

This is what I don’t get…

Surely if you’re gonna be measured up for a bike, then, well, these just look wrong IMHO..

Look at the head tubes & amount of spacers.. 😐

I can appreciate the craftsmenship, just, well, it does nothing at all for me…

mmm, lugs;

Here’s mine, built in Somerset using Reynolds 531 competition.

I would cool if they are vintage. New steel lugless braised all the way.Actually I have got a peregrine so may have to rethink that.

I would cool if they are vintage.

All bikes were like this at one point, and the ‘vintage’ thing seems a bit like old = cool, which is probably not the case.

Lugs are just one way of joining tubes, a way that was easy and relatively quick and hard to mess up.

Lugs can look really nicely retro on a new frame with modern kit. Have a look on the Colnago site, they are selling steel frames againt. Loads of chrome and 70’s colours, fantastic.

I think the Mona Lisa is a crap painting but am happy that others think it’s great. Each to there own.

A thin tubed, lugged steel frame is a thing of beauty.

A hydroformed, TIG welded alloy frame looks like the end product of a hyperactive 10 year old’s science project and is a sign that both the designer and owner are attempting to compensate for some inherent character flaw. 🙂

Have a look on the Colnago site, they are selling steel frames again

They were the nicest bikes at the Cycleshow this weekend. Updated with modern components, they are beautiful.

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EDIT:

Available in 16 sizes and three colour variations.

Yes, SIXTEEN sizes 😯

My 80s lugged Raleigh 531 is in the hall .my 90s lugged shorter slx is in the living room

Surely if you’re gonna be measured up for a bike, then, well, these just look wrong IMHO..

Look at the head tubes & amount of spacers

I know the guy who owns that green bike, he has a very dodgy back so it’s built to accommodate that, so not a representative design.

Still use one/mine for training in the very worst conditions. Still runs all the original 1986 Shimano 600EX