Steel road bike

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

Rule 9. It’s made of steel not paper!

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 🙂

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:-

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.

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?

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

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:

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…

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 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

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?

No.
My 1996 531 Designer Select islabike is still perfectly good – its done a lot of miles – recently refurbed with 2006 10spd Chorus (probably the best groupset ever made).
My 1998 Andy Thompson 853 road bike is also still going strong – built as a mudguard-able frame using Salmon guards, actually still on its original Monty Young built wheels 🙂

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.

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).

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Honey allroads…nice..[/url]

I’d never heard of The Light Blue 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.

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 Grant Petersen’s guide to bike sizing and get back to me 🙂