I’m after a geared steel road bike for a hilly commute, winter training and general fun. I’m not bothered about it being mega lightweight (with splindly wheels and ultra-skinny tyres), I’m more keen on it being robust and long-lasting. I’m also considering riding round Europe this summer so it must be able to take pannier racks etc. My budget will be around £600-700. Only candidate I’ve got so far is the Kona Honky Tonk, but I dont know much about it. Any help much appreciated!

Honky Tonk got a good write-up in Cycling Plus a couple of months ago. Think basically its only real downside was a slight weight disadvantage.

That’s a tight price for a steel bike. The first thing that springs to mind is a Geurcotti? on sale at Planet X and load it up with Tiagra.

I’ve just built, almost a similar thing. I went secondhand on the frame and forks and everything else bar the tyres and saddle are brand new. Cost about £390

For something slightly more bespoke you’ll find Steve Goff pretty cheap.

over budget but a kona sutra ?

How about a Jamis Bosanova

Look on the On-One site.

The Pompino has got to be one of the most useful steel road bikes around.

I thought about a pompino a month or two back, but decided I wasn’t fit enough for singlespeed and some of the local hills, plus I want it as a tourer aswell (and no way can I ride round Europe singlespeed!) Does the Honky Tonk have pannier mounts then?

ok, stupid question (my speciality)

why steel?

i like steel, i’m sitting next to my lovely new genesis equilibrium, gosh it’s pretty, very, very pretty.

but there’s nothing wrong with aluminium…

(if anything, it’s a better choice for a winter frame – cos the frame is less likely to rot from the inside out)

After riding my dad’s 1960’s Holdsworth and my brother’s aluminium carrera tdf, I just prefer the feel and ride quality of steel. I know there are lots of pros and cons to both, but I was thinking, probably wrongly, that steel would make for a better material for touring and longevity.

fairy snuff.

🙂

Considered getting an old frame and building it up on the cheap?

I got an old 531 frame (from holdsworth as if happens) that was bought in for a respray yonks ago and never collected.

I paid £80 then built it up with tiagra off my old dead bianchi new stronglight chainset and a pair of new aksiums for £99

Lovely frame, not sprightly up the hills but fast and comfy once you crank it up.

Even the colour was great

I can’t remember where I read about this (might have been a Tri mag) but there’s company producing extremely light (yep, bit of an oxymoron that) steel frames from a new grade of ….steel. From what I recall there realy wasn’t a huge difference between the weights of the steel and alloy/titanium frames! 😯 Yes, I was shocked too….if and when I have the cash, after my cervelo S2 and P2C purchase(s)I’m gonna have one………….so not in this lifetime then 😛

mmmm.. Genesis Equilibrium… lives in the sitting room… B E A U tiful.

but there’s company producing extremely light (yep, bit of an oxymoron that) steel frames from a new grade of ….steel. From what I recall there realy wasn’t a huge difference between the weights of the steel and alloy/titanium frames!

plenty of builders use columbus spirit/853/953/true-temper/deda-zero/xcr to build lightweight frames, they are not that difficult to find.

I really like those Equilibriums, but they are double my budget unfortunately! Not really sure about second hand route, I don’t like blind buying and still not sure what I’m looking for. Could do with test riding for size ideas aswell. Have to admit, aluminium does make more and more sense as I’m trawling through various sites.

A well made triple butted alu frame is very nice too.

In a different way to a steel one but nice none the less

For your money you could get something in Reynolds 520 but it won’t have many gears which will be a problem on hills do Genesis do a Flyer with gears?

Edit doh missed that post after mine – nice looking bike that

£1000 sounds about right for that trouble is your budget and aspirations are mismatched

look for a quality 2nd hand steel frame/bike on fleebay and you’ll have about the right budget for the bike you want.

fwiw – I have used steel and alloy touring/training frames for years, and alloy ones have broken pretty consistantly every 3 to 4 years (around the bottom bracket area and along underneath of chainstays) – yet my steel ones are still going strong after years of use. bonus of steel is that you can get frame easily adjusted to suit your changing needs (new eyelets, pump peg, cable guides for lighting wires etc..)

Finance Tom… F I N A N C E ! ! !

how about this one:

charge juicer hi 2010

great value and seems to tick all your boxes. i’m very happy with mine!

cotic x?
or the roadrat?
both steel, both nice.
roadrat is 40 quid cheaper, but has horizontal dropouts which make derailleur gears a slight faff, but otherwise its all good.
you would need to go 2nd hand on components mind, but thats not a problem if you are careful on fleabay.

You’re in between two types of bike – (1) a bike for riding – your classic british road bike – and (2) a tourer.

This is what I’d do:

1. Find a cheap bike on ebay and do as oldgit did for a low budget

2. Track down a Dawes Galaxy or Super Galaxy (one of the old steel ones) and use that for touring Europe. Sell it when you’re back.

You’ll break your budget, but you’ll still achieve everything you need. Alternatively, just throw the money at an old Dawes G/SG and use that for the commute.

I’m still unsure of going second hand – especially in parts – I don’t know sizing, what parts are compatible or anything about road bike groupsets etc. Think I’ve narrowed it down to dawes galaxy (seen 2010s for bout £800 which seems good with pannier racks etc included) and kona honky tonk (£550 from evans for 2010), I’m going to try and test ride some. I’ll keep my eye on ebay aswell, but I never seem able to find what I want on there! Cheers for the help guys.

I wouldn’t waste much effort tracking a Dawes down myself, it may just be coincidence (common touring frame), but I’ve had to braze a new headtube into one (fatigue -no rust) and a new chainstays in another (rust and fatigue cracks).

New Galaxy for £800 would do all you need it to do.

Honky Tonk is a nice looking bike, but the fork doesn’t look like you’d get low riders on it.

All of that said….

If you think you can travel light when you head of to europe (i.e. can live with just rear panniers and a bar bag) then the Honky tonk may well do just what you need.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a Galaxy described as “fun” – for that budget or less you could pick up the real thing rather than a far eastern copy in the way of a used 531 road or audax bike from a craftsman UK builder on e-bay. Bikes in that bracket usually get looked after so can make very cost effective buys especially if you don’t care about the latest groupset.

Tha said I am also a happy Genesis Equilibrium owner, frame and forks are £400.

Thorn Audax? I’ve used one for a couple of years, really comfy, nice geometry and fairly cheap. Graphics are gash mind but put stickers over mine.

it also comes with a steel fork which takes low riders too.