Old School Steel Help

[stephenmarklay]

I sold my Specialized race bike as I was pretty sure I was done racing. That may or may not be true but I am finding a soft spot for old school steel.

I had a Colorado CR that I rode through college but it was always too small. I did love it though. I bought it new and put on a new 8 speed Chorus group. I have such fond memories of the bike. I remember it shifting like a swiss watch and riding like a dream.

Other bikes I have had functioned just fine. The Tarmac fit great and never left me wanting but I don't have the some feeling I had for the Colorado.

So I am going to hunt down and older steel bike. It does not have to be super fancy but has to ride like I am in a dream. I do want it rather racy to keep with the local Carbon crowd in a pinch.

Name me your favorite riding machines. From the 70's through current is good. I can even do DT shifters to start.

Things I have read great things about are the Serotta CSI, Brigestone RB-1, Schwinn Paramount circa early 90's, etc. All of these can be done on a limited budget ($1500 or so). I do like the ability to put a bit larger tire but not a deal breaker.

With the information I get I will go hunting until I find a Gem.

Thank you

[Jeremy123]

Sounds like a fun project.
-Any of the old treks, especially the tx900, or any of the tx numbers really. I honestly can't think of any better designed older steel rides for the money. They're really well designed and are incredibly versatile. So many of the older steel bikes seem to suffer from poor choice of geometry or poor craftsmanship. There's definitely exceptions should you find something by some of the early American small operation/ custom builders.

[jr59]

Any of the serotta steels.
Davidson Impluse
waterfords
There are to many from europe to name

[Muttleyone]

Lol, we got another one hooked. I knew you getting that Prelude would lead to other older steel bikes. You have a good list started. I would add Merckx, De Rosa, Tommasini, and any of the older American custom makers, Fuso, Davidson, Hollands, Spectrum etc... I'm sure I left out a lot. Any of those bikes you could put STI/Ergo shifters on to bring it up to date.
The guys here are a huge help also the guys over at Bikeforum.net Classic/vintage section are a huge knowledge base. If it is wrong to mention another website please delete.

Mutt

[stephenmarklay]

Cool. I am not very well informed with some of yesteryears bikes. This is one I had no knowledge of but will put in my search rotation.

Sounds like a fun project.
-Any of the old treks, especially the tx900, or any of the tx numbers really. I honestly can't think of any better designed older steel rides for the money. They're really well designed and are incredibly versatile. So many of the older steel bikes seem to suffer from poor choice of geometry or poor craftsmanship. There's definitely exceptions should you find something by some of the early American small operation/ custom builders.

[stephenmarklay]

Lol, we got another one hooked. I knew you getting that Prelude would lead to other older steel bikes. You have a good list started. I would add Merckx, De Rosa, Tommasini, and any of the older American custom makers, Fuso, Davidson, Hollands, Spectrum etc... I'm sure I left out a lot. Any of those bikes you could put STI/Ergo shifters on to bring it up to date.
The guys here are a huge help also the guys over at Bikeforum.net Classic/vintage section are a huge knowledge base. If it is wrong to mention another website please delete.

Mutt

:) The prelude does make me appreciate a bike for a bike. Today there are a zillion high tech carbon frames made in a couple of factories. Just does not get me going. Nothing wrong with them at all and if I start racing again I will likely just get another throw away carbon bike and have at it.


The "lude" just had its wheels polished up with a Dremel and is starting to look nice.

[Frankwurst]

You're developing a bad disease for which there is no cure. :beer:

[cmg]

Older bikes i like. Fondriest X-Status, wrote a few comments in this forum about it. Serotta Atlanta, CSI, Colorado, most recently was the Colorado, both smooth and stiff. The CSI surprised me , it would bolt when you applied more force on the downstroke, Colnago Master x-light, if you can find a size that the geometry works for you, Schwin International (zona tubing), Lemond Zurich, and the current favs, Guerciotti New SLX tubing with an excellent Look 1" carbon fork and a Prolitariat true temper OS tubing, it's a custom geometry. the search and discovery is the most fun.

[Ken Robb]

There is a custom Rivendell in the classifieds here that would be good too. Any of the Rivendell stock models like Rambouillet, Romulus, Homer Hilsen are nice to ride and they all use standard reach brakes rather than the common short reach so they can take 700x33 or 35 tires.

Some Waterfords are also designed for std. reach brakes.

A Rivendell Atlantis uses cantilever brakes and can take 700x54 tires but it is OK for loaded touring and may be stouter than you need. Now that I'm on this line of thought I'm reminded that a Serotta Rapid Tour could be a great find. They are like a stretched CSi with slightly relaxed geometry.

[97CSI]

A guy just up the road from me has a couple of 56cm Match-built 753 Paramount lugged frames listed on eBay. That's about as nice as it gets. His BIN price is a bit high, but he is taking offers. Perfect "match" with a 10-speed Campy group from early in this century.

[stephenmarklay]

Sounds very sweet. Alas, my Colorado wad a 56 square and found I need mor like a min 57 square. Too much stem and too much drop otherwise. My Tarmac was a 58 with a 120 stem.

[bart998]

My all-time fav bike is a Woodrup I raced on in the late '70's. 531 Red Label, very tight crit frame. Alas it was stolen in '84. I have also owned a Pinarello Treviso, Italvega Superspecial, and a Gianni Motta Personal 2001. I no longer own any of them. Right now, the steel in my stable is a '84 Masi GC, and a '89 Merckx Gran Prix. Both are excellent. The Masi has the edge in handling and comfort though. It feels unlike any bike I've ever owned.

[97CSI]

Sounds very sweet. Alas, my Colorado wad a 56 square and found I need mor like a min 57 square. Too much stem and too much drop otherwise. My Tarmac was a 58 with a 120 stem.Talk to member oldpotatoe (Peter). He has a basement full of wonderful steel bikes and might have one in your size he would be willing to part with.

[gomango]

To the op.

I know where you could find a Pogliaghi or Merckx Century in your size/price range. :)

[retrogrouchy]

My all-time fav bike is a Woodrup I raced on in the late '70's. 531 Red Label, very tight crit frame. Alas it was stolen in '84. I have also owned a Pinarello Treviso, Italvega Superspecial, and a Gianni Motta Personal 2001. I no longer own any of them. Right now, the steel in my stable is a '84 Masi GC, and a '89 Merckx Gran Prix. Both are excellent. The Masi has the edge in handling and comfort though. It feels unlike any bike I've ever owned.

That Woodrup sounds nice, If the 531 label had red on it, that was likely "Special Lightweight" 531 tubing (sort of a precursor to 753, but not yet heat-treated; very light-gauge stuff). That tubing was sometimes referred to as 531SL. Very uncommon stuff, but (Morris?) Woodrup would definitely have used it for certain framesets.....

Woodrup are still in business, last I heard, with the son (Steve or Stephen?) doing the building. I have a 1983 Woodrup 'Giro Touring' that I like a lot.

[retrogrouchy]

There are a zillion nice used steel road racing and 'criterium geometry' framesets out there (on eBay and elsewhere). It would be hard to narrow it down to any certain brands, really. You might want to search eBay by "Reynolds 531" or "Columbus SL(X)" and see what turns up in your size - at least for starters.

Some of my faves might be a Gios Super Record, certain Pogliaghis, Masis, Medicis, Cinellis, Colnagos, etc. (if you want to go Italian). For British makers, there are tons as well (particularly cool ones might be Ephgrave, Hurlow, Gillott, Woodrup, (real) Team Raleighs, etc.). American builders made some very high-quality stuff that would fit your requirements starting in the 1970s - Eisentraut, sumgai named Serotta, Tesch, Baylis, Columbine, Bill Boston, Bruce Gordon (more toward the 'touring' genre, though, perhaps, but it depends on what geo. and max. tire size capability you want), Jim Redcay, and about a hundred others, many of whom made/make some really fine steel racing framesets.

Vintage steel framesets can be extremely versatile. If you only need to run, say a max. of a 25 mm tire and no fenders, darn near any old racing frame will work. Do you want dropout eyelets or not? Fender capability or not? 32 mm. tire capability or not? Long or short wheelbase? Those answers will help narrow the search (or not...).

[stephenmarklay]

Thanks for the really good suggestions. A lot of bikes I would not have heard off. I am going to search pretty generic and see what pops up. I may need to inquire here to as what the bikes are until I find one.