Another steel bike related question

[madsciencenow]

+1 to what Bambam and Mr. Pink said.

I’ve owned a number of CF bikes (currently none) and now my road line-up is two steel bikes (Kirk JKS and Cinelli XCR). The bikes I own are pretty different in almost every respect. W/o going into detail, I still think about owning another SL6 or trying a SLR01 but I know when I do I’ll be riding and thinking, why do I own this plastic bike with no character? I have no problem with CF bikes I just tend to like the feel of steel in all it’s many builder/manufacturer-imagined inceptions better than the muted feel of CF.

If I were you and had the budget I’d keep the current CF bike and then try something steel with resale value.


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[EB]

In my experience these are the factors that influence fit, comfort, ride, and handling, in descending order of impact. Your mileage may really vary:

1. Tires
2. Suspension and suspension setup (if it’s a MTB)
3. Frame and Fork Geometry
4. Fit
5. Contact point components (saddle, handlebars, grips or bar tape, etc)
6. Wheels
7. Frame material
8. Overall system weight

The main reason I’m a fan of steel for rigid bikes is that this enables exactly the right frame geometry and fit for the purpose, with great aesthetics, at a (somewhat) reasonable cost, with a greater selection of builders and painters. The impact of the material itself on the bike is definitely there, but is completely drowned out by the impact of all these other things.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by tjk23

So what I’m actually looking at doing is stripping the Domane down and using the parts to build a Ritchey road logic disc. The geometry on the Ritchey is almost an exact match to a Cannondal Supersix that I had a few years ago. The Cannondale was a great fit and I probably shouldn’t have ever sold it.

For what it's worth, I briefly had a Ritchey Road logic disc and hated it. And I like my Ritchey breakaway. If you don't like your Domane, by all means get a different bike, but I wouldn't go all in on something new unless you're sure about it.

[robt57]

Originally Posted by prototoast

If you don't like your Domane, by all means get a different bike, but I wouldn't go all in on something new unless you're sure about it.

Domane, the endurance geom anyway, I found to be a vague boring front end with too much stack. I had to down size to not have the huge stack of the 60CM. My 58 lasted one season. The Team Issue Classic I rode yesterday conversely responds non endurancy. Nice neutral and intuitive imo.

[tjk23]

I switched things up a bit and am looking into a Titanium bike. Considering a few different models; Lynskey, Moots, and Mosaic.

[tctyres]

The discussion of steel vs CF and ti vs CF are going to be pretty similar.

Also take a look at Seven and Dean. A lot of people like theirs.

Edit: I think ti vs steel is going to be more nuanced. steel/ti vs aluminum would look similar to steel/ti vs CF in terms of arguments. Al can feel dead, stiff, or buzzy.

[dirttorpedo]

So I have owned steel, aluminum and ti frames. I've rented and tested carbon (domane & emonda). I know the wisdom is that any of those materials can be made into a laterally stiff and vertically compliant frame. My experience is that steel and titanium are more compliant and less buzzy. The low end trek carbon bikes i tested were just too damn stiff for my liking. I bought the ti - which is nothing special - after testing the carbon and being underwhelmed by the examples I tried. After riding a lot of aluminum in the 90's and early 2000's - mostly mountain bikes - my stable has a lot of vintage steel in it.

All that being said I think wheels and tires have really been the most significant factor on all bikes for me.

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[tjk23]

UPATE: I decided to give titanium a try. I bought a new to me Moots Vamoots CR. Thanks for all the replies and info.

[NormansCay]

Originally Posted by tjk23

UPATE: I decided to give titanium a try. I bought a new to me Moots Vamoots CR. Thanks for all the replies and info.

Congrats! Enjoy

[jasonification]

Originally Posted by tjk23

UPATE: I decided to give titanium a try. I bought a new to me Moots Vamoots CR. Thanks for all the replies and info.

Awesome! Maybe one day I can join the Moots club too haha

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[Herder]

Originally Posted by tjk23

UPATE: I decided to give titanium a try. I bought a new to me Moots Vamoots CR. Thanks for all the replies and info.

Let us know how you like it

Titanium is the only material I haven't tried. Owned cf and aluminum bikes for years. After trying steel a few years back that's what I mostly ride now. Actually my heaviest bike sees the most mileage lately. Always wanted to try titanium

[xterra_dan]

Curious to hear how you like the Moots. When I demo'd a Vamoots RSL it kind of combined the best attributes of carbon and steel: it was very responsive with great stiffness under hard efforts, but the ride quality still gave some road feedback and was "lively" like steel.

I've had both steel and carbon, I prefer carbon for full suspension mountain bikes for racing and steel for my road base miles, love the lively ride quality and feeling some connection to the road of a metal bike.

[beech333]

Sounds like you still have room to get a steel frame. Good steel frames are cheap, so I would recommend trying one.

I think I paid less $500 or less for for my Peter Mooney(frameset), Waterford 1250(complete), Marinoni(complete), Rivendell Road(frameset), Jeff Lyon(frameset), and Gios Super Record(complete). There are lots of really nice steel bikes out there, if you are willing to jump when they pop up.