Steel; The class system explained.

[eliot coolican]

Steel, the refuge of fatties, when hollow CF tubes say a permanent no, you shall not come to our party. What's a chav, what's a prince?

Hi Tensile; No; dull heavy and lifeless.

4130 Cro Mo. Heavy but fun. Ideal for Cloddies, Winter racer's ( around £ 700 with 525 tiagra) and semi quality fixies( around £400, don't pay more). No flex from my Cloddy, should last the distance. Around 700 MpA.

Reynolds 725. Heat treated 525, lighter and stronger. Best for fixie's, quality winter racer's, not your primary race bike. Around 1K for a racer, and worth it.

Bit of a gap now. Columbus Spirit has a rider weight limit, made light by extra thinness, can dent. No thanks.

The first SS, Reynolds 921. Around 1200 MpA, 100 ahead of the strongest Ti, at 1100 MpA. Used for tourer's.

Reynolds 853, and Zero replica. 1350 MpA, and genuine performance. Zero a more racier steel, 853 more for touring/do it all. My level. Looses around 8% upon the climb to a same priced CF bike.

Reynolds 931. Easier on the cutting machines for the frame builder than 953. I guess it's a semi genuine racing bike.

Columbus XCR SS. In 2nd place. 1650 Mpa. I'd have one.

And now the king, Reynolds 953, the strongest bike frame ever made. Can be on the UCI weight limit, a domestic team ran it for a season and won races against the Carbonian's. 1750 MpA. £5-7K with top equipage, verses £10-12K for a top CF. Bargain city, if you ask me. Might get one, but I'm more than happy with me Zero.

So are the fatties short changed? No, steel is not fatigued by repetitive stress, aka daily riding. Just avoid Hi Tensile. All frames can crack, steel should be the last to. For those car slamming's you cannot avoid, it's best.

.

[VLAD (the Friendly Vamp)]

Or - you could grow your own bike....




Welcome to the world of BAMBOO.

[eliot coolican]

love the lug work on that beauty.

[PRSboy]

Cheers Eliot, never seen the differences explained so clearly.

I seem to recall Genesis team used a steel race frame, but were then put on carbon as despite their evident success, they didn’t sell the frames as folk associate carbon with light and speedy.

[ibbo68]

Steel, the refuge of fatties, when hollow CF tubes say a permanent no, you shall not come to our party. What's a chav, what's a prince?

Prince.MADE IN SHEFFIELD

Chav.MADE SOMEWHERE ELSE






Oh how I wish that were still the case

Great write up and explanation there EC

[eliot coolican]

It was either the Genesis team or Condor, not sure. They changed back to CF after a season on 953; fatties they were not. Thanks guy's.

[eliot coolican]

I forgot to mention True Temper SS from the USA, don't know the details, and Japan has some home grown steelist's too.

[graywoodhouse]

Madison Genesis Volare 953, stunning bike, I'd love one of these one day...

https://road.cc/content/review/11621...-953-road-bike

[eliot coolican]

A fine example. Probably get the frame and put some Italian stuff on it over time.

[ibbo68]

A fine example. Probably get the frame and put some Italian stuff on it over time.

Italian stuff
I hope you don't mean Campag