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Where are the inexpensive steel bikes?
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#3
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Where are the inexpensive steel bikes?
taimorris- I know aluminum bikes are a
little lighter, but are consumers making the choice to go to alum and/or the makers finding alum bikes more profitable? BRBR Aluminum, when compared to steel, is cheaper and easier to weld together, hence the proliferation of aluminum. Specialized has a Foco frameset/fork for about $500..look for that. Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302 (303)440-3535 http://www.vecchios.com "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene" |
#4
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Where are the inexpensive steel bikes?
Aluminum, when compared to steel, is cheaper and easier to weld together,
hence the proliferation of aluminum. Specialized has a Foco frameset/fork for about $500..look for that. To expand on Peter's post-wasn't he a bike rider?-you can buy an aluminium frame and fork from China for about $25. That's why there are no new inexpensive steel bikes. But the used bike market is full of very nice steel bikes at reasonable prices. And there are builders who make custom steel frames for $600 or $700 dollars as long as you don't want lugs or fancy paint. Phil Brown |
#5
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Where are the inexpensive steel bikes?
In article ,
(Tai) wrote: I bought a Marin steel - ok, Thron cro-mo - road bike a few years ago and notice Marin now have aluminum road bikes, at least at the low-end. Looking at other bike makes, the selection of cro-mo road bikes under $1K is getting smaller. I know aluminum bikes are a little lighter, but are consumers making the choice to go to alum and/or the makers finding alum bikes more profitable? Aluminum has almost no price disadvantage over steel now, for various mass-production reasons. Since an Al frame can usually be made a little lighter*, all but the very cheapest new bicycles default to Aluminum. And since some of the most expensive and lightest bikes are also made of Al, you get some cachet rubbing off on your "7005 ALUMINUM" Wal-bike. Wondering where steel bikes are going, Tai They're just resting. I have been known to pay as much as $10 for a complete lugged road bike at a garage sale. I grabbed a half-decent 70s vintage Italian lugged frame out of a pile of garbage last week; I don't even know what I'm going to do with it, since it's pretty but I have lots of steel frames already. Unless you have some very specific reasons for it (you want a special geometry or it's the cheapest way to get the components you want), I don't see a keen need to buy a new steel frame. If I was willing to spend a few hours looking, I could probably bring home a decent-quality lugged steel road frame every weekend, in most cases as complete 25-year old bike, for $10 or less. Modern steel, especially in welded, non-lugged frames, might have a slight weight advantage, but it's on the order of a pound at most. I ride a mid-range Pinarello with indifferent (105, Sora) componentry, and it weighs only 22 pounds all in. P.S. I wasn't really asking for the pros and cons of steel vs. aluminum, but more about market and consumer, um, dynamics at the low-end of bike sales. :-) The Taiwanese factories are very good at aluminum fabrication, and the price difference between raw steel and raw Al is not high. All the economic forces push towards defaulting to Al. Only very cheap (and mostly children's) bikes now use steel on the low end of the market. At the high end, you get into custom fabrication or companies marketing the cachet and positive attributes (repairability, beauty, magnets stick to it, etc.) of high-end steel construction. The middle is owned by Al. *I have a theory that whatever the relative merits of steel and Al for road frames, mountain bikes have a heavy natural bias towards aluminum because an Al frame built strongly enough to have a reasonable fatigue life will also be able to take relatively high one-time loads. By comparison, steel construction means not worrying about the fatigue life (which can be assumed to be nearly infinite if you don't exceed the yield strength), but that means you are building a bike with a lower ultimate tensile strength in the places where bike frames can fail. Road bikes don't get into a lot of super-high-load situations unless they're being crashed, but mountain bikes tend to get jumped, crashed, and dropped routinely. Does that make sense? -- Ryan Cousineau, http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine/wiredcola/ President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club |
#6
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Where are the inexpensive steel bikes?
"Tai" wrote
I know aluminum bikes are a little lighter, but are consumers making the choice to go to alum and/or the makers finding alum bikes more profitable? Since weight is an important issue in bicycles, it's obvious to even the unsophisticated buyer that aluminum is a better material for bike frames than steel. Steel only continues to appeal to traditionalists. Wondering where steel bikes are going, Away. |
#7
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Where are the inexpensive steel bikes?
Peter- Since weight is an important issue in bicycles, it's obvious to even
the unsophisticated buyer that aluminum is a better material for bike frames than steel. Steel only continues to appeal to traditionalists. BRBR "Better' is a big word. If a frameset is lighter..it is just 'lighter', not better. Thery are more than a few drawbacks to really light aluminum, just like light steel, like longevity. An aluminum frameset that is made to last weighs about the same as a steel frameset that is built to last. All from 3.2 to about 3.6 pounds for the frameset. Is there sub 3 pound aluminum framesets out there? Sure, at $2500 per that will not last 3 years. Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302 (303)440-3535 http://www.vecchios.com "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene" |
#8
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Where are the inexpensive steel bikes?
Peter Cole wrote:
Since weight is an important issue in bicycles, it's obvious to even the unsophisticated buyer that aluminum is a better material for bike frames than steel. I completely disagree. There are also lightweight steel frames btw. Steel only continues to appeal to traditionalists. Yeah, right.......................some pro riders also want to ride steel frames. I saw some frames of Tour de France bikes that were stell frames painted in the same colours as the alu bikes of their teammates. Greets, Derk |
#9
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Where are the inexpensive steel bikes?
If you like Thron you should really try Navicrome !!!! Who says steel
bikes can't be light. A Navicrome frame weighs less then a low end Aluminum frame and only a few ounces more then a high end Aluminum frame. With its ovalized down tube its both stiff a forgiving. I got my frame from vailcycleworks.com I bought a full blown custom MTB for less then a off the rack upper end bike--JJ |
#10
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Where are the inexpensive steel bikes?
"Peter Cole" wrote in message newsjABc.89731$Sw.66939@attbi_s51... "Tai" wrote I know aluminum bikes are a little lighter, but are consumers making the choice to go to alum and/or the makers finding alum bikes more profitable? Since weight is an important issue in bicycles, it's obvious to even the unsophisticated buyer that aluminum is a better material for bike frames than steel. Steel only continues to appeal to traditionalists. Wondering where steel bikes are going, Away. Troll... |
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