Who makes steel framed bicycles these days?

Does anyone make steel frame bicycles anymore? I am looking for a road
or hybrid bike in the $800 range.

Dear PatT:
Hiya! $800 for a new bike with steel frame is one tough constraint
-- the only one I can think of the is Bianchi Brava (wth carbon fork),
BUT "in the the $800 range" is possible.
Here are some options:
New Bike: Most relatively inexpensive (arbitrarily selected at
$1500 or less for the purposes of this post and this post only)
COMPLETE bikes in this range are touring or cyclocross/cyclocrossish
bikes. I believe all of these have welded frames. The Bianchi Brava is
a road bike. Its cousin is the Bianchi Volpe (sort of
cyclocross/tourist, lots of eyelets), and if your region is relatively
flat try the Bianchi San Jose (one speed, drop bars, under $600), or,
if a little more hill and/or you commute at night the Bianchi Castro
Valley (9 speed rear, single chainring front, comes with hub generator
and a rather effective headlight). Actually, Bianchi's got a whole
shoal of steel bikes at about $300 to $1000 more than your limit. Jamis
Nova or Aurora is a welded steel cyclocross bike, but does have eyelets
for additional use. Touring bikes include some model from Jamis whose
name is beyond my recall at the moment, the
widely-respected-by-most-who-have-one Novara Randonee from REI and the
Fuji Touring (I have heard Fuji is now a Performance Bicycle Brand this
year -- they might have a lower price!). The Trek 520 is a little above
your range, but I just got one, and it fits my needs (transport,
relaxed cyclotouring with folks both older and faster than I). Don't
know the price, but the Kona Sutra is a touring road bike with disk
brakes, I believe (www.konaworld.com). I've probably missed some GOOD
ones! LeMond (a Trek brand) does have a few steel frame bikes (Sarthe,
Crois de Fer (figures it'd be steel) and the Propad and Propad Disc
cyclocross frames) but I don't know the pricing.
Built up from frame: Surly (www.surlybikes.com), Soma
(www.somafab.com), Kogswell and Urbane Cycles in Canada sell a WIDE
variety of steel frames, manby under $500. I KNOW I've missed a lot
here! Surly's sort of the punk-rock arm of Quality Bicycle Parts, so
your local shop can order the frame and the rest of the bike from QBP,
and assemble it all when it gets to the shop same as if it was ordered
from Schwinn or GIant, except it may cost a bit more than a Schwinn or
a Giant. Most of these are, again, Welded frames. Rivendell and who
knows whom else sell LUGGED/BRAZED frames, but most of Rivendell's
frames start at $1400. Just for the frame. Rivendell and QBP are
collaborating on the Bleriot, a lugged frame that will be priced at
$750, but it's driving people nuts because it's officially sized for a
weird tire -- the 650B (go to www.rivbike.com and look up the Saluki,
another 650B frame, for Grant Peterson's essays on that). This just in:
In a posting over at www.bikelist.org on iBOB or Rivendell or
something, Grant Peterson wrote that, with proper brake changes, the
700c, the 650b and the 26" (559 mm) mountain bike rim wheels can all be
accomodated by the Bleriot frame.
Gotta ask: It's more than just steel is real when it comes to
selecting a bike, and parts. What is your intended use, how are the
roads/paths/dirt, what's the weather normally like (we've got a lot of
bikes you wouldn't even bother trying to fender here in Southern
California, but in Seattle I hear it's a bit different),
size/weight/riding group practices, stash of used/spare parts,
snob-factor in your local bike shop, etc.
I HOPE I've given you a good start. Let me know how it comes out.
Robert Leone
PatT wrote:
Does anyone make steel frame bicycles anymore? I am looking for a road
or hybrid bike in the $800 range.

In article
.com,
"PatT" wrote:

Does anyone make steel frame bicycles anymore? I am looking for a road
or hybrid bike in the $800 range.

Soma of San Francisco makes good steel frames for 375 $US.
You will pay more than $800 by the time you have built the
complete bicycle, but worth considering.

Soma ES Smoothie or Soma Cross.
http://store.somafab.com/index.html

--
Michael Press

seven cycles Axiom steel


http://www.sevencycles.com/bikes/axiomsteel.html

wrote:
I snip myself, but that's OK because I completely forgot the steel
hybrid side of things in PatT's question!

Steel Hybrids:
If you want something truly unusual and remarkable, you can do worse
than Sycip -- someone at one of the local triathlete-oriented cycling
shops on the coast commutes on a Coffee Boy singlespeed with fenders --
it's to drool over. Ahm. Sorry about that.
In new complete bikes, I believe KHS and Fuji both have a selection
of welded frame steel hybrids well under your $800 price range -- which
leaves you money for accessories (racks, panniers, seatbags, whatever).
If you want something steel with a suspension, Kona has one or two
hardtails in ChroMo. The Bianchi Strada is based on the Volpe frame,
which has a nice reputation, although the Bicycling review did point it
comes with 23mm tires (but rubber is cheap if the rest of the bike is
fine).
I KNOW I must have missed some good steel hybrids out there. You
might try asking your local bike shops what they can provide.
I hope this helps.

Robert Leone

"PatT" wrote in
oups.com:

Does anyone make steel frame bicycles anymore? I am looking for a road
or hybrid bike in the $800 range.


Try REI...
They have a selection of bikes of all types and materials with decent
prices. here is the link:
http://www.rei.com/online/store/Sear...=*&cat=4500133
&link=1&cm_re=toc*2d*roadbikes&vcat=REI_SSHP_CYCLI NG_TOC

I commute 20+ miles round trip daily and carry about 30 pounds of
clothes, laptop computer and other office items in addition to bike
repair stuff and raingear in rear panniers. I tip the scales at around
225 pounds so in total my bike is carying about 255 pounds of load.

I ride a 2004 REI Randonee and have about 5K miles on it. The only
mechanical failure I have experienced has been a cracked spokehole on
the rear Mavic A319 rim, I took a severe spill in the bike and I think I
damaged the rear rim at that time and caused this failure, the new
Randonee bikes use Mavic A719 rims.

This is a Shimano Tiagra equipped 24 speed touring bike with steel
frame, mounting points for front and rear racks and for up to 3 water
bottle cage holders. The drivetrain consists of 52,42,30 chainrings and
a 28-11 cassette. There is also clearance between the forks and the
stays for fenders.

I bought the 2004 bike on sale for $699 after the new 2005 models came
out; When the new years models come out is usually a good time to buy a
new bike, often the components remain the same from year to year but the
frame color changes so the bike shops sell last year's models at a
discount.

This bike has served me well and I would recommend it for a good general
commute/touring bike.

Rich

Richard B wrote in
. 3.50:

"PatT" wrote in
oups.com:

Does anyone make steel frame bicycles anymore? I am looking for a
road or hybrid bike in the $800 range.


Try REI...
They have a selection of bikes of all types and materials with decent
prices. here is the link:
http://www.rei.com/online/store/Sear...=*&cat=4500133
&link=1&cm_re=toc*2d*roadbikes&vcat=REI_SSHP_CYCLI NG_TOC

SNIP


Oh... here is a link specifically to the 2006 REI Randonee...

http://www.rei.com/online/store/Sear...26quot%3Brando
nee%26quot%3B%5E%26query%3Drandonee%7ECycling%5E%2 6cat%3D4500003&query=ra
ndonee&cat=4500003&vcat=REI_SEARCH:N


Rich

goodone wrote:
seven cycles Axiom steel


http://www.sevencycles.com/bikes/axiomsteel.html

"I am looking for a road or hybrid bike in the $800 range."

wrote in message
oups.com...
goodone wrote:
seven cycles Axiom steel


http://www.sevencycles.com/bikes/axiomsteel.html

"I am looking for a road or hybrid bike in the $800 range."

Check out Bianchi and Lemond. Both should have something in the "$800"
range.

PatT wrote:
Does anyone make steel frame bicycles anymore? I am looking for a road
or hybrid bike in the $800 range.


Look at something like the Surly Crosscheck. Bar end shifters
save money and work very well.

http://www.surlybikes.com/bikes.html
http://www.fullcycles.com/product_in...roducts_id/471