Steel or Aluminium

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Comments

  • blister pus
    blister pus Posts: 5,610
    design plays a large part obviously but provided either frame isn't a complete pig you can tell the difference between the two once you've lived with both. some people are more attuned to the difference and recognise it straight away, some don't. to me steel feels different even to the very good alloy designs that do actually feel similar, i just have to go over rocks and stone at speed usually to notice it.

    and that carbon on-one looks like it irons the crap out of everything as well as being melted.
  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    do you really think if they also made an alloy version it would ride totally different...errr probably not..

    Yes.
    GT ZASKAR CARBON TEAM

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  • yoohoo999
    yoohoo999 Posts: 940
    supersonic wrote:
    show previous quotes

    Yes.

    Agreed. I've got an mmmbop and I rode the Blue Pig before I bought it. They have the same geo but one is ally and the other is steel.........completely different to ride.

    The mmmbop has a rear end as tight as a 2 year old, and whereas the Blue Pig is more forgiving, it lacks the "snap" of the mmmbop and feels ever so slightly sluggier when I put the power down (which may be more to do with the weight than anything else tbh).

    I would normally have picked steel in the past, because I used to find ally a bit harsher on long rides, but with the rise in tubeless setups and quality seatposts and saddles, I've found that a good set up on a good ally frame is "almost" as comfortable now on those long rides.

    I really like the directness of a stiff ally frame
  • Happy Harry
    Happy Harry Posts: 345
    I chose a steel frame this time, but tbh the deciding factor was that I fell for the looks and the 'cult' appeal. The decision-making logic was decidedly suspect :roll:

    I'm glad I did because the ride on my Whyte does give a noticeably softer ride than my Kula over the same trails with identical tyres. It's much more comfortable for my old bones.

    But that's just a comparison of two frames out of the thousands available! I was just lucky that my choice turned out to be perfect - for me! I'll certainly choose steel again ... or maybe alu? :roll:
    Canyon XC 8.0 '11
    Whyte 19 steel '10

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