Riding Steel

Dirty_Harry
Dirty_Harry Posts: 34
edited October 2011 in Road beginners
I'm currently cycling on an Colombus framed (not sure on specifics) bike with downtubers etc, and was wondering if anybody else uses one as their main bike - like me.

If so how do you get on in TT's and/or races, do you notice a big difference compared with newer bikes?

Is there that much of a difference between old steel racers and modern bikes ?

Cheers

Comments

  • merak
    merak Posts: 323
    My Ribble (Reynolds 653) and Graham Weigh (Reynolds 531) bikes are about 1mph slower than my modern race bike over the same moderately hilly route.
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    Excluding the weight factor, the the only difference will be in handling and feel, particularly where the frame is built with non-oversize tubing eg SL or 531 you may feel a little more whip from the back end when under power eg climbing hard and bigger, heavier riders will probably notice it more. With modern steel like Spirit, XCR or Reynolds 953 it's perfectly feasible to build a bike on the UCI limit that would be more than suitable for racing. One of the German bike magazines tested a range of frames for flexion and the stiffest was a steel Pegoretti.
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • thiscocks
    thiscocks Posts: 549
    Use a Roberts steel as my best bike. Comes in at just under 10kg and is great as an all round bike. I'm sure I'd be a bit quicker with a 7kg carbon one but can't justify the extra cost and very few carbon frames look as nice anyway I think!
  • lemoncurd
    lemoncurd Posts: 1,428
    thiscocks wrote:
    Use a Roberts steel as my best bike. Comes in at just under 10kg and is great as an all round bike. I'm sure I'd be a bit quicker with a 7kg carbon one but can't justify the extra cost and very few carbon frames look as nice anyway I think!

    That's style.

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