"Steve Sr." <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
Well, I have finally decided that I need to get a lighter weight bike so that I can start to be able to keep up with some of the faster folks on club and shop rides.
I am currently using a Cannondale T2000 as an all-purpose road bike. It was originally bought mostly for commuting so it has fenders, rear rack, and front handlebar bag. I made the mistake of putting it on the bathroom scale once and it topped out at about 38 pounds with full water bottles.
Anyway, I'm in the market for a lighter weight regular road bike and would like some feedback on possible options. Cost is a consideration but not an overriding one.
Here are the things that I want to have on the new bike:
1. The frame material I am leaning toward is TI. I have found that the Cannondale aluminum is pretty stiff and produces a pretty bumpy ride despite the wider tires. I am leaning away from carbon as too expensive and maybe not rugged enough and steel as too heavy. You can correct me if I'm wrong here. I wouldn't mind having the braze-ons for adding a rear rack for credit card touring.
You can have a light (not scary light) steel bike with everything you desire, and it will last you a lifetime. I'm personally leery of carbon because when it fails, it fails big time. Titanium is great, but steel is real. :-)
You can have a light (not scary light) steel bike with everything you desire, and it will last you a lifetime. I'm personally leery of carbon because when it fails, it fails big time. Titanium is great, but steel is real. :-)
I don't know why you'd fear a carbon bike more than the other frame materials, since the most critical component - the fork - is apt to be carbon on any moderate to high-end bike regardless of the material used in the rest of the frame.
Chris Neary [email hidden]
"Science, freedom, beauty, adventure: what more could you ask of life? Bicycling combined all the elements I loved" - Adapted from a quotation by Charles Lindbergh
"Chris Neary" <[email hidden] > wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
You can have a light (not scary light) steel bike with everything you desire, and it will last you a lifetime. I'm personally leery of carbon because when it fails, it fails big time. Titanium is great, but steel is real. :-)
I don't know why you'd fear a carbon bike more than the other frame materials, since the most critical component - the fork - is apt to be carbon on any moderate to high-end bike regardless of the material used in the rest of the frame.
Not if the OP buys a custom steel frame with a steel fork. My steel bike has an aluminum fork, and it will likely last forever. I would rather ride a Rivendell with its ornate steel fork than a "race" bike with a carbon fork any day of the week.
You can have a light (not scary light) steel bike with everything you desire, and it will last you a lifetime. I'm personally leery of carbon because when it fails, it fails big time. Titanium is great, but steel is real. :-)
I don't know why you'd fear a carbon bike more than the other frame materials, since the most critical component - the fork - is apt to be carbon on any moderate to high-end bike regardless of the material used in the rest of the frame.
Not if the OP buys a custom steel frame with a steel fork.
I can think of one framebuilder offering steel forks. I imagine you can remind us of a few more. The rest are using carbon forks.
Quoted message said:
My steel bike has an aluminum fork, and it will likely last forever.
I take it you inspect the steerer occasionally. That is the weak point.
Quoted message said:
I would rather ride a Rivendell with its ornate steel fork than a "race" bike with a carbon fork any day of the week.
I ride carbon and steel (OCLV carbon and a 60's vintage Sunn w/Reynolds tubing and beautiful lug work) and enjoy them both.
Good cycling to you,
Chris Neary [email hidden]
"Toleration is the greatest gift of the mind; it requires the same effort of the brain that it takes to balance oneself on a bicycle" - Helen Keller
Some rider comments: "climbs like crazy"; "I set a new PR on my favorite downhill run"; "the road disappears beneath me"; "the quietest bike I have ever ridden".
PR on a favorite downhill run with a lighter bike?
Some rider comments: "climbs like crazy"; "I set a new PR on my
favorite
Quoted message said:
downhill run"; "the road disappears beneath me"; "the quietest bike I
have
Quoted message said:
ever ridden".
PR on a favorite downhill run with a lighter bike?
It all depends on the tail wind. I once hit 57mph on a Ritchie Mt bike w/ a Fisher Fat Trax frt. tire on a very steep road. But what a tail wind. My top speed prior was 53 mph on a 2 different road bikes. I wanted to break the (then) national speed limit on a bike. I totally believe my Avocet cyclometers, I calibrated them very carefully. As to the OP's question: IMHO the material of the frame isn't nearly as important as the fit. Find someone in your area who is highly qualified & highly recommended. Make an appointment for a fitting. If your fit is ordinary, you can use an off the shelf bike w/ adjustments @ stem & saddle. Then a Ti frame would probably be affordable. But if you need a custom frame & can afford the price of Ti, fine go for it, but if the price is too steep, get a custom steel frame. The fit is everything. I doubt that many would be unhappy w/ the ride / performance of a well built custom steel frame over Ti. The only really good fitter (for lack of a better term) I can think of right now is Ted Ernst in Manhattan Beach, Ca. He has done several bikes for me. The last I heard he, was in a high-end triathlon shop on PCH BL. I feel the best plan is to go to a fitter first, rather than a custom frame builder, & pay him up front. That way you're won't feel locked in to just one frame builder or for that matter a custom bike. The frame fitting & the frame that does that job is the best bicycling $ you will have spent. HTHs, John
Some rider comments: "climbs like crazy"; "I set a new PR on my
favorite
Quoted message said:
downhill run"; "the road disappears beneath me"; "the quietest bike I
have
Quoted message said:
ever ridden".
PR on a favorite downhill run with a lighter bike?
It all depends on the tail wind. I once hit 57mph on a Ritchie Mt bike w/ a Fisher Fat Trax frt. tire on a very steep road. But what a tail wind. My top speed prior was 53 mph on a 2 different road bikes. I wanted to break the (then) national speed limit on a bike. I totally believe my Avocet cyclometers, I calibrated them very carefully. As to the OP's question: IMHO the material of the frame isn't nearly as important as the fit. Find someone in your area who is highly qualified & highly recommended. Make an appointment for a fitting. If your fit is ordinary, you can use an off the shelf bike w/ adjustments @ stem & saddle. Then a Ti frame would probably be affordable. But if you need a custom frame & can afford the price of Ti, fine go for it, but if the price is too steep, get a custom steel frame. The fit is everything. I doubt that many would be unhappy w/ the ride / performance of a well built custom steel frame over Ti. The only really good fitter (for lack of a better term) I can think of right now is Ted Ernst in Manhattan Beach, Ca. He has done several bikes for me. The last I heard he, was in a high-end triathlon shop on PCH BL. I feel the best plan is to go to a fitter first, rather than a custom frame builder, & pay him up front. That way you're won't feel locked in to just one frame builder or for that matter a custom bike. The frame fitting & the frame that does that job is the best bicycling $ you will have spent. HTHs, John
Fri, 10 Dec 2004 05:21:48 GMT, <[email hidden]>, "Phil, Squid-in-Training"
Quoted message said:
PR on a favorite downhill run with a lighter bike?
Heavier lock.
nah, once you hit a certain dollar value you don't lock your bike up anymore. you just bring it with you everywhere you go. just the power of positive thinking. -- david reuteler [email hidden]
