Steel Bikes with Carbon would you want this bike?

My dad rode one and liked it alot. He said it had the classic ride of steel but a bit stiffer and faster. It was a Lemond. You are not under the impression that this is a new idea are you?

My Lemond Buenos Aires is basically what you are talking about. It is an absolutely wonderful ride! Soaks up the road with ease, but I will say it would leave serious racers wanting a stiffer ride for speed and climbing.

I bought a full chromoly bike for four reasons strength, lower price, only two pounds heavier than aluminum and rides better than aluminum. I would by that frame if ride and wieght were more important than strength and price. But then again with that much carbon in the frame why not go with full carbon which brings up price again. The other posts are right Lemond already makes it. Why not produce a Chromoly bike with carbon seat stays and fork and leave the main frame chromoly I would be more interested in that because it would keep the main triangle stiff for pedaling power and I don't think anyone else is making frames that way.

dragonflybikes said:

I am looking at producing and selling some road bike frames. I wanted to know what the general concensus is on a road bike frame that is made of carbon and steel. The top tube, seat tube and seat stays will be carbon and the rest Reynolds 853. Where the steel meets with the carbon seat and top tube there would be some nice artistic cutting of the steel and not just a straight line.

Since Aluminun bikes with Carbon stays and full Carbon bikes are dominating these days I basically would like to know if there is a market out there for a steel/carbon bike. This is assuming that it comes in at a respectable weight.

Please any feedback would be helpfull.

Here is a pic of what it will basically look like

wiredued said:

I bought a full chromoly bike for four reasons strength, lower price, only two pounds heavier than aluminum and rides better than aluminum. I would by that frame if ride and wieght were more important than strength and price. But then again with that much carbon in the frame why not go with full carbon which brings up price again. The other posts are right Lemond already makes it. Why not produce a Chromoly bike with carbon seat stays and fork and leave the main frame chromoly I would be more interested in that because it would keep the main triangle stiff for pedaling power and I don't think anyone else is making frames that way.

I like your sig!😎

"Why not produce a Chromoly bike with carbon seat stays and fork and leave the main frame chromoly"

Take a look at a Bianchi Virata. I think there are a few other manufacturers of this set up too.

http://www.livingwaters.com/learn/hellsbestkeptsecret.htm

azdroptop said:

I like your sig!😎

So much for being original however beating Bianchi's price might be possible.

Road Toad said:

"Why not produce a Chromoly bike with carbon seat stays and fork and leave the main frame chromoly"

Take a look at a Bianchi Virata. I think there are a few other manufacturers of this set up too.

You are right. That bike is like $2300 with Ultegra 10 speed. Pretty steep for a mass produced taiwanese frame. One thing about Bianchi though is that they are one of the few mid range bikes that stick with an entire component group. This bike is Ultegra throughout. Everyone these days goes with cheaper brake calipers, cranks, etc.

Whether or not I'd be interested comes down to weight vs. price. (I'll assume stiffness is suitable, and ride quality concern is overrated IMO).

the price on the Bianchi is hard to beat, and like it was said, it's Shimano Ultegra thru out, and even though it's made in Taiwan, you can't beat the price. not many Italian makers are making steel frames if they do, your lucky to get one and the price on those are in the $2000's for a frame/fork combo!! and even some US builders are charging upwards of $2000 if not more for steel frames, with or without carbon rear ends. my 2 frames are steel, and old SLX and an 853 and i would love to get one of the newer steel frames, either the True Temper S3 or Dedaccai 16.5, but it's tough spending that kind of money for just a frameset, but i'll never go to aluminum, maybe Ti or carbon but if i do go high end, then it's either a Seven Ti or a Parlee carbon, lucky for me their in my backyard so to speak and i can visit either, i wouldn't count out IF either. but as far as your custom frameset goes, price will matter, obviously the quality of the welds and fitting of carbon counts too, for me that would be a deal breaker, if the welds look like crappy aluminum welds, you can keep the bike!! it's gotta look clean. if you ever get a chance to see a Ted Wojcik frameset up close, look closely and learn!! my 853 is made by him and you would never have known it was welded!! so clean!! good luck with your build, be interested in a price if you have any in mind.

Road Toad said:

"Why not produce a Chromoly bike with carbon seat stays and fork and leave the main frame chromoly"

Take a look at a Bianchi Virata. I think there are a few other manufacturers of this set up too.

How about chromo downtube, seat stays, head tube, the rest carbon? The carbon would soak up the road shock, the chromo would provide stiffness.

sounds like what LeMond is doing right now doesn't it? why not do what was originaly planned, go with lightweight steel lugs with fancy cuts and use carbon tubes. yes, there are others who are doing this, but it would be nice to see some fancy lug work since you really don't see that anymore on mass produced bikes. a good example is Titus frames, although they use aluminum, they still have fancy alum. tube work with cut outs that look pretty cool and do stand out. and they do some really cool stuff with Ti.

I would not buy the bike. I like unicycles better.😠

scmaddog17 said:

sounds like what LeMond is doing right now doesn't it?

I don't know. Does it? Personally I like to see a bicycle frame crafted out of bamboo and oak. Okay, I know it's been done already. Lemond is building a bamboo/oak bicycle for 2007. It showed at interBike this year. The pine cone lug work is beautiful. And, it's stiff. Lemond is also putting out a ceramic frame set with carbon lugs and pine cone drop outs. The fork blades are bamboo with turtle shell fork ends. Beautiful frame set but hard to mass produce.

Ritchey is on the cutting edge. He's producing a frame set made from corn -- that's maze if you're a native America -- and recycled automobile tires. The lugs are pine cones (see a pattern here?) and the drop outs are petrified wood. The fork blades are made from rhino tusk -- very unusual choice of material but Ritchey says the rhino tusk is the stiffest and most shock absorb material on the market right now. It is expensive and cost prohibitive to make an entire frame set from rhino tusk, Ritchey said in a recent interview with Bicycle Retailer.

Probably the most forward thinking design in terms of materials is coming out of the Japan. Fuji is building a limited number of framesets using lava rock found on and around Mt. Fuji. This porous rock is light an stiff but not easy to work with. The frame come replete with rhino tusk lugs AND drop outs. The head tube is bamboo incrusted with turtle shell inlay. The crowning jewel though is -- get this -- a bb shell made of limestone, which is a very unusual choice. They say it's a bit heavy, but it's very stiff and easy to work with. The fork blades are whale bone and the fork ends are -- you guessed it -- rhino tusk.

I predict that, when scientists figure out how to successfully clone rhinos, you'll see entire frame sets and even some high-end groups using rhino tusk as it's primary material.

dragonflybikes said:

I am looking at producing and selling some road bike frames. I wanted to know what the general concensus is on a road bike frame that is made of carbon and steel. The top tube, seat tube and seat stays will be carbon and the rest Reynolds 853. Where the steel meets with the carbon seat and top tube there would be some nice artistic cutting of the steel and not just a straight line.

Since Aluminun bikes with Carbon stays and full Carbon bikes are dominating these days I basically would like to know if there is a market out there for a steel/carbon bike. This is assuming that it comes in at a respectable weight.

Please any feedback would be helpfull.

Here is a pic of what it will basically look like

Sounds and looks like it would be a good bike. Is the price right?

Ok after already have a great 853 steel bike Lemond Zurich(hench the handle) and now this spring buying a Victoire carbon - ti my next bike is going to be all ti. It's all about what you like and for me a all carbon bike is just too cushy and you don't get enough of a road feel. You might want to ask about seat tube angles and other things and depends if you are going to try and sell to racers or just regular riders.

Zman

dragonflybikes said:

I am looking at producing and selling some road bike frames. I wanted to know what the general concensus is on a road bike frame that is made of carbon and steel. The top tube, seat tube and seat stays will be carbon and the rest Reynolds 853. Where the steel meets with the carbon seat and top tube there would be some nice artistic cutting of the steel and not just a straight line.

Since Aluminun bikes with Carbon stays and full Carbon bikes are dominating these days I basically would like to know if there is a market out there for a steel/carbon bike. This is assuming that it comes in at a respectable weight.

Please any feedback would be helpfull.

Here is a pic of what it will basically look like

I liked this idea so much that I bought a Lemond Buenes Aires for my Son a few years ago and now regret not buying one for myself. Unfortunately Lemond has caved into the aluminum marketing pressure and stopped making a steel Carbon frames and now makes an aluminim/carbon mix.

I just bought a full carbon frame but would have prefered the steel/carbon mix.

Bandit

BanditManDan said:

I liked this idea so much that I bought a Lemond Buenes Aires for my Son a few years ago and now regret not buying one for myself. Unfortunately Lemond has caved into the aluminum marketing pressure and stopped making a steel Carbon frames and now makes an aluminim/carbon mix.

I just bought a full carbon frame but would have prefered the steel/carbon mix.

Bandit

Hey Bandit why didn't you do a search then as I'm pretty sure there were some Zurich's left out there in some LBS shops or even try the Victoire which is carbon ti instead.

Zman

Zurichman said:

Hey Bandit why didn't you do a search then as I'm pretty sure there were some Zurich's left out there in some LBS shops or even try the Victoire which is carbon ti instead.

Zman

I when to my local dealer and they made me a deal on a Trek Madone that I couldn't pass up so I went with it.