Steel road frame advice needed for a newbie

[classic1]

Depends on the tubing Ozman. If its oversize and modern it could give you a harsh or stiff ride, like Columbus Zona. If its old (531, Columbus sl) its another matter.

 

[531Aussie]

Depends on the tubing Ozman. If its oversize and modern it could give you a harsh or stiff ride, like Columbus Zona. If its old (531, Columbus sl) its another matter.

I admit I've only ever ridden one Zona frame, and it was a big one (58 or 59), but it seemed ok and felt 'typically steely' to me.

 

[artemidorus]

I just did a table of the parts required to make the Classic Steel bike into a Drop Bar Road Bike with a 175mm crankset, 3x8 speed Sora STI and Derailleurs. $750!

Don't worry george, noone'd ever buy these parts over the counter and the OP probably doesn't need new derailleurs. With patience, I reckon you could do it for <$400 with much better than Sora. My DuraAce shifters cost $250 on the bay.

 

[artemidorus]

nah, I disagree; buying steel (or maybe ti, too) is almost a guarantee that the ride will be compliant. The only thing that could possibly wreck this is some SUPER stiff carbon forks. There would be rare examples, like heavily drawn and/or heavy oversize tubes, or very small frames, but.......

Fit and tyres are obviously important, but steel is forgiving and a little on the flexy side, which is one reason the great majority of racing riders think they can't race on it. I've had about 20 steel and alu frames, and some of the aluminiums have been on the harsh side, but all of the steels have had the charactersitic 'bounce' to them

Having said that, I don't know much about the new Columbus steels, Spirit and Life.

Each to their own. I'd say it's inertia rather than flex...

 

[gclark8]

Don't worry george, noone'd ever buy these parts over the counter and the OP probably doesn't need new derailleurs. With patience, I reckon you could do it for <$400 with much better than Sora. My DuraAce shifters cost $250 on the bay.

$750 was for the total bike, not just the drop bar bits.