How many bikes do you have and which one is your favourite?

[SkipdiverJohn]

I do prefer Steel with proper horizontal cross bars.

On a road frame, anything else looks wrong, IMHO.

There's some nice machines in that list, very similar to the sort of stuff I favour myself. Does the later Galaxy frame ride much differently to the early one?

 

[Landsurfer]

Steel is Real ....

 

[Paulus]

On a road frame, anything else looks wrong, IMHO.

There's some nice machines in that list, very similar to the sort of stuff I favour myself. Does the later Galaxy frame ride much differently to the early one?

It's very similar, very comfortable, but the handling is ever so slightly more relaxed on the 1975 bike as the geometry is more slack and I still have 27 inch wheels on it with 1 1/4 tyres. The Brooks saddle on it came from a forum stalwart who went by the name of Vernon.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

It's very similar, very comfortable, but the handling is ever so slightly more relaxed on the 1975 bike as the geometry is more slack .

Interesting, I thought all the lugged Galaxies had the same frame angles. If anything I was expecting you to say the tubeset made one version feel somewhat different to the other.
I've only had a short-ish ride on a late 80's/early 90's Galaxy so it might not be a fair comparison, but I get the impression compared to my Raleigh Royal the frames are a bit more "solid" although still comfortable.

 

[Grant Fondo]

Two rather soul-less carbon bikes that cost £6k.... one 90's Cannondale MTB, worth a fraction of that, but I would rather lose a digit

 

[Anonymous1502]

Only one Ally framed bike with carbon forks and stays bike in my stable. The Italia.
I do prefer Steel with proper horizontal cross bars.

How come you prefer steel? Steel bikes are significantly heavier than aluminium and carbon bikes?

 

[Anonymous1502]

Two rather soul-less carbon bikes that cost £6k.... one 90's Cannondale MTB, worth a fraction of that, but I would rather lose a digit

What brand are your carbon bikes? Do you think the brand of the bike matters?

 

[Landsurfer]

How come you prefer steel? Steel bikes are significantly heavier than aluminium and carbon bikes?

I have a steel framed Jamis / SPA wonder bike .... it weighs 16.5 kg fully loaded with my typical day kit ... Since i bought it i have lost 22kg in body mass .... Technically it is therefore weightless in Earth gravity and i must tie it down at all times ....
Pedant Alert .. Yes, i understand it retains a mass of 16.5kg ...

 

[Paulus]

How come you prefer steel? Steel bikes are significantly heavier than aluminium and carbon bikes?

Several of my steel bikes are over 40 years old, even my newest one the Condor Classico is Columbus SLX steel.
I prefer the classic shape and look of a traditional diamond road frame.
My Italia is aluminium and carbon and is a more modern design, very comfortable to ride, but I prefer the more traditional look.
Also steel frames can be repaired more easily than ally and carbon should it need it.

 

[Anonymous1502]

Several of my steel bikes are over 40 years old, even my newest one the Condor Classico is Columbus SLX steel.
I prefer the classic shape and look of a traditional diamond road frame.
My Italia is aluminium and carbon and is a more modern design, very comfortable to ride, but I prefer the more traditional look.
Also steel frames can be repaired more easily than ally and carbon should it need it.

What exactly is the traditional shape? What bike shapes are there?

 

[Paulus]

What exactly is the traditional shape? What bike shapes are there?

This is a traditional diamond frame, horizontal crossbar, 46 years old and still going strong

This is a semi compact road frame with sloping top tube(crossbar)

 

[Grant Fondo]

What brand are your carbon bikes? Do you think the brand of the bike matters?

Ghost road bike and Specialized gravel bike. Yes i think brand matters, as some brands are sh*te.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Steel bikes are significantly heavier than aluminium and carbon bikes?

Except that they aren't significantly heavier, in the case of aluminium at least. Aluminium is weaker than steel, so you need to use more of it, and you can't allow an alloy frame to flex in use because if it does it will eventually fatigue crack, so you have to build it overly stiff.
What you do get with alloy is a given degree of lightness at a lower manufacturing cost than steel, so long as you make them in a country where the energy required to smelt the alloy is low enough.
Titanium is also energy-intensive to refine and process into tubing suitable for bicycle frames, which is why most of the tubing and fabrication also happens in the far east.
Carbon fibre frames can be made significantly lighter than steel, which is why they now dominate pro racing. Where cost is no object carbon frames can be very light, but they carry significant drawbacks like effectively concealing critical structural faults and being more prone to certain type of impact damage.
Steel frames are more durable than both carbon fibre and aluminium, are less prone to in-service weld failures than titanium, and high quality ones can be made as light as aluminium albeit not quite as light as carbon.

 

[Paulus]

How come you prefer steel? Steel bikes are significantly heavier than aluminium and carbon bikes?

I have just looked at the difference between the Condor Italia Aluminium framed bike with carbon fork, and my Classico with SLX steel frame and fork, and the difference is 300g. 1500 g as opposed to 1800g for the Classico.
Whilst that may be a lot of weight for a pro road racer, for us mortals it doesn't really make any difference.

 

[Anonymous1502]

Ghost road bike and Specialized gravel bike. Yes i think brand matters, as some brands are sh*te.

Which ones do you consider sh*te?