I've never bothered about what material a frame is made of as long as it's not cheap crap. They all have their merits and drawbacks, if they fit well they're nice to ride.
Yes and if it's for touring a few scratches hardly matter. I recently converted my bought-new (but economically end of line) beautiful Reynolds steel 26 inch Ridgeback Adventure exped bike into an old bike by leaning it fully loaded against a concrete post only to see it slip, ding the frame slightly and scratching the paint up most of the top tube. At first a bit gutted, I have roughly painted it over and protected it and just ride on.
I prefer the old ones but, for a stupidly hilly fast ride, I'd take the 17lb carbon thing. It's ugly and noisy and not all that plush, but 5lb less uphill makes it worth it.
Good morning, For me there is a point where old steel bikes are best left in the past, the TdF thread was intended as link to the type of steel bike that for me was something that I was pleased to upgrade away from. Excluding the bottom end of the market by the 1980s non alloy steel frames, steel rimmed wheels, steel chainsets and racing half guards had mostly been replaced by alloy steels (501/531) frames and alloy 700c wheels and alloy chainsets. During the 1980s I had both a Raleigh Record Sprint 501 and a Raleign Gran Sport 531 main tubes and Campag Nouvo Gran Sport, these are incomparable with a Raleigh Shadow/BSA Tdf. Yet the Raleigh Record Sprint was inflation adjusted cheaper than the Raleigh Shadow/BSA Tdf. Bye Ian
Cottered chainsets, which cover most solid steel chainsets, are are the work of Satan. The pins often either work loose on the road, or are seized when you need to service the BB. With careful fitting, these problems are minimised but few people or bike shops have a cotter press nowadays, or can be bothered to file pins for the optimum fit. Solid steel cranks are plenty stiff enough but weigh a ton. Ashtabula one-piece cranks avoid the cotter pin problem, but the BBs are badly sealed and they are even heavier. Some very good hollow steel chainsets have been made, e.g. Tioga Revolver and Cook Bros (for MTBs). These weren't cottered.
That's not even a consideration for me - when you weight 267lbs, 5lb less on the bike is utterly unnoticeable!
Why noisy? Yes I do find some modern bikes verging on ugly - sometimes remind me of some 70s hotwheels cars trying too hard to impress. Or some contemporary supercars - sometimes seen growling round London. And though I am no patterned lug fetishist (don't much care about lugs) better not get me onto some of the god awful welding you see on some modern bikes - always makes me think of the tanks the soviets chucked out of their factories in WW2 to be hurled into the front where aesthetics meant nowt.
My carbon bike is noisy because the big hollow "tubes" amplify cable slap and any other mechanical noise. It's a bit like the soundbox of a guitar.
