Steel Porn

[SpinSpinSugar]

Hi ladies. Lets see some of the shapes, sizes, and uses that steel bikes come in. Old, New, MTB, Commuter, beloved old beater? Let's see what you've got.. Show us some Steel bike porn!

I'll start off with my Rawland with it's 4130 steel 650B goodness. It's setup as an all-arounder/light touring bike. The wheels are hand-built 36 spoke double walled rims, 38mm tires, a 26/36/46 triple sugino "touring" crank, and 11/34 9sp cassette so I can go up pretty much anything just not very fast lol....

Forgive the ugly yellow bar tape.. that was supposed to be temporary.. but it's highly visible so I decided to keep it around for a while.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Here's a past TE thread showing a bit of steel porn:
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=27192


Aside from that, here is our picture page of my husband and my 5 steel bikes.

[SpinSpinSugar]

Hi BleeckerSt_Girl thanks for the link. Some incredibly beautiful bikes you all have. I'm a sucker for lugging. The Rawland has a beautifully lugged bi-plane fork but you can't see it in the pictures.

BleeckerSt_Girl I noticed that your Luna has very similiar geometry to the Rawland but more compact. Does it have 650(B,C) wheels? How do you like it? Have you had it a while? What do you use it for?

Thanks so much,
SpinSpinSugar

[tulip]

*SIGH*, the term "porn" for bikes really, really bugs me.

But I appreciate steel bikes, alot. Your bike is a beauty, Spin, as are Lisa's and Brian's.

Love that Luna! Here's mine.

[SpinSpinSugar]

Wow that's a beautiful bike Tulip. Forgive my ignorance, but does it have a carbon fork? And I'm sorry if I offended with the bike porn label - none was intended.

Keep the pics coming ladies. How about any steel MTB's? Or 3 speeds?

SpinSpinSugar

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

BleeckerSt_Girl I noticed that your Luna has very similiar geometry to the Rawland but more compact. Does it have 650(B,C) wheels? How do you like it? Have you had it a while? What do you use it for?

I'm 5'5" and my luna takes 700 wheels. If i was maybe 2" shorter I would have opted for smaller wheels, but the 700's are just fine for me and I don't have toe overlap issues. Yes I LOVE my Luna. Have had it about a year and a half, and use it for pretty much all my riding, got a couple thousand miles on it by now I imagine.

Tulip, that's a real beauty! Love the luscious tomato red of these bikes I'm seeing here!

[radacrider]

I posted a pic of my MTB (circa '93) here:
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=32876

[Trek420]

I posted some pictures of my road bike here:

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=23195

and Knott's promenade to the farm market bike here:

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=23135

and the "rescued from the dumpster Motobecane" here:

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=19096

my commuter-mobile is steel too and very very cute but hardly R rated.

[tulip]

Wow that's a beautiful bike Tulip. Forgive my ignorance, but does it have a carbon fork? \

Carbon fork and seatstays. I bought it in 2005. It's not custom for me--it was prebuilt, but it might as well have been built for me. I was lucky enough to be in New Mexico for a visit, knew about the bike, and called Margo up. I saw, I rode, I wrote a check.

I also have a steel Jamis Coda Comp (2003) that was my commuter bike but is now my errand bike since I no longer commute to work.

[SpinSpinSugar]

Wow. Wow. Wow. It looks like everyone's bikes are in perfect shape.Not a paint chip in sight. Your commuter looks very comfy Tulip. Was it a MTB frame converted?

I'll post up some pictures of the rest of my steel fleet later this afternoon. They could be described as "the bad and the ugly" ...lol...

[Cataboo]

Spinsugar, how's the rawland's frame working for you? I remember you posting before about the top tube being too long - that's one short stem you have on there.

I still want a rawland's frame, however after seeing both of those luna's... They're gorgeous! especially Tulip's, but I love red.

Here's my flaming surly pacer. It's my commute, around town, and mild off road bike:

[SpinSpinSugar]

Hi Catronia. I looooove how you've setup your Pacer. Those red fenders are HOT! As far as between the Luna and the Rawland... well depending on what you are looking to spend... the Rawland is a great deal if it fits you. You can get a XS or S frame set for $350. (or this med might be for sale soon .. 'eh hmmm')

The Rawland is much more comfy to ride with the new Selle-Anatomica on it. - Before I could never get KOPS - I was always too far setback for various reasons with the other saddles.

It has a 40mm downhill stem on it now. It's the shortest threadless stem available, and it weighs a TON. (actually .5 lb to be exact) With that short stem the bike fits... but barely. Can we say - NO room for adjustment and NO tight cornering ability?? Nimble handling the Rawland is not. So I am still looking at purchasing a LHT, but I am waiting for the 2010 models to come out first. Maybe there will be a better color offered than BLEH Green, or Boring Brown.. lol.

Keep em coming ladies..

SpinSpinSugar

[Cataboo]

Well, you can always dress up bleh green or boring brown with accessories! I did that with red ones to dress up my boring black bike... although, I still want a red bike like Tulip's.

I have the opposite problem on that pacer - I've got a 130 mm stem on it to give me the top tube length I need. That bike, especially with the fenders, has a heck of a lot of toe overlap. The rawland looks like it'll be close enough to "red", have the top tube length I need, and probably fix my toe overlap issues from looking at the geometry. They only have the x-small left on their website which will fit (I might have preferred the small) & I've been hemming & hawwing about it for like 3 months now... Because I either need to get expensive brakes so that I can run 700c's with it, or buy 650b wheels to use the brakes that I already have. Not to mention all the other build costs...

And, while I'm not thrilled with the surly's fit... I do love that bike even though it likes to pitch me into the ground at every opportunity. It's the first bike that I really got to build up and 'play' while I did it. My road or mountain bikes are built with the best components I could find cheapest - so they really don't have that much personality.

[eofelis]

Here is a 41cm Gunnar Sport frame I won on ebay. It is a custom that was done for someone else, but it also happens to be my size too. I got it for 1/4 of the original price. (I paid ~$250.) This one has 700c wheels. The smallest Sports usually have 650c wheels. The ride quality of this little bike is outstanding. It has a fork from a Surly Pacer. I'm going to get a Waterford/Gunnar steel fork and probably have the bike repainted eventually, the paint job had some dings in it.

[eofelis]

Here's my flaming surly pacer. It's my commute, around town, and mild off road bike:

Hehe! That was my Pacer frame! Glad you are having fun with her!