Materials

[Bike Goddess]

I have two bikes- a steel one with carbon forks and an all carbon one.

Yes, the steel bike is 5lbs heavier than my carbon one, and it has a different gearing on it. If I am going to do steep steep hills, I'd probably use the steel bike mostly because of the gearing as I have mountain bike gearing in the rear.

However, I find that I prefer my carbon bike for most of my rides. It's very comfortable and very fast if I want to zip down the hills. I also have found that I recover more quickly after going up hills.

IF you really want to get the full scoop, I Googled this subject and found an interesting article that explains every bike part and what it does. It also describes the different types of frames and how they are made. Excellent for learning terminology and understanding bike design!

Google: Advantage of carbon fiber road bikes.
Article I found: Racing bicycles-Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

IF you really want to get the full scoop, I Googled this subject and found an interesting article that explains every bike part and what it does. It also describes the different types of frames and how they are made. Excellent for learning terminology and understanding bike design!

Google: Advantage of carbon fiber road bikes.
Article I found: Racing bicycles-Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

In all fairness, one should also perhaps Google "Advantage of steel frame road bikes", etc.... or maybe read:
http://www.rivendellbicycles.com/htm...materials.html

[Bike Goddess]

Ah- in the article I found, the author talks about every kind of frame- from titanium, aluminum, carbon, steel, you name it. He covers the advantages of each which is why I suggested this particular site. He also does bike terminology with diagrams and explanations for the terms. Quite useful if you are new to this type of language.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Nancy, sounds interesting- do you have an actual link to it? Thanks!

[quint41]

Thanks to you all for your thoughts! Mimi - impressive knowledge of the materials! Nancy - thanks for the article, I can't wait to read it. That is exactly what I need. I'm learning so much!!

I'm in New England, so hills can be a bear. I'm staying away from carbon for the sheer matter of breakability. I don't care about flying down the hills (I shy away from speed), but I do care about ease of climbing. I'm not planning to tour, but my current goal is a metric century. After that, I'll see what comes. I also stood on my scale while holding my current bike -- a 10-year-old steel Diamondback mountain bike with hybrid tires and a little pouch with a few tools. 34 lbs! Ouch! ANYTHING will be a huge improvement! I'm sure today's steel is lighter than 1996's steel. I do find my bike very comfortable, but everytime I climb a hill on that thing my mantra is -- "this is great training! this is great training! this is great training! AAAAHHHRRRR!!!!"

[KnottedYet]

I'm sure today's steel is lighter than 1996's steel.

I rode my Kona (aluminum) to an LBS and test rode a Jamis Aurora (steel). I lifted the Jamis and compared it to the Kona and really couldn't feel that the steel was any heavier.

My friend's dad is a metals specialist for Boeing. He says titanium is "the perfect metal". Haven't tried ti yet. Better not, cuz I might end up needing to buy one.... ("let's see, I'll have one of those, and one of those, and go ahead an give me a couple of that.")

[Petra]

The weight issue does not come from the differences in atomic weightm but in density of the material and which shape and tube wall thickness you can make for the particular mechanical properties. Steel has a huge range of compositions with vastly different properties, so a steel bike can be very light. On the other hand, steel can be welded and a cracked frame can indeed be repaired, not so for the carbon fiber. I think most people (including me) go for the feel of the bike, and it is great fun to test ride and see the differences.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I also stood on my scale while holding my current bike -- a 10-year-old steel Diamondback mountain bike with hybrid tires and a little pouch with a few tools. 34 lbs! Ouch! ANYTHING will be a huge improvement! I'm sure today's steel is lighter than 1996's steel. I do find my bike very comfortable

Like I said, my new lugged steel Rivendell road bike weighs 25 pounds total, including the wide 700c x 37cm tires. Might weigh less with thinner tires, but I plan on losing another 8 pounds anyway MYSELF!