Steel road bike Q's

[Trek420]

You do need to look after a steel bike more because of rust. Basically if you want to keep your steel bike in good condition you will need to keep touch up paint handy for scratches etc and you really need to "drain" your bike after riding in heavy rain, especially the seat tube because these will rust out.

You can for extra cost get the inside of the frame's tubes coated so they won't rust.

All of our bikes are steel. We have had no problems ... so far. Quality steel frames have a slight opening in the bottom bracket that will drain moisture. We've had 2 steel frames powdercoated. Before painting they were checked carefully for rust. One's my 1995 GT commuter, the other a 1980's sumthin' steel road bike (Knott's bike). No rust inside or out.

The commuter got the standard dings from racks, locks, neighboring bikes etc. With fine steel wool and matching nail polish I was able to keep it looking spiffy. I decided I love the bike and want it to look great again. I treated it to a day at the spa

Knott's Giant road bike I bought used. It looked great after decades with the original paint but the color scheme was dated. Knott decided on a new color for the bikes new life with her.

I think regardless of the frames we pick you'll check each bike often for signs of wear, dents, dings. You'll check carbon for cracks especially after a rough ride or a crash and certainly check steel.

Y'all know I have a thing for steel but all bikes are good!

We generalize saying:
Carbon is fast and light but feels dead and ....
Aluminum is light but you feel every candy bar wrapper on the road and ....
Steel, nothing rides like steel but it's heavy!

But with the right design and fit carbon is fast and light with a steel-like ride, aluminum is light and crisp and comfortable. And steel? Well nothing rides like steel but steel can be light! Yep. Light.

Only about 1/5th of the weight of the bike is the frame. So a lightweight steel frame and fork with nice shiny fancy blingy things hung on it is light. If we could stage a blindfold test with someone's carbon bike and my custom steel road bike I'd challenge you to say which is the carbon bike. of course part of that is the size because I'm 5' nuthin'

Closest thing to that blindfold test is here where we all weighed our bikes

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