Show "Bicycle"

It’s hard to generalize too much. Steel is, overall, more supple and forgiving. Aluminum is stiffer, so it requires a different attitude from the engineers to let it flex a little better (vertically ovalized chain stays, horizontally ovalized seat stays so it is stiff pedaling but the seat tube can flex a little when hitting bumps). It’s a LOT easier to make a LIGHT frame cheaply out of AL, period. To make steel close to that light, you’ve got to use high quality tubing that’s been double or triple butted, which ain’t cheap. So when we’re talking about the lower end of the price spectrum (bikes that retail new for under $1,400), then AL frames let the manufacturer up the drivetrain, brakes, etc a level or two and hold the same $ point. Even then, the steel bike is gonna be a pound or two heavier. But, plenty of high end steel bikes come in at like 22 or 23 pounds… that’s not HEAVY unless you’re a wilting violet who can’t get anything north of 17 lbs up a hill.


Now amongst those $1,400 bikes with AL frames, they’re not all the same. If you look for things like ideally a nice carbon fork that’s super light and absorbs bumps somewhat better than AL… those are better than big, round, stiff tubes all around. And the big thing that internet geniuses never talk about is the fact that your tire size / model has WAY more impact on your ride quality than the frame material. If you’re riding on 25s, sure, every little bit of supple helps. But when you’re floating on 35s, 40s? Honestly it doesn’t matter.


In summary, the alleged harshness of Aluminum really hasn’t ever bugged me. And if I love everything else about a steel bike, and I’m not trying to race it, then it’s a great bike. My wife’s beloved 70s Peugot single speed, that she rode loaded with front bags from Pittsburgh to DC on a mix of pavement and gravel, is the cheapest plain-gauge (one thickness, no butting) steel tubing there is. It’s relatively heavy, and it sags and wiggles more than other bikes when loaded and ridden hard. But she LOVES it. That thick tubing is indestructible. It takes a heavy load juuuuust fine.
 
It’s hard to generalize too much. Steel is, overall, more supple and forgiving. Aluminum is stiffer, so it requires a different attitude from the engineers to let it flex a little better (vertically ovalized chain stays, horizontally ovalized seat stays so it is stiff pedaling but the seat tube can flex a little when hitting bumps). It’s a LOT easier to make a LIGHT frame cheaply out of AL, period. To make steel close to that light, you’ve got to use high quality tubing that’s been double or triple butted, which ain’t cheap. So when we’re talking about the lower end of the price spectrum (bikes that retail new for under $1,400), then AL frames let the manufacturer up the drivetrain, brakes, etc a level or two and hold the same $ point. Even then, the steel bike is gonna be a pound or two heavier. But, plenty of high end steel bikes come in at like 22 or 23 pounds… that’s not HEAVY unless you’re a wilting violet who can’t get anything north of 17 lbs up a hill.


Now amongst those $1,400 bikes with AL frames, they’re not all the same. If you look for things like ideally a nice carbon fork that’s super light and absorbs bumps somewhat better than AL… those are better than big, round, stiff tubes all around. And the big thing that internet geniuses never talk about is the fact that your tire size / model has WAY more impact on your ride quality than the frame material. If you’re riding on 25s, sure, every little bit of supple helps. But when you’re floating on 35s, 40s? Honestly it doesn’t matter.


In summary, the alleged harshness of Aluminum really hasn’t ever bugged me. And if I love everything else about a steel bike, and I’m not trying to race it, then it’s a great bike. My wife’s beloved 70s Peugot single speed, that she rode loaded with front bags from Pittsburgh to DC on a mix of pavement and gravel, is the cheapest plain-gauge (one thickness, no butting) steel tubing there is. It’s relatively heavy, and it sags and wiggles more than other bikes when loaded and ridden hard. But she LOVES it. That thick tubing is indestructible. It takes a heavy load juuuuust fine.

The problem is that there's not much inventory available out there right now. The only reason I was considering aluminum, is from the lack of steel gravel road bikes that don't cost a car downpayment.

Ideally I'd want something like this:

I've also been looking at these bikes:

I'm kicking myself for not getting a geared bike before the pandemic! :doh:
 
The sheer number of people buying bikes has been insane -- and then you couple that with constricted supply because covid impacts the makers, AND further constrictions because of the shipping lanes backing up, and MAN, it has been an epic saga to get a damn tire tube.
 
I've been to our LBS a handful of times through the pandemic. They sold out of almost their entire inventory very quickly early in the year, and the owner told me they've had a lot of difficulty restocking. Even worse has been repair parts. Some basic stuff has been on order for months, and he said if they didn't have a storeroom full of busted bikes they could cannibalize, they'd have a tough time fixing bikes people brought in for repair. Seems an awful lot of people have rediscovered the bike they had in their garage or shed for years (or decades), and want them fixed so they ride them.
 
The bike-o-sphere out there (folks in the industry, and the pundits who make a living analyzing it) are now chiefly worried how to KEEP all these new bikers around. I'm sorta looking forward to the coming glut of barely-used bikes for sale...
 
I think I'm just going to wait until more bike inventory shows up. My ideal bike would be a steel frame, with decent groupset, wide tire clearance for either road or gravel tires, disc brakes and a compact/aggressive top tube geometry. I want to buy a bike I love, not just ride on occasion...kinda like cameras! :D
 
Rivendell Sam Hillborne or Crust Bombora? No personal experience, but they've gotten a lot of love on this channel (not exactly inexpensive, though):

EDIT: Ooops, I missed the part about disc brakes. The videos are still interesting for those of us who endure bike GAS.


I was looking at All-City bikes and they have a whole line of steel road and gravel bikes. I just like the way steel feels after riding my single speeds. The bike GAS is real! :roflmao:
 
The first bike I built was crude, but I did put a set of tubeless ready wheels with an XD hub on it. (That move falls into the "blind squirrel finding a nut" category.) For a while I rode it SS, using a hub adapter and cog from Problem Solvers. I no longer have that bike, and figured this set would be of no use to me. Then I discovered the black aircraft aluminum adapter is also available to fit a splined freehub. Bingo. These cogs are considerably stiffer than a normal cassette cog. The adapter is in the mail, due to arrive in the next few days, weather permitting.

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The mail arrived, and the bike shop sent me the wrong part; they sent me another cog, instead of the hub adapter. Bummer. In the bright side, my SS chain tensioner arrived, and it is a beefy thing, a full 1/4" of machined aluminum. Here it is temporarily mounted to the hanger to check fit and alignment. There is an auxiliary adapter that goes into the smaller top hole for the QR skewer.

Baby steps. Next item to arrive are my NOS wheels, expected later today.

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The mail arrived, and the bike shop sent me the wrong part; they sent me another cog, instead of the hub adapter. Bummer. In the bright side, my SS chain tensioner arrived, and it is a beefy thing, a full 1/4" of machined aluminum. Here it is temporarily mounted to the hanger to check fit and alignment. There is an auxiliary adapter that goes into the smaller top hole for the QR skewer.

Baby steps. Next item to arrive are my NOS wheels, expected later today.

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I can't wait to see your build! That tensioner looks good and luckily is still available as I haven't seen many of that build while still selling at a decent price point.

I'm debating if I should mount a 22t freewheel to my other single speed, giving me a 34:22t uphill gear ratio or just get a darn geared bike for that purpose? I actually like 46:16t on the other single speed bike I put together. Even though it's a higher gear ratio, I feel less winded versus the stock 40:16t on my first bike.

Nice! And I love Path Less Pedaled. Russ and Laura that run it are somewhat friends of my wife, run in the same Bike Advocacy circles.

I dig Path Less Pedaled. It's a lot more chill than watching those over hyped GCN Youtube videos. Though if I want to live vicariously through bicyclists riding on the edge, I also watch biking videos from Terry Barentsen! It's like waiting for a train wreck to happen with how these people ride! :eek:
 
Wheelset arrived today, nice and trued by the seller. This bike is certainly different from my Trek hybrid, on which I currently run 700x50, and could fit even wider tires. On the Specialized frame, the 700x50 fits fine up front, but won't even come close in the back. I took the new rear wheel and mounted a used Bontrager 700x45 I had hanging in the garage. It fits fine with plenty of room around the seatstays, but the clearance around the chainstays is very close. The wheel turns without rubbing, even when I put all my weight on the seat, but it's close! I'm still going to try it with the 700x45 tires. Worst comes to worse, I'll drop to a 700x40 in the rear.

Oh yeah, GCN: I watch them from time to time to try to pick up a tip here or there, and they're actually funny sometimes. But they obsess about what pro racer is doing what, and KOMs, and Strava segments. Relax, guys. John on the GCN Tech show seems to be the most chilled of the group. I enjoyed his "Garbage to Gravel Bike" series.

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Went to the LBS today to pick up tubes and tires, Bontrager LT2 Comp 700x38. Narrowest tires I've had on a bike since I had a single speed, coaster brake, drop bar 26" bike in my late teens. I considered going wider on the front since the fork has so much room, but decided to stick with the same front and back. Getting close, but still waiting on a couple of other parts to arrive.

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Today I went for my regular weekend ride. It was so windy, I was almost blown to the ground! At one point I was going uphill and the wind made it feel like I was pedaling underwater! Also I swapped back to my stock touring tires. They're somewhat heavy, but seem to handle the road nicely. I can't help but make micro adjustments on my bike on a weekly basis!

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View from the Downtown Los Angeles bike lane!

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I attempted to go for a ride at the local county park today with the Trek hybrid. The main road through and around the park was unscraped and untreated, and people had been driving on it so much, it was a packed mess, and repeated thawing and refreezing underneath had turned stretches of it into a sheet of ice. I tried riding through the snow around the edge of the road, but even with the fat tires on the Trek, the going was tough. My planned 13+ miles ended up being 2, and I spent most of my time there snapping a few photos. I did manage to pedal up one short but steep hill coming up from the amphitheater. I messed up and overexposed the last image.

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I attempted to go for a ride at the local county park today with the Trek hybrid. The main road through and around the park was unscraped and untreated, and people had been driving on it so much, it was a packed mess, and repeated thawing and refreezing underneath had turned stretches of it into a sheet of ice. I tried riding through the snow around the edge of the road, but even with the fat tires on the Trek, the going was tough. My planned 13+ miles ended up being 2, and I spent most of my time there snapping a few photos. I did manage to pedal up one short but steep hill coming up from the amphitheater. I messed up and overexposed the last image.

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At least you made an attempt to go out and ride your bike! That's what counts! That last shot looks so lonely with the swing. It might make for an interesting b&w conversion, which will also give more leeway for the blown out highlights. ;)
 
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At least you made an attempt to go out and ride your bike! That's what counts! That last shot looks so lonely with the swing. It might make for an interesting b&w conversion, which will also give more leeway for the blown out highlights. ;)
Good idea. That's a lot better.

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The adapter I needed to mount a bar with a 31.8mm center to a 1 1/8" threaded fork arrived today. With the bars I chose, I think the bike's lines have a 70s sort of vibe. I'm still amazed what great shape the frame and paint are in for a 22 year old bike. Makes me wonder if it was kept inside, and why they stripped the frame in the first place.

I'm using new-old-stock BMX levers to actuate the brakes. If I had any hair, I'd be pulling it out, as I'm having trouble getting the brakes adjusted to my satisfaction. Either they rub a little bit, or if I adjust them to where they don't rub, then I don't have enough brake authority. Gonna spend some time on YT this afternoon to look for suggestions.

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