Lightest steel road bike frame?

[Schwinn Sales West]

easier to just buy a 19 lb bike. older high end road bikes can be found for $500 - $600.00 since everybody wants carbon fiber now. steel bikes are for old guys

speed comes from the wheelset more than anything else. I could spin my Lemond wheels for 10 minutes with one good yank. when they stopped the the air valve would drop to the bottom due to the weight.

better yet rather than trying to build a light bike just lose 5 - 10 pounds or lie when people ask how much it weights. light weight is over rated

LOL, Your sounding like Schwinn's Marketing Guys in the 1970's, "are you going to carry the bike, or ride it"? Then they would go into their story on rolling resistance and the extensive line of high-performance tires they offered.

John

 

[dnc1]

Going down the "drillium" route may help with component weights.
A modern "1 x" groupset will give you a great gear range, with no overlapping ratios and a significant weight saving, if gears are required that is.

 

[billyjones]

I have a pair of rare Trek Columbus Framesets for sale. Super light. 77, tx 770, 79, 910, both imron blue & excellent condition

 

[Real1]

The SBDU bikes that Raleigh built, especially with the Reynolds 753 tubing and the rarer 731 are about as light as steel-frame bikes ever got. Racers from around the world stood in line to have those frames made to fit their bodies. As they say, the rest is history.

Those bikes sell now for thousands....more than the Schwinn Stingray/Kart-type bikes. Titanium might be lighter but the cost would be very high.

light weight is over rated
Repeat that to world-class bike racers.

Kevin

 

[49autocycledeluxe]

light weight is over rated
Repeat that to world-class bike racers.

"world class bicycle racers" ride bikes they did not buy with their own money that cost upwards of $12,000.00

frame stiffness, wheel design and rolling resistance are far more important than frame weight with rider fitness being number one in beating your pals to the top of the hill.

 

[Real1]

The frame is just a factor, no one is arguing that. The OP was asking about the frame weights, not gearing, wheels, rolling resistance, frame stiffness, etc.

If you watched the Olympics this year, it was definitely a combination of bike tech and physical ability in that dome track. Frames started at $75,000 and built bikes were $125,000. I have no idea where the money goes or even want to. My interest is in vintage lightweight bikes, not high-tech bikes. I could also care less about fixed-speed track bikes. Racing on the open road, up & down hills with gearing....

And you're forgetting the most important factor in past bike racing.....steroids.

Kevin

 

[billyjones]

I had a Fuji S12 S like the beginning of the thread. was a nice rider.

 

[Schwinn Sales West]

The frame is just a factor, no one is arguing that. The OP was asking about the frame weights, not gearing, wheels, rolling resistance, frame stiffness, etc.

If you watched the Olympics this year, it was definitely a combination of bike tech and physical ability in that dome track. Frames started at $75,000 and built bikes were $125,000. I have no idea where the money goes or even want to. My interest is in vintage lightweight bikes, not high-tech bikes. I could also care less about fixed-speed track bikes. Racing on the open road, up & down hills with gearing....

And you're forgetting the most important factor in past bike racing.....steroids.

Kevin

Don't get caught by the inflated "advertised" prices on the Pro Aero bikes. It's "only a published number" because they have to ride models that are "supposed to be" available to the public. Even if you had the money and the desire to order one of the hand-made carbon aero bikes they were all "sold out". I believe this topic was already discussed on the CABE during the Olympics'.

John

 

[fattyre]

Lemond had some great steel frames in the late 90’s early 2000’s that are really nice and still modern enough that you can use newer components. You can find them extremely cheap. I just saw a Zurich (complete bike) in nearly new condition sell for $400. But that doesn’t meet you 32c tire requirement. Maybe you can get 30c with no tread if you’re lucky.

Perhaps an older CX frame? Now with disc brakes and 40c or bigger tires, older more traditional cross bikes can be found pretty cheap. Although steel isn’t so common. Gunnar’s might be a good one to look at, but probably not the easiest to find. Or perhaps an older Ti bike?

 

[Real1]

Don't get caught by the inflated "advertised" prices on the Pro Aero bikes. It's "only a published number" because they have to ride models that are "supposed to be" available to the public. Even if you had the money and the desire to order one of the hand-made carbon aero bikes they were all "sold out". I believe this topic was already discussed on the CABE during the Olympics'.

John

Yeah, I know that. I have a customer who's 6'6" and he's a big bike nerd. Modern stuff, an electronic shift is old-school to him. I remodeled his detached garage so it's a bike 'den' with pegboard walls. I've picked up some of his bikes to see how heavy they are—pretty impressive if you're into that kind of thing. I think even the most well-heeled consumer bike nerds probably limit their bike purchases to around $15K ea. He must have 20 bikes in that garage that he rides and a 'story' with each one. He does a lot of amateur bike races and such with long mileage intervals.

Now if you're seriously racing and sponsored, that's a whole other kettle of fish. As we all know the riders are not paying for the bikes, but if they don't win/perform, the sponsors drop them.

Kevin