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Steel vs. Aluminum

04.29.2012 by Ray Niekamp // 10 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, my friend David mentioned that his steel Fuji was still available for me to test ride a while. David now rides a carbon fiber Giant Defy Advanced, and loves it. But he loved his Fuji, too, and thought I would enjoy comparing it to the ride I get on my Specialized Allez. So, I swung by his house to pick it up.

The bike is a Fuji Marseille from the early 2000s, and in some respects, is similar to the 2008 Allez. It’s the same size: 56 cm; it has a nine-speed cassette, although his is Shimano Ultegra and mine is 105. The Allez has more carbon fiber parts, with fork, seat post, and seat stays all being of that material. Only the Fuji’s fork is carbon. The Fuji’s top tube is horizontal, while the Allez’s slopes. David runs 25 mm tires on the Fuji, while I am currently sporting 23s.

Digging through some Road Bike Reviews from 2004, I found the bike variously described as comfortable, a good century bike, not fast or light, built for distance — not speed, a great bike for club rides, and smooth.

The whole point of my trying out the Fuji was to see for myself if there is a difference between an aluminum-framed bike and one of steel.

I had my answer after my first mile: Yes, there is. The steel bike rides smoother.

The difference was most apparent on chip seal roads. Those aren’t a lot of fun to ride on the Allez. The Fuji flattened out the rough spots. Of course, on asphalt roads, both bikes ride about the same, in my opinion. On really rough roads, that are pocked with potholes, or have uneven, patched pavement, the ride is just as bouncy and jarring in the Fuji as the Allez.

I’ve taken the Fuji on several club rides, as well as rides in my neighborhood on my usual 15, 18, 19, and 27-mile routes. Besides the overall smoother ride, I noticed other things:

The steel bike is heavier. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, although the proponents of steel frames will tell you that the modern frames are only fractionally heavier than their aluminum or carbon fiber competition. I weighed both the Fuji and the Allez on Casa Niekamp’s bathroom scale (okay, you can draw your own conclusions about the accuracy of the measure!) and found the Fuji weighed a commendale 19.5 pounds. The Allez checked in at 16.5. However, I weighed the Allez without pedals or seat bag, since both had been moved over to the Fuji. So the weight difference might not be that much.

That heavier weight showed itself in two ways: Riding into the wind is tougher. I have to work a lot harder than I do when tackling a headwind on the Fuji than the Allez. But on the plus side, I can go downhill faster in the Fuji. On some favorites in my neighborhood, I noticed a 2 mph speed difference between the two bikes — the Fuji owned those descents. Curiously, I didn’t notice much difference when climbing up hills. The Fuji is responsive, and will answer the pedals promptly.

Left: The Fuji Marseille. Right: the Specialized Allez.

I think part of the credit for the smoother ride goes to the tires. The 25 mm Michelins on the Fuji recommend a maximum pressure of 102 pounds. I ran them at an even 100. My Allez is currently running 23 mm Vredestein Fortezza SEs, with a pressure range of 115-140 pounds! I run those at 120. The combination of skinnier tires and higher pressures probably has a lot to do with the harshness I sometimes feel on the Allez.

What I see from my standard riding position on the Fuji.

Now, because the Fuji is a borrowed bike, I didn’t do a lot of tweaking to make it fit me. David is about an inch shorter than me, so I did raise the saddle height. His arms are also shorter, and the Fuji sports a short stem. David threw in the original stem, which is about the same size as the one on the Allez, but I didn’t put it on. It turned out I really liked the more upright riding position the short stem gave me. As my time on the bike wore on, I realized that I could clearly see the front wheel’s hub ahead of my handlebars, so I probably should have swapped stems. And whenever I stood on the pedals to accelerate or climb, my knees tended to bump the handlebars, and I was too far forward to climb efficiently.

Overall, I really enjoyed riding the steel bike. For me, comfort is an important criterion for selecting a bike, and the Fuji was the more comfortable of the two bikes. I’m not ready to pull the trigger on a steel bike just yet, however. For me, it didn’t quite live up to its billing as an excellent bike for century rides, and I think anything that can be comfortable for that much time in the saddle would be comfortable for the shorter rides I more commonly do. But fit is everything, and if I could be fitted to a steel-framed bike for maximum comfort, it would certainly be an option to seriously consider.

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Categories // Bike fit, Bikes Tags // steel

Going to Try Something New

04.17.2012 by Ray Niekamp // 10 Comments

I’ve had my bike for four years now. It’s a good bike. Not as fast as many, but no slouch. It’s got an aluminum frame, but lots of carbon add-ons, like the fork, seat stays, seat post. But every now and again I get a hankerin’ for a different look and feel to my biking.

That may have come, courtesy my friend David. As we rode together last weekend, he mentioned, “The Fuji is still sitting in my garage. You can try it out whenever you like.”

What’s different about David’s Fuji is that it’s a steel bike. Now, I’ve had some experience with steel. My 1981 Raleigh 10-speed is steel. But because the model was not one of Raleigh’s high end bikes, it was built heavy. I started my current road biking efforts on the Raleigh five years ago, and I can still remember when another friend of mine, who’d been biking for a long time, picked up my bike while we were taking a break. He did a double take, and raising his eyebrows, said, “That’s some kinda weight you’re hauling around, Bubba.”

In turn, I hefted his titanium LiteSpeed. It was like picking up an aluminum beer can, without the beer. I was astounded that a bike could be that light. It was my first realization that a 26-year-old bike might not be the state of the art model that it used to be — if in fact it ever was. Since then, I’ve developed some ideas about what I want in my ideal bike.

I’m thinking either titanium or steel. Titanium is probably out of my price range, but the lightness of it appeals to me. Steel bikes made in 2012 are a lot different than the ones made in 1981. The steel used now doesn’t approach the old one in heaviness. A lot has been written about the supple ride quality of a good steel bike — a quality that I missed out on with the Raleigh, because I didn’t have anything against which to compare it.

David’s bike is probably not as light as the titanium number, but it’s  2005 model, so was built to be lightweight steel. It feels no different from my aluminum bike when I lift it.

I stopped by David’s house after work today to pick up the bike. I’ll be riding it over the next two weeks or so, just to see if there is any difference between riding it and riding my current bike. I haven’t thrown a leg over it yet — I need to move my pedals over to this bike (David rides Looks, while I use Shimano SPD-SLs. They’re not compatible). I’ll also have to determine if the really short stem will work for me. David threw in the stock stem just in case it doesn’t.

As I get a feel for the new-to-me ride, I’ll be collecting my impressions in order to do a full and thorough review. And maybe determine if a modern, lightweight steel bike is in fact what I need to be saving my pennies for.

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Categories // Bikes Tags // Bikes, steel

One Reader’s Rivendell – Guest Post

05.15.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 2 Comments

Mel Hughes

Back in March, I wrote about Rivendell Bicycle Works, and their different approach to building bikes. Bike Noob reader Mel Hughes, who comments here occasionally, recently pulled the trigger and ordered one. He went for the A. Homer Hilsen model, their top-of-the-line bike. In this guest post, Mel gives his impressions of owning and riding a Rivendell.

When I started thinking about doing more with my bicycling than just training, I started looking for a bike that would be comfortable to ride but versatile. I wanted a more upright position, more braze-ons for accessories, and wheel and tire combinations that did more than just roll fast. I wanted a bike I could use as a daily commuter for my 20 mile round trip to work. But I also wanted a bike that would also work well for long weekend rides. The more I looked around and read, the more I kept coming back to Rivendell.

Rivendell’s approach to frame sizing is a bit different. They use pubic bone height (PBH) as a starting place. Using this measurement generally puts people on a bike an inch or more taller than they had been riding before. The stand-over clearance is narrower. But the increased height allows an overall more upright position (if desired.) The frame is also built to easily allow using wider, fatter tires, fenders, racks, and even a kickstand. The frames are steel, joined with brazed lugs. The front forks are traditional, lugged crown forks.

If this sounds like a formula for a touring bike of the late 1970’s or early 1980’s, it does have that lineage. But a closer look at the head tube and some of the other frame conventions will show that Grant Petersen has taken those ideas and used the best of them only as a starting point. Rivendell frames are currently made by Waterford for Rivendell, here in the U.S.

Mel’s A. Homer Hilsen. Click to enlarge.

I ordered a Rivendell A. Homer Hilsen this past January. The bike was delivered mid-April. I have had some good opportunities to ride in between the crazy weather we have had this spring in Tennessee. The 33mm tires run at 85psi smooth out the harshest cracked pavement we have. I placed my handlebars just above the seat height and have to report that my lower back pain has almost completely disappeared. The Dura-Ace bar-end shifters run the 9-speed cassette and triple ring crank flawlessly using a Campy front derailleur and a Shimano Deore XT rear. While the 36 spoke Velocity Synergy rims will never win a weight contest, they are extremely durable. The rear rim is off-set so that there is a minimal amount of dish on the cassette side. This allows spoke tensions on either side to be much closer to each other, making for a stronger wheel. The Phil Woods hubs are more than bike jewelry. Their bearings are like silk!

I have been riding using MKS touring pedals. They allow me to wear sneakers when commuting to work. They also remove any question about clearing my foot from the pedal in an emergency. My knees have also been very happy with them. In truth, I haven’t missed my clipless pedals. It also promotes just hopping on the bike for a quick run up the road anytime.

All in all, I love this bike! It is beautifully made, reminding me of bikes I used to dream about years ago. It is very well thought out, classically designed, and wonderfully executed. It rides like a dream. I am a couple of miles an hour slower than on the more race/speed oriented Litespeed. But I find I am much more comfortable. I have had more fun than should be allowed dressing it up a bit with racks, bells, leather bar tape and other things. Rivendells aren’t everyones’ cup of tea. But if you are looking for a bicycle that can do many, many things very well, they might just have a model that has your name on it.

For more pictures of Mel’s bike, go to his Flickr page.

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Categories // Bikes, guest post Tags // Bikes, guest post, steel

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