Is steel really real?

[Matthews]

Re:

Have a word with Stu on the yorkshire bit as he hammered his inbred for a few years , I am a recent convert to steel and love it , yes you can tell the difference between quality (my 853 Soul is more twangy than the Lava Dome ), got the wife an inbred recently (14" frame) and she loves it but is very sedate how she rides , lots of people ride em and like em , ignore the brand snobbery and give it a go , you can but 5 for the price of an 853 frame , as for weight the only time I really noticed the diff between silly light ally and steel was when pushing it on a very gentle downhill (no cycling in front of busy Temple Newsam house ), other than that never really noticed .
Give it a go , if you like it you can upgrade later .

 

[kvs766]

Re:

“Bicycles may change, but cycling is timeless.” ~ Zapata Espinoza

 

[Mindmap3]

I've had a few steel bikes but never really got the whole steel feel thing until I got a Skackline 853 with a 27.2mm post and 1 1/8th head tube. After my BFe it felt so springy, zingy and light.

I don't thnk you'll get much of that famous steel feel from an On One frame given the price and quality of materials. What you'll get though is a solid frame that represents great value for money.

With regards to the debate re geometry etc, I'm a fan of the slack head tubes, long reach and steep seat tubes. To be they feel much more stable. My old Beast of the East feels pretty sketchy in comparison. The quality of suspension travel and grippy tyres make a big difference. I think I'm riding trickier stuff than I used to on my Kona Koa back in the day...I'd have never dreamt of riding that down the trails at Antur.

 

[highlandsflyer]

Re:

I ride steel mainly, and manly. 853, 725 and the supposedly lowly variants. I reckon 90% of any hard tail is in the design. I love the wife's Prince Albert more than any bike I have ridden for a long time, but my totally favourite leg over is an early 2000s Jamis Dragon in 853. Nothing fancy, but light with proven geometry.

Back when I rode Kleins day in day out I was doing so in urban settings with huge slicks. The rigid chassis worked in that scenario so well they were like BMX.

My full sussers are all other materials, but I don't feel the frame so much in that rendering.

Each to their own I guess, but I love steel for its inherent properties.

 

[highlandsflyer]

Whatever the material, if it isnt designed to transfer the pedal force in the most efficient manner to the back wheel, it isnt going to ride well. Thats the issue I had with my inbred. I like to go up now and again and a lot of frame designs dont like it.

Some of the nicest riding frames are very compliant; possibly less efficient in energy transfer. Over longer rides these are possibly less fatiguing; so in some ways the answer is yes again.

This is quite complex, and perhaps is more to do with the brain than anything else.