Alright, not a super weight weenie frame but I have been thinking about building up a steel bike. The pictures from the NAHBS look awesome. Would build it up with SRAM Force / Red, Thompson Masterpeice Seatpost, Thompson Stem, and Dura Ace C-24 wheels.

Plan is to race the bike some and I am concerned that the bike may not be up to it. Geometry is a little more relaxed than my Specialized SL3 and the cro-moly tubes are said to be flexy by some?

Would I really notice a difference as a CAT 3? Does anyone have experience with the older Road Logics and possible flex in the frame. I'm a hundred and forty pounds and put out a whopping (sarcasm) 1100 watts max.

Would I be better on a more expensive alternative (Seven Cycles, Independent Fabrications, Desalvo, etc.)?

Thoughts?

How about a 2013 / 2014 Ritchey Logic hydraulic disc caliper set with road levers compatible with Di2 ala TRP?

Yes, you should buy the most expensive frame possible to race Cat 3 . It is real rough
out there.

Price really doesn't have much to do with it, more about enjoyment of the ride. Even a custom frame from a more expensive builder is not expensive when compared to a new specialized SL4 or Venge frame.

I take if from the responses nobody has experience racing a Ritchey Road Logic of old?

IF and Seven hardly fall into the upper echelon of "expensive frames" in the grand scheme of things. My guess is that the OP was merely asking whether these alternatives (which happen to be more expensive) really would make a difference for his purposes. While the answer is likely no, there are probably more diplomatic ways to say that than to belittle his question in a manner such as yours.

@sl3
From everything I've heard about Tom's frames of old, they were awesome, and I'd expect the current ones to be just as good, if not better. That being said, IF does fabulous work, as do smaller builders like Carl Strong (Strong Cycles) and Chris King (Cielo). The other great thing with a custom bike (especially steel, IMO) is that it's the kind of thing you can keep and ride veritably for ever. Lighter, stiffer bikes may come along, but steel will always be a great material to make a frame out of.

I've raced a good bit on steel, and with a decently light and stiff parts list, you'd have a super solid race build. I personally don't foresee myself going back to racing on carbon any time soon. Sure, steel may flex a bit more than carbon, it's a price I personally am more than willing to pay for the great ride quality and knowledge that it'll last for many, many years.

Best of luck with your decision.

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This board and the world in general would be a much nicer place if everyone could just take themselves a little less seriously.

Hello, back in 1997, I raced a Ritchey Road Logic for University as well as on a club team. It is one of my favorite frames because it was my first real race bike. My memory of the frame is that it had amazingly deep paint, a more relaxed European road racing geometry, and the frame seemed stiff enough, even with a 1 inch steerer tube. It is one of the frames that I really regret selling.

That being said, that bike was probably cutting edge awesome for 1997 standards. It weighed over 6 pounds for the frameset and used a quill style stem. If I rode the 1997 Ritchey next to my 2011 Canyon Ultimate and had to choose between the two bikes, I am sure that i will choose the Canyon every time as it is a lighter, stiffer, more comfortable machine. My rides are usually fast hard 30-40miles on shitty roads with 3K+ feet plus of climbing with some grades going over 23%. I am about your weight, 132, and about the same sprint wattage 1250 max.

I decided to chime in to this thread because I will buy the new Ritchey for sentimental reasons. Honestly, I can't imagine ever racing again on steel though, it is fairly heavy, (4.7 pounds for the frameset for the 2012 Logic) and can't really be compared to a SL3/4 module, which is a state of the art frameset. I wonder if people who buy this frameset will buy it for reasons similar to mine, and will probably keep a separate bike for balls to the walls type of ride. If you are still racing at a high level and have that drive for perfection, I think it would be hard to go from a SL3 to a steel frameset. This is coming from a guy who has owned 7 custom steel frames. My most recent experience is going from a custom steel DeSalvo to my Canyon Ultimate. The DeSalvo is really nice but the Canyon has so much more punch. Different horses for different races...

Came across this post with pics and weights.......

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/ritche ... 94949.html

Link to these new brakes?

I ordered one of these framesets last week. I have been weenieing my Allez the past couple of years, but have had the itch to move all my "upgrades" to a new frame. Carbon was my initial thought, but I realized that steel spoke to me in a way aesthetically none of the carbon frames do (outside of the $6k Argonaut). I know I will be going to the wrong way by WW standards as the frame weighs approx 1770g in a size 55, but once I saw it, I knew it was the frame I've been waiting for.

I've never had a steel bike before, so this is a bit of a gamble. I will post a build thread in the "Introduce Yourself" forum. I plan on completing it sometime in July.

Build will be a mix of SRAM Red and Force. Aiming for an initial build weight of mid 17 lbs with my Cosmic Carbone SLs. Further down the road as I upgrade to Carbon Clincher and a lighter pedals, I hope I can get it into the mid 16 range.

Make sure you have the tools to build, mine needed a compleat pro build.
Cut,reamed,threaded,faced and aligned

A typical climb in a race is probably 100 meters. This frame is around 800 grams heavier than a light carbon frame. Lifting 800 grams one hundred meters is around 784 joules so will likely take you around 3 extra seconds, everything else equal (which they never are), assuming 261 watts.

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