Racing with steel ...

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Hoven
Posts: 146
Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2013 7:30 am
Location: Sweden

by Hoven

Hi,
I'd say go for it! I haven been racing on my Condor Super Acciaio this whole season and have made my best results ever. Have been riding alot of hi-end carbon frames and sure you can feel the weight difference on steep climbs but overall the feeling whit a steel frame that also looks freaking good is amazing! I'm about 186cm tall and 74kg heavy and my frame is stiff really stiff.

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davidalone
Posts: 622
Joined: Fri Feb 10, 2012 4:27 pm

by davidalone

I have it on good authority from a Serotta and Bohemian Bicycles trained frame builder that quality control of Baums can be improved. I'm sure thy are nice bikes, but maybe you could do better?

Kupepe
Posts: 89
Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2013 5:04 pm

by Kupepe

Well I can only trust forums and some review articles about Baums. What are the quality control issues ?

dfischer1
Posts: 41
Joined: Fri Aug 01, 2014 8:19 pm

by dfischer1

Zakalwe wrote:I've also got a 22 month old, with another due in 6 weeks.

There's always time for training.


Agreed -- do an hour or 90min on the trainer (Trainer Road, Sufferfest, whatever works) after you put the kids to bed, and do longer rides early on a weekend day before they wake up. You'll stay in shape, probably get faster, won't get fat, and will be way happier with your new bike -- and your growing family.

Congrats!

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Tinea Pedis
Posts: 8614
Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2009 6:08 am
Contact:

by Tinea Pedis

davidalone wrote:I have it on good authority from a Serotta and Bohemian Bicycles trained frame builder that quality control of Baums can be improved. I'm sure thy are nice bikes, but maybe you could do better?

Name a brand that is perfect.

It's no secret I worked for them. Darren and I are mates but I owe him nothing. If his bikes were rubbish I'd sell them. Mistakes get made, mistakes get fixed. It might sound cliché but being handcrafted means that human error can occur. But then even mass produced bikes have faults and 'quality control could be improved'.


Funnily, you don't see Baum owners on here smearing other brands - like Serotta or Bohemian. I wonder why you (and those brands) feel the need to behave that way? Myself and almost anyone who has worked in the custom bike industry will have seen examples from other brands where it could have been done better. Only we don't air our dirty laundry. Guess that's the joy of being an anonymous account on the internetz. Unless your name is David and you are, in fact, quite lonesome.

Franklin
Posts: 400
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2008 11:09 am

by Franklin

Kupepe wrote:Would prefer input from people who race with steel ...

I would never race on custom high end steel due to crashes.

My urgent suggestion:

1. Buy a Baum Ristretto for love
2. Buy a cheapo second hand alu bike with a cheapo group for a few 100$ and use it for racing.*

My brother in Law smokes his category on an 8 year old 700$ (new price) 8 speed Sora Cannondale. And by going second hand you could go cheaper and nicer (depending a little bit if your size is common).

And it's not just racing/crashes, a second cheap bike you can toss in a car or plane can safe you a lot of heartache.

PoorCyclist
Posts: 783
Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2011 1:26 am
Location: California's country side

by PoorCyclist

The high end butted steel are actually not as durable as you think because the middle of the tubing is pretty thin.

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kdawg
Posts: 194
Joined: Wed Nov 20, 2013 9:10 pm

by kdawg

dfischer1 wrote:
Agreed -- do an hour or 90min on the trainer (Trainer Road, Sufferfest, whatever works) after you put the kids to bed, and do longer rides early on a weekend day before they wake up. You'll stay in shape, probably get faster, won't get fat, and will be way happier with your new bike -- and your growing family.

Congrats!


Before they get up? Unheard of in my house. It's ridiculous how they pop out of bed first thing - although the 11yo is getting a bit more sluggardly.
I'm left handed, if that matters.

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