by ericoschmitt on Thu Nov 22, 2018 5:11 pm
If you are a dedicated racer, carbon might be worth it, but...
I have had 5 custom steel bikes built, and wouldn't go for carbon. All by Spino, from Porto Alegre - Brazil (I live close).
I like steeper seat tubes and short head tubes, so unless I ride some flexy TT frame, steel is what I want.
My road bike is 6.85kg with Alpha 340 wheels and light tires. Goes up to some 7.5kg with aero wheels and gp4000 tires. Tubes are Columbus Spirit. Love it. Comfortable and stiff rear when sprinting. Fork is Columbus Futura SL. Frame is 1474g, and could be lighter but I chose some fancy modular hangers and used the propper headtube rings from columbus, which you can avoid with another tube width (done this on my fixie frame). I'm still to upload pics to a gallery on this forum, soon.
The others: my first single speed from them had slacker (normal) seat tube so I sold the frame when I reached the conclusion I wanted it steeper. Second fixie Columbus Life (same stuff as spirit but thicker tube walls). I crashed the rear triangle and still didn't fix it because I had to order new tubes, it was faster to get another fixie built. So this third one is common carbon steel, non-butted, but got some curvy s-bend seatstays that I suppose makes it more comfy. Then I got a 29r gravel, also common steel, for training and touring. The frame has bosses for 5 bottle cages and also for salsa everything cage if I wish, eyelets for rack, fits 60mm tires with room. Love it. I ended up using the fixie only on rainy days..
And last was this road bike, rides like an space ship.
Go for steel, and check Spino, it may be cheaper even with international shipping... They speak fluent english and the framebuilder studied at the Bycicle Academy in USA.
At your weight its probably wise not to go for the thinnest Spirit tubing, but the builder will tell you that.