Modern steel frame+fork bikes without CF. Weights?

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gb123bike
Posts: 50
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2019 1:02 am

by gb123bike

I know people build extremely light carbon framed road bikes now. I've seen some sub-6kg builds, which is unreal for me since my first road bike was in excess of 18 kg (40 pounds). No exaggeration. It really was that heavy.

I'm curious what kind of weights are people achieving on steel frame+fork road bikes with no CF anywhere? E.g, AL posts, bars, etc. My current steel road bike is clocking in at 8.55 kg with tires, tubes, and pedals. It's a mild WW build though. It's a mid 90's Ritchey Road Logic frame+fork, which is heavy compared to modern lightweight steel frames like the stuff out of Rodruigez Cycles in Seattle, say. Mine also has a triple crank which adds a lot of weight.

I'm curious what WW people are doing now with steel frames and all metal parts. Are there sub-7kg steel builds out there? I wouldn't expect them to get close to CF frames, but I'm curious what can be done.

by Weenie


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LewisK
Posts: 499
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2019 2:11 pm

by LewisK

More like sub-4kg

Etienne
Posts: 374
Joined: Tue Aug 23, 2005 11:41 am
Location: France

by Etienne

LewisK wrote:
Fri Dec 27, 2019 5:30 pm
More like sub-4kg
Sub-4kg without carbon fiber ... very unlikely in my opinion but I'd like to see some :?

alanyu
Posts: 1506
Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2019 1:10 pm

by alanyu

My steel trekking bike without CF weighs 11.5kg including pedals, bottle cages, mudguards and stainless front rack. Not a ww build anyway.

gb123bike
Posts: 50
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2019 1:02 am

by gb123bike

Etienne wrote:
Fri Dec 27, 2019 6:40 pm
LewisK wrote:
Fri Dec 27, 2019 5:30 pm
More like sub-4kg
Sub-4kg without carbon fiber ... very unlikely in my opinion but I'd like to see some :?
I'm a little skeptical of that figure too TBH.

The lightest steel frames I've seen are around 1.3 kg frame + 0.6 fork, so 1.9 before you add anything. You'd have a budget of only 2.1 kg for the entire rest of the bike: wheels, stems, bars, cassettes, derailleurs, saddle, seatpost, brakes, chanrings, chain... A lightweight AL wheelset is what, maybe 15-1600g by itself?

I believe you could get some single speed ultra-frail tricked out track machine down to that weight range, but for what I normally think of as a "road bike", I don't see how.

Edit: maybe we misunderstood the poster though, and he was talking about CF being under 4. That, I can believe.

Wookski
Posts: 1416
Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2016 5:51 am

by Wookski

There was a thread a few months back showing a 5kg steel bike from the 80's- no CF. Low 5kg is definitely possible of not lighter.

Slammed
Posts: 171
Joined: Sun Feb 01, 2015 12:32 am

by Slammed

6.8kg with a steel frame and alloy components is possible, just kind of tricky. You'd need a 1300g wheelset, sub 200g brakes, probably a hollowgram for the crank, and other niche stuff like that. If you plan everything out it's possible, but don't expect to just carelessely drop a whole bunch of money and it be 15 pounds.

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wheelsONfire
Posts: 6283
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2014 8:15 am
Location: NorthEU

by wheelsONfire

gb123bike wrote:
Fri Dec 27, 2019 5:24 pm
I know people build extremely light carbon framed road bikes now. I've seen some sub-6kg builds, which is unreal for me since my first road bike was in excess of 18 kg (40 pounds). No exaggeration. It really was that heavy.

I'm curious what kind of weights are people achieving on steel frame+fork road bikes with no CF anywhere? E.g, AL posts, bars, etc. My current steel road bike is clocking in at 8.55 kg with tires, tubes, and pedals. It's a mild WW build though. It's a mid 90's Ritchey Road Logic frame+fork, which is heavy compared to modern lightweight steel frames like the stuff out of Rodruigez Cycles in Seattle, say. Mine also has a triple crank which adds a lot of weight.

I'm curious what WW people are doing now with steel frames and all metal parts. Are there sub-7kg steel builds out there? I wouldn't expect them to get close to CF frames, but I'm curious what can be done.
Why not just start with all the components and see where it gets you?

https://bikerumor.com/2017/04/14/tred-a ... aia-track/
Bikes:

Ax Lightness Vial EVO Race (2019.01.03)
Open *UP* (2016.04.14)
Paduano Racing Fidia (kind of shelved)


Ex bike; Vial EVO D, Vial EVO Ultra, Scott Foil, Paduano ti bike.

LewisK
Posts: 499
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2019 2:11 pm

by LewisK

Sorry, it was in response to the opening paragraph..

"I know people build extremely light carbon framed road bikes now. I've seen some sub-6kg builds, which is unreal"

Wingnut
Posts: 2196
Joined: Sat Jun 23, 2007 12:41 am

by Wingnut

I'd love to see something like this done, might be a bit hard to reach with some components.

The easiest would be brake calipers, hubs, seatpost, cassette, stem etc.

by Weenie


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Mesorhizobium
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2019 9:49 am

by Mesorhizobium

There was a thread on a alloy no carbon bike if i remember correctly. I cant find it right no. Just add extra weight of a steel frame to that.

edit:
Found it
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=138517&p=1218980&h ... b#p1218980

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