Hello to the collective genius of the forums!

I am getting ready to go to a steel frame, since I'm tired of my AL Specialized, and don't want to crack a CF frame, and think TI is sexy but afraid of a noodly frame under power (I'm not small). I want stiffness, a smooth ride and don't care a ton about weight, since if I need to drop some weight on a ride, I'll just sneeze a couple times.

So just throwing it out for debate: Is all-steel better or do you like steel with carbon stays and why?

Example: The Bianchi Virata is gorgeous to me, but wondering if the carbon stays create a weak-point or do benefit the ride.

Talk amongst yourselves.

Steel straight up.

In my epxerience, the CF adds nothing aside from a imperceptable amount of back-end stiffness. And even this is up for debate.

I own a Pinarello Opera with CF stays. The only reasonable comparison I can make is between the Pinny and a Bianchi Boron that I also own. Same tubeset, no difference in ride. Give me a couple of beers and I might try to convince you the Pinny is just a bit stiffer. But it would be a tough argument to make minus the beers. I also have a custom steel bike with a full CF rear and it too is on the stiffer side but I have nothing to compare it against, given its tubeset.

The other steel bikes I own ride like you'd expect them too. I don't see much of a difference between them and the bonded frames.

Keep it real...
All steel.

:)

Stay with steel. There is nothing sexier than chromed seat and chain stays!

I have only ridden an '07 'Nag MXL with carbon B-Stay once, and didn't find much of a difference compared to my '06 MXL with an all steel rear end. Colnago has gone back to all steel for the '08's.

I think these days, a carbon fork is almost a given. I put an Ouzo Pro on my steel LeMond Alp 'd that works very nicely. The touring bikes like a Surly LHT still use steel forks, however.

I have 3 road bikes and one grocery getter that are steel. Only my mountain bikes are aluminum. And because I don't race, carbon frames never became an issue.

keep it all steel

something about a steel / carbon mix just doesnt sound rite.. or something im not yet ready to accept! haah... like two separate forces ...just not meant to be one...

my vote is for
all steel...

Great thread so far, ladies and gents. I think I'll stay full steel, and think I'll probably gow ith DeSalvo, since I've talked to Mike for an hour and he was very happy to answer all my un-informed questions.

Now, let's talk tubesets. What tubing do you ride? Have you noticed significant differences between, say, 853 and something else? Who's ridden Columbus Life and/or Zona and what's the opinions there?

Great thread so far, ladies and gents. I think I'll stay full steel, and think I'll probably gow ith DeSalvo, since I've talked to Mike for an hour and he was very happy to answer all my un-informed questions.

Now, let's talk tubesets. What tubing do you ride? Have you noticed significant differences between, say, 853 and something else? Who's ridden Columbus Life and/or Zona and what's the opinions there?

I own DT15v, 731, EOM16.5, Ultra Foco, 853, S3 and 953 steel bikes.

In terms of the frames themselves, the biggest difference between them among the ones I own is weight. They all ride very well and none of them has any traits that I would consider undesireable. Steel is pretty much steel down to the nuance level when it comes to ride. It's far more about a design geometry and tubeset that meets your riding needs.

I have Max
Foco
SLX
and hey Joe Starck, what pipes are on my trackie?

I have Max
Foco
SLX
and hey Joe Starck, what pipes are on my trackie?

Is it tig-welded or brass fillet-brazed?

953 sounds like a good investment.

I have the '07 Virata and it rides great with the C fork and stays. No road buzz to date. My (very old) all steel definitely had more buzz to it.