Steel road bike collection: Tommasini, Viner, Lejeune, Specialissima, R753 Joe Waugh, R753 Rourke, Sedazzari, Grandis, Pinarello...

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

One of the best groups I have seen. All beautiful, you should, rightly be feeling very pleased with yourself

 

[Fifthgrace]

One of the best groups I have seen. All beautiful, you should, rightly be feeling very pleased with yourself

Thank you!

 

[Fifthgrace]

Week 9 and final bike: Tommasini Tecno. So this is my ‘one ring to rule them all’ moment! My go-to bike whenever its dry. It’s the best steel bike I’ve ridden: the frame soaks up every bump, yet the feel is taut like a bow string. If you’ve ever driven a well-balanced sports- car or sailed in a racing yacht, you’ll appreciated how something feels paired down and fit for purpose. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Pedalling energy converts at 110%. Tiredness seemingly dissipates as you travel from apex to apex. My wheels become my legs and I am one with the bike. A heartfelt thank you Irio Tommasini, Master frame builder.

This was my bike of choice for Ride London, even though I owned top of the range Trek Madone and Domane models at the time. I completed ride London in a time just over 5hrs in my mid-40s, averaging 19mph for 100 miles, without having a buddy for drafting.

Exercise has long been known to be therapeutic for the body, but I can honestly say that this bike has helped me through the mental struggles of life as good as any counselling. Long may the ride continue!

I purchased this frame new old stock from a UK seller who had stored the frame in a shed, never getting round to its intended build. This was one of the first bike builds I’ve completed and it was very much led by the ‘weight weenie’ approach; pursuing light-weight fittings to complement the ‘magic-carpet ride’ Columbus EL-OS Nivachrom tubing. The groupset is my favoured 2 x 10 speed Centaur carbon with the multi-gear change lever sweep. The wheels are silver Campagnolo Eurus G3. The seatpost is PMP Titanium, the stem Look Titanium, the handlebars Deda Spectrum 26mm Carbon. For me, it’s the perfect retro-mod spec without going to an A-head stem. There's been a few changes over time: I swapped out the Campagnolo larger chain ring for a Specialites and various saddles and tyres, but final weight with pedals is always around 18lbs.

So I’m all set for the Spring. I hope you found the collection interesting. If there’s a steel (or even a Titanium) bike you’d recommend me to try, do comment. There’s possibly room for just one more…

 

[Davo26]

In anticipation of the New Year and to get me readying my steel road bikes for the Spring I thought I'd share them here, adding one a week for the next 8 or so weeks, to give me time to clean, oil and adjust etc. I've been building since my late 30's and now approaching my late 50s and still riding, this is a bit of a nostalgia trip as I reflect on what's made them special to me, what they are like to ride (all are riders!), plus some spec summaries as most are bespoke builds. It might not appeal to purists as my build focus is rideability, reliability and interchangeability of components, with a nod to aesthetic considerations.

So, kicking things off with a 1992/3 Pinarello "Team" Banesto Oria ML34 frame. In memory of the first road bike I ever purchased, which was a Pinarello Banesto "Replica" in Oria ML25, this bike was really the one I'd always promised myself. Aside from being probably the lightest steel non-oversized tubeset from Oria Mannesmann, and the lovely detailed 'panto' finishing by Pinarello, it's unusual in that the decals and paint are original but don't feature the Banesto name. The Pinarello decals themselves are known for being very fragile so rare to find as good as this! Rightly or wrongly, my assumption has always been that this frame predated the Banesto sponsorship, and was the Pinarello 'donor' frame in production when that sponsorship was signed off. Forever associated with Miguel Indurain and the Banesto Team (but Miguel's frame was actually a Pegoretti), it's hard not to ride this bike with a vivid imagination and a big grin! The bike is very lightweight, in part due to its tubeset but also owing to use of a 10 speed Centaur 2009/10 all alloy groupset (with earlier Record brake calipers swapped in for aesthetics as the Centaur 'skeletons' were a little too modern for this build), and a low weight finishing kit that includes a Titanio Selcof seat post, Ti Litespeed stem, Deda 215 alloy handlebars, Selle Italia Flite Ti saddle. Exustar Ti clip-in pedals and FRM Feather carbon-hubbed tubular wheels with Ambrosio Formula 20 rims. Tyres are Veloflex and Clement Criterium tubulars and provide a good feel for the road. Quick to spin-up, it's a good climber, with classic Italian short wheelbase handling.

Actually, Indurain and the other Banesto riders did ride a combination TVT92’s and something similar to this ML34 for the 90 and 91 seasons. It was around 92-93 that Big Mig and others started using those tig welded Excell and Dynalite tubed Pegorettis.