Weight/stiffness of new steel bike

[Panza]

I've had 2 steel bikes. The last one (which I still have), I raced for 20 years. I was very happy with that bike until I bought a Litespeed Vortex. Then an Archon. It's mostly the geometry and weight. On stiffness, I am not sure. The frames are so different it's hard to judge.
As much as I like the Archon, it's broken in one place and cracked in another. Simply too spindly for my use.

Anyway: Instead of buying a used Archon, I wonder about a new custom steel bike. What's the stiffness and weight of today's best maraging or stainless tube sets compared to a Litespeed Archon ? And which tubeset would you choose ?

 

[CTK]

Whats the old steel frame?

 

[CTK]

In your position I'd look for another used ti frame/ bike. Good deals about at the mo and a custom steel frame will be pricey.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Also disc frames require stiffer stays and fork blades.

Steel frames and forks are a lot heavier now to deal with this.

 

[Jonny69]

What's the stiffness and weight of today's best maraging or stainless tube sets compared to a Litespeed Archon ? And which tubeset would you choose ?

The stiffness (modulus) of modern steels is exactly the same as it was before, around 200GPa. Titanium in an Archon frame is probably Ti64 or similar so the modulus will be around 120GPa.

Tubes in modern steel frames are usually bigger diameter than in the olden days (well, Reynolds ones are), so a modern frame will be stiffer than an old frame purely through geometry. I don't think the wall thicknesses are significantly thinner on modern frame tubes, however, so comparably it'll weigh around the same or slightly heavier than an old frame with skinny tubes.

 

[Tootyred]

Steel frames and forks are a lot heavier now to deal with this.

Amen brother....i was horrified when i started looking at the weight of off the shelf modern steel frames.

I assume this has something to do with testing? I can't see any other reason why weights have gone backwards by 50 years.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Amen brother....i was horrified when i started looking at the weight of off the shelf modern steel frames.

I assume this has something to do with testing? I can't see any other reason why weights have gone backwards by 50 years.

They really don't want them to break!

- disc braking forces are much higher than anything else
Also there are more lawyers nowdays.

You can make a lighter (and more forgiving) bike with rim brakes, but the 6.8kg lower weight limit brought in by the uci means that savings elsewhere on a top end race bike allows the extra frame and brake weight of discs to be accommodated at the pro level without penalty.

 

[Panza]

Whats the old steel frame?

1993 Daccordi SLX DeGriffe. 57cm. I forgot that piece of vital information.

 

[Panza]

I am not going to have disc brakes (on any bike of mine), so that is not a problem.

I take it that the weight will be more or less the same as an SLX bike then, but stiffer because of larger diameter tubes. Might be lighter tig welded and with a sloping geometry. But we're talking 100 - 200 grams here ?

 

[bikeworkshop]

I think rising liability costs have encouraged many framebuilders to err on the side of caution - many, but not all.
Some steel road frames were close to 3lb in the 90s - with rim brakes, that should still be possible?
They are sometimes a bit whippy though.