Mmmmm….Steeeeeel.

So I’ll be bluntly honest with you — when I started learning the craft of framebuilding, I owned exactly one steel bike and it was the first I’d owned in, quite literally, more than a decade. That bike, a Surly Cross-Check, has since been stripped down and the frameset sold in order to fund stuff for this little business of mine. My fleet was that, two scandium Salsas, and a Cervelo P2C (carbon).

A mitered down tube, getting ready to join it to the head tube.

When I started this little venture, my plan was to learn how to build with steel, and then move on to stainless and titanium as my primary metals. In the army, we had a quip about how “no plan survives first contact with reality.” That holds true. I still plan to start dabbling with stainless and titanium in the future, but that’s a few years off, yet, and the availability of a Pallas Athena from those materials is even further out.

The reasons for this are two-fold. First, I have fallen in love with steel. It’s a great material, and don’t let any carbon-peddling shop salesman tell you otherwise. With a wide variety of alloys, tube specifications, sub-components such as lugs and dropouts, and the ability to easily mix and match, I can craft a frame that balances comfort, affordability, and performance for the same price as a decent carbon frame. There are those that will complain about the weight, and while they’re right, they overlook the fact that there’s a wide variety of lightweight parts on the market that make it very easy to take a steel frame down to, and even below, the UCI mandated lower weight limit for a bike.

Secondly, it’s got so much character — you’ve heard the “lively” remarks, I’m sure. It’s true. A good steel frame is going to allow you to feel the road (or singletrack) and not get the shit bashed out of you like you would on an aluminum frame. And it’s durable — if it falls over, you aren’t going to be shelling out hundreds to repair it like you would, say, carbon. It gives you warning before it fails, unlike aluminum.

When you hear me chattering on and on about replacing my Cross-Check, or getting my Salsas phased-out in favor of steel, it’s not just because I feel that I should be riding my own stuff, but that I think steel is the better material for it.

Weekend Update

So this weekend I got a lot more bike stuff done than usual.

• Most notable is the addition of the email list. Subscribe now, and you can get $50 off your first purchase of a frameset (note: does not apply to custom racks, custom forks, or repair work). SPECIAL OFFER NO LONGER VALID.

• The most exciting news is that I got two inquiries about Reynolds 953 custom cyclocross frames. I’ve sent out quotes on both, and am waiting to hear back. Reynolds 953 is a fascinating material and I’m toying with the idea of building myself a lugged CX frame out of it, too. Would be an awesome ride!

• My bride-to-be had her bridal shower on Saturday, so while the house was filling up with women, I made my exit and took about 90 minutes of riding time on my Cervelo. Unlike a lot of steel builders that I’ve met, I don’t have a problem with carbon — or other materials, for that matter. It was a pretty good time, despite the stifling heat. I didn’t leave the Minneapolis city limits, but still had plenty of time with minimal/no cars.

• The niner frame is basically finished. The perfectionist in me is screaming about tweaking the fillets, and I probably will this week. I’m only waiting on waterjet parts before I can ship this sucker off to paint, really. Which brings us to…

• …waterjet parts. Skaaly’s doing his best to rectify the situation, and I respect that.

• Stopping back over at Peacock Groove tonight. I owe Erik a set of front dropouts and I have them in my grubby little paws. He hooked me up a couple months ago when I was building the fork for the 29′er.

• Minnecycle 2 is this coming weekend, and I won’t be showing there, which is fine. I do plan to corner Chris Kvale and talk to him about his paint work. Definitely want to ship the 29er to him, along with future work. (The lugged commuter is probably going to go to Airglow in Georgia for its work.)