What's the best deal out there right now on a new steel frameset?
 

Guessing I need a 54 cm frameset. Steel frame/fork. Any smoking deals out there?

Maxway.. They make many brands theyre a Huge OEM company..


Bet all the brands any one comes up with, went to that Taiwan company , to actually produce them..






;)

Budget? Track, road, touring, mountain?

Budget, anything under $600 for the frameset.
Type, non-disc road bike.

How about a Surly Pacer?

Check out All-City. My wife has one of theirs, and I'm impressed.

I 2nd Soma for your budget they offer a good number of frames to choose from.

I believe the Surly Pacer is not available currently.

Spend a little more & go with a frame builder?

What happened to the Black Mountain bike?

3rd on Soma. I have a Smoothie. As nice a riding and handling bike as I've owned, 12 road bike now in 28 years.

If I had room for one more I'd get a Smoothie ES with matching steel fork. It'll fit 32mm tires. Nice blue as well. About $550 frame and fork.

Gotta be new? For $600, you should be able to find a nice used frame (or whole bike) in great condition. Maybe with enough left over for a nice paint or powder coat job.

4th on soma at under $600; lots of good choices and really nice bikes.

This.

Don't wait until you are 50.

Black Mountain not in your stable any longer?
As mentioned many a time, Soma is always an option with a lot of offerings.

Tough to get something for less than that.

Have a look at the Intec frames at Bike24 (https://www.bike24.com/), the German online site. Made to order in Europe in a range of colors.

This frame: https://www.bike24.com/1.php?content...menu=1000,4,34 Looks very nice, but you would have to check import duties and shipping (Edit: Sorry, it's over your budget).

This frame: https://www.bike24.com/1.php?content...=1000,2,99,166 Is about half the price of the frame above, but looks to be very decent (This one might fall within your budget, but you would have to do some calculations regarding shipping and import duties).

There are a range of other Intec frames available at that site, but they are for trekking/touring/city/cross bikes, rather than dedicated road bikes.

Still have both of my BMC bikes and love them. This build would be for my daughter. She might not want to the same bike as the old man, so checking options. BMC is the goto if I can't find something else for her.

New Albion Privateer. Its Tange Infinity tubing, the brand is by the same company who owns Soma, and the frame is inexpensive. Doesnt come qith a fork, but Soma has a few different forks for the frame.
Gloss black color so that may bot be cool enough, but the flair could be introduced with color cable housing and bar tape.

Probably $400ish for frame and fork.

Its made to be a versatile drop bar bike. I think sorta along the lines of the Black Mountain road frame.

If I were buying a new steel frame/fork today, for under $600, I would go SOMA as others have said, or Velo Orange Campeur:

VO Campeur Frameset - Frames

I'll cast a vote for SOMA as well. I built up a wolverine last year and I've been really happy with it. Nice build quality and a fun ride for the price. The fog cutter looks like a nice frameset.

Sounds like the Soma is a good option. Adrenaline has them for around $640 with matching fork and prepped for build.

BMC's frames are $595.

I looked at some of the Holdsworth stuff at Planet X and they look like good deals, but the international shipping costs seem to eat that up.

Yeah, I second this idea. Spent around $5000 for my custom dream Ti bike and then realized that most of my cheap vintage steel bikes were as good or better at a fraction of the cost.

1/2 your budget, 9 speed Campagnolo:

http://www.pbase.com/jhuddle/image/165022215.jpg


Way under your budget:

http://www.pbase.com/jhuddle/image/164979059.jpg

At your budget, Dura Ace/Ultegra 10 speed, Reynolds 853 frame, under 20 lbs.

http://www.pbase.com/jhuddle/image/163817826.jpg

And I could just keep offering up examples.....:thumb:

And if you truly want just a frame for the price you can get some high quality stuff. Don't be afraid to even contact manufacturers about NOS. Last winter I picked up a wonderful NOS frame from the mid 90s from the distributor's warehouse.

If you can live with a carbon composite fork, I think the Jamis Quest Elite looks to be a smoking deal.

I bought a bike from a guy in Indianapolis last summer and he was showed me a catalog of some very nice steel frames he was thinking about importing from China. I don't remember anything about it other than he said I should really think about getting one since I appreciate steel bikes. Search for the Paramount for sale on CL in Westfield, IN if you want to contact the guy. He's really nice. I spent almost 3 hours at his house admiring his collection and talking about bikes when I bought one from him.

Here's my Privateer...I've made a couple small changes since this picture was taken (different saddle from the same manufacturer, different seatpost with more setback, and no more pirate flags), but I really like it. It'd be nice if the seat tube angle weren't quite so steep (especially on the smaller-size frames), and if it had caliper brakes instead of cantilevers, but overall I'm happy with it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...710_190136.jpg