duvinclunk

I have never owned an aluminum frame and have been looking into it recently. When I talk to local bikers or my LBS they always caution me that converting to aluminum will be a night and day difference with regards to stiffness than my currernt steel frame and might be uncomfortable on the street everyday. I haven't had a large amount of seat time on an aluminum bike but will it really be that big of a difference or are people over exaggerating?

hairnet

It depends on the bike. Tubing shape, diameter, frame geo and size all make a difference. Not all steel frames are alike and the same goes for aluminum. So it depends on what you have now and what you will be moving on to.

UCF Eric

Agreed, cheap aluminum is going to ride extremely poorly, then again so will cheap steal. I did get a chance to ride a Super Pista and I can say it's much stiffer than my Pake in terms ride comfort.

carleton

Wheels, spoke count, spoke lacing style, tires, fork, handlebar material, and saddle affect comfort more than frame material will.

Rambetter

I've ridden both steel and alu on the road and can say that for comfort I prefer steel.
But yeah I suppose it does depend on the particular frame as well.
If the tubes are too fat (old Cannondale) the ride will be very stiff and harsh.
If the tubes are too skinny (first generation non-Cannondale alu frames) the frame will be very flexy.
It's more difficult to go wrong with a nice steel frame.

cc700

a good bike will be both stiff and comfortable. material really only limits the engineering available to the frame design. cost and engineering have to do with the final quality and characteristic of the frame. a bike that rides nicely and is made out of aluminum usually has lots of shaping and special tubing thicknesses.

for example my CAAD4 r2000 was very stiff and VERY light, and pretty comfortable over chatter. its carbon fork sorted out and deadened the initial impact of a road bump well, but the bike jumped over pretty much anything and i wouldn't have ridden it with a hard saddle or bad seating position. My GT edge is stiffer and a little heavier if i took a guess, but it's just as comfortable except for sharp impacts on the rear wheel. I've ridden those as well as a fuji track pro(pretty damn enjoyable, albeit stiff and 'jumpy') in addition to a VISP TRX750, Nashbar X, Scattante (all absolutely terrible when it came to ride quality) and can say that the engineering has way more to do with it than the material.

that said my carbon and steel bikes are all way better... but i don't have any that are as cheap or ****ty as some of those low end aluminum bikes... except that some of the old flexy steel bikes were pigs and took a lot more effort to climb a hill or go super fast(20mph in a headwind, 15mph up a hill, stuff like that) on.

and fat tubes aren't as uncomfortable as thick tubes, in my experience... but it's a lot more complicated than that.

nightfly

I've owned mostly steel bikes- Giant Kronos frame (early 90s), Bianchi Pista, Italvega (70s nice columbus steel) and a Redline 925 (recent cheap steel frame) and one early 90s aluminum Cannondale. I also recently rode a KHS Flite 700 made of aluminum with some carbon seat stays and forks. All I can say is that from this limited experience, steel is way more comfortable for me than aluminum. I'm sure there are better aluminum frames than I've ridden but none of the steel I've ridden with the exception of the Italvega would be considered much more than basement level and personally I'd never buy aluminum. The difference from my experience is night and day.

duvinclunk

Thanks for the thoughts guys. I'm currently rocking a Steamroller and want something more aggressive and have had my eyes on a Kagero build. We'll see if I can find some more to ride.

escarpment

This and what others have said. If you were to have the same frame. built in aluminum/steel/titanium/carbon/magnesium/ or any iteration of these materials. With the same components... You would probably be hard pressed to feel major differences. Obviously these materials are built differently and have different properties. But theoretically... it would be difficult to discern the differences.

Geometry. components, and fit.

duvinclunk

Interesting, thanks for the input.

yonderb0y

How do the spoke count and lacing style affect the ride? Higher count and 3x more forgiving than low count radial? Or is that completely backwards?

Germany_chris

I've had everything custom steel, Ti, and CF, but I also ride Brooks. I can't tell the difference between any of them.

frantik

how do low spoke wheels ride compared to high count spoke wheels? and how does spoke lacing style affect comfort?

edit: i see someone has asked exactly the same question

Sixty Fiver

A well built wheel will be stiff to the point where, with few exceptions, it will have little effect on ride quality... the tyres make the most significant difference.

Low spoke wheels have heavier rims, high spoke count wheels can use lighter rims and have a higher rate of survivability... low spoke wheels are built to higher tensions and if you break a spoke the wheel will most often become un-rideable whereas a high spoke count wheel may barely show any deflection.

I broke a spoke on a 36 spoke XT wheelset I have... was riding the bike and never even noticed it until I pulled the wheels to overhaul the freehub and saw it was off by a smidge... this is not a wheelset I built but one I had purchased second hand.

Lacing and cross patterns contributes to longevity as the more spokes you have, the better they can distribute loading stresses... radial spokes have no-one to lean on.