Caferacernoc

Do they absorb bumps better or stay in true longer? It seems to me like they do. But mostly I'm just wondering if something like this has any value with the steel wheels:

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I just fixed and tuned it up with tires, tubes, cables, housing, and bar tape. Otherwise, it's just as it came from the garbage minus the ugly. Obviously, it would be a nicer and more valuable bike with alloy wheels but is it worth it for me to change them or should I leave that to the buyer? Would some commuters actually prefer it to be more "bulletproof"?
Thanks.

jgedwa

Nice looking bike.

The biggest advantage to steel wheels is that they are very effective at preventing theft.

jim

Little Darwin

The advantages:

1) Bomb proof.

2) Theft proof.

3) Alloy can never shine as well as chromed steel.

But, as far as real world, alloy will sell better and ride better... But, I doubt that it would sell enough better to make it worth it unless you had a pair of wheels laying around to put on it that you had no other use for.

silent ride

I'd leave it to the buyer to switch them out if they want. They do look better than alloy when you get them all spiffed up and that can be a good selling point. Many of those older steel wheels were actually very well constructed and will last a life time. The only negative thing compared to alloy I've noticed is that it's harder to get your brakes to stay quiet with no howling at the moon, especially if you try to use the existing and maybe petrified brake pads.

Caferacernoc

That's great, I'll put that in the ad!

T-Mar

Actually, I'd argue the point about steel rims being stronger or bomb proof. I find box-section, aluminum rims to be stronger and aero-profile, aluminum rims to be the strongest (baring some of those free-ride ATB rims). Steel rims may be stronger than some of the super lighweight aluminum rims and most of open/U-section, aluminum rims, but for me, the only area where steel rims offer an real advantage over aluminum is on cost, and the savings are not worth the extra weight and decreased performance and reliability. However, Silent Ride does make an excellent argument for letting the buyer make the decision and bearing the cost.

CACycling

Leave the rims, dump the dork disk.

crazyb

Dump the plastic disc, replace with nice chrome one; looks good with chrome rims.
The only good point for steel (chrome) rims is bling.

phillyrider

More fun to ride in lightning storms...

Grand Bois

Aluminum is a much better conductor than steel.

Caferacernoc

Yeah, I know. But I don't want to spend $30 in tools to remove the freewheel on a garbage find bike. Plus I've never removed a freewheel before. I got around it on my Traveler build because I had new wheels and just screwed on a new freewheel.

Widsith

Besides, the buyer might prefer to have it. Let him decide whether to remove it or not.

CardiacKid

You get more exercise when climbing hills and the rush of excitement when you try and stop on the way down.

04jtb

Yeah, try stopping in the rain. Surprised noone has mentioned this.

cudak888 

The only advantage of steel rims that I have yet to see mentioned here is the fact that you can manhandle them back into a reasonable shape (to a certain extent) if you have a nasty accident with one, and not have to worry about cracking an aluminum rim.

Taco'ed rim? Just detention the spokes, place rim on curb, and bend higher spots downwards with your feet. Re-tension and ride home, then replace rim. Hit a curb and bent the rim sidewalls? Bring out the adjustable wrench and bend them back out.

That said, if you have a definite tendency to do either of these, you shouldn't be riding a lightweight purpose-built racing machine. That's what they invented the Schwinn Varsity for.

-Kurt

P.S.: On a side note, I had toyed with the idea of filming a Quicksilver-ish based bike chase a while back, complete with some pre-arranged 3 foot jumps just for the excitement of it all (of course, with all safety precautions taken care of). One part of said plan was to use a beat Varsity, painted in Coppertone, to double for the 1961 Paramount for hard landings. Steel rims and all. I dare say that if it had ever gone to production, the Varsity would have had no problems...

CACycling

I agree.

Caferacernoc

Yup. I'm well aware of all the disadvantages. I don't ride them. I'm just wondering if there is ANY thing they do better than alloy.

badmother

Yes, rust much faster..

sorry, could not keep it in. guess we`re just spoilt and has got too much spare time

yohannrjm

I don't think that steel rims perform better than aluminium in any tangible way (braking, weight etc). That being said, I like the ride of the two bikes I have that have steel rims, but there are so many variable from the other bikes in my collection, that there's no way to nail it down to the performance of the wheels.

While the stopping power of the brakes in the wet is horrible, I don't have any problems when it's dry. It isn't anywhere near as good as with aluminium wheels, but it isn't bad either --- especially given that I don't tend to go as fast on my steel rimmed bikes.

I do love the shiny chrome though.

FlatTop

If kept shiny, they might make the bike more visible to traffic. Shiny draws the eye.

Do they even still make steel rims in road bike sizes?

phillyrider

I don't know if they still make steel wheels, but I was able to get a NOS steel replacement front wheel for $3.58. For my purposes, it works well.

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=230265289556

EatMyA**

they take a beating better, and will usually last longer, but require small maintenance after getting wet (should be doing that anyways), while aluminum rims dont.

with the correct brake pads steel rims brake fine, however its easier to adjust aluminum rims to brake good, more "user" friendly.

I have steel on the rear and aluminum up front. when clean you cant tell the difference. well, all you here on the C&V forum will.

unterhausen

My experience is that they don't take a beating better, even the really good ones. They are made of very light gauge folded steel, which is very easy to bend. They also taco far easier, particularly if the tension isn't high. In my experience, this is the usual case with a steel rimmed wheel.

Not that this has anything to do with a well built steel rimmed wheel, but one morning on the bike path the guy in front of me had his front wheel taco while he was riding it. It was on a Huffy or the like. Fork folded too. That was pretty exciting to watch. But the bike is vintage now, that was almost 30 years ago.

keiththesnake

Steel wheels are heavier. The bike will ride like a Cadillac with steel rims. Unlike the ride of alloy. If the buyer wants to have alloy rims, let him buy them. The bike's fine the way it is.

bikemore 

From experience: Steel rims won't bend if you over tight the spots, the nipples will
just rub away when truing. Although that might not happen if you have steel nipples.