terrymorse 

Ceramic coating, was that a dealer add-on?

Did you also get the under body rust prevention?

[joking--nice bike]

greatbasin

The steel frame is fine indeed, and there are a great many classic and vintage bicycles that are undeniably worthy. If you don't ride fast and are the least bit concerned about comfort, I second the advice to consider tire pressure carefully. If you ride classic steel bikes with tubulars, and most of the top-end road models had them, you will not find it there. I'm riding a classic with 27" clinchers. Those typically take a 32mm tire that I can run at 55 to 60 psi. That's marginal for comfort depending on road conditions. On smooth pavement, I can't imagine anything more comfortable. On the worst pavement with cracks and potholes, and on soft gravel with washboard, it's only tolerable. My wife's bike has 650B's at 50mm that can be run at 26 psi. Those float over anything that can even remotely be called a road. They might add rolling resistance that takes as much as 4 watts more power at 10mph, but I don't notice a difference until I get up closer to 20mph where I am just not apt to ride for very long.

I don't think 50mm tires are necessary for comfort, but there is little to be said against them for your purposes. Do consider that a steel frame that only accommodates skinny tubulars, or 23mm or 25mm tires on clinchers, is unlikely to fulfill your stated desires. 32's allow lower pressure, but aren't quite in the realm of "plush." Consider a frame that will accept 700C's or 650B's that are even fatter so you can run less than 50 psi. That will make a much bigger difference than the frame material. Even so, my preference is still for steel because none of the other materials offer anything superior for the purpose we're discussing than a well-crafted frame of butted chromoly tubing brazed into carefully fitted lugs.

indyfabz

It's Cerakote. The primary consumer application for it is coloring firearms. I opted for it after seeing the road bike the builder built for himself and got coated. The color (Robin's Egg Blue) is now an official Cerakote color you can buy. Mine is a custom mix of Zombie Green and gloss white. Mixing their colors with gloss white creates a pearl finish. Enve allows it without voiding the warranty as long as you don't bake it at too high a temperature. IIRC, it was only a few hundred dollars.

www.paintbytodd.com did my application.

cyclintom

[QUOTE=jackb;22579936]I've been riding for over 40 years. I have a pretty fair idea of what rides like garbage and what doesn't. A Canyon that requires 28 mm tires in order to keep from breaking Zipp rims is probably a little hard riding. My Time Edge. could not be ridden with 23 mm tires on it if you valued your crotch though with 28's it was a nice solid bike. Columbus did a test where they made a lot of identical bikes out of their tubing series. Then they asked Pro's to ride the bikes and report what they thought. Every one of the pro's selected the bike made from Thron tubing, But Columbus continued recommending their top line rather than Thron. My opinion of SLX bikes were that they were junk. My opinion on most of the early carbon bikes was likewise. When you started pushing it and it would steer itself that is not a fine handling bike. If you couldn't push it to the point that it would bend and steer itself does that mean that it was a good bike because it was adequate for you? I just came back from a ride with 2200 feet of climbing. One of the people in that group was a teenager with a single speed steel bike with a 53-13.. How many people could ride that? because he could does that make it a good bike?

What I'm saying is that because you personally like a bike doesn't mean that it is a good bike.

jackb

[QUOTE=cyclintom;22580097]I accept your personal experience, but because you personally don't like a bike doesn't mean it is garbage. I've owned steel, aluminum, aluminum-carbon mix, and carbon. I've enjoyed riding all of them with no particular complaints. This experience does nothing to prove that these materials were good, just that I had no negative experiences with them. As I said earlier, everyone should ride what they like.

tomato coupe

You're wasting your time. The OP isn't interested in anything you have to say; his opinion is all that matters.

Eric F 

Likewise, just because you personally don't like a bike doesn't mean it's a bad bike.

I've ridden and raced bikes made of steel, aluminum, titanium, and carbon. What I found is that not all bikes made from a particular material ride the same, and what I like or dislike about a bike is not predictable by material.

genejockey 

I believe Poe wrote an entire poem about this.

cyclintom

Its easy to say that now after carbon fi

ber has matured and most people know how to make a reliable product. I'm the one taking anti-seizure medication for the rest of my life because a carbon fiber bike fell apart and my friend is the one with a missing finger because his fell apart at 5 mph when 2 minutes later he would have been doing 40 mph down into Sausalito with heavy traffic.

Eric F 

I'm sorry that happened to you, and your friend. All frame materials break. All of them. Sometimes at really bad moments.

Meanwhile, this 23yo CF MTB has continued to serve me just fine...


Although currently relegated to trainer duty, this girl is coming up on her 20th b-day, and is still the best-handling road bike I've ever ridden...

cxwrench

I worked at Bicycle Odyssey in Sausalito for nearly 10 years. We lost a very good friend/customer because the aluminum bar on his commute bike broke coming down Alexander in Sausalito. He ignored the bike for years and the bar had a ton of corrosion. IMO if he'd have had a carbon bar on that bike he'd still be alive today. It definitely goes both ways.

pennstater

Agree about the tires making the biggest difference in how smooth a bike rides. Three years ago I bought a Lynskey road bike. Fit it with 700x32 tires. It was like the cracked and pot holed roads here in northern New Jersey had been repaved. Retired my carbon road bikes that maxed out at 25mm, but also bought a carbon gravel bike that clears 37s for riding on gravel roads in the Berkshires. I like the titanium but I had a cracked head tube on an older Lynskey that was repaired under warranty. Also had a crack in the seat tube of a CF Specialized Roubaix that was replaced under warranty. Anything can break. Regular cleaning and inspection are mandatory. Any squeaks or unusual noises should not be ignored. So I would recommend considering any frame material but go with wider tires and whatever makes you smile.

Camilo

When my wife and I began traveling in our travel trailer and covered pickup truck with our cross/gravel rim brake bikes we each had two sets of wheels: one with full-on road tires (23-25mm), and the other with 35-37's. The idea is that in extended trips, we might like to ride "real" road bikes from time to time, but wanted gravel tires too. It was easy to swap wheels, they all had the same cassettes and the rims were close enough to each other in width so as to not require brake adjustment. Easy, right? Well, we did swap a few times, but then just left the fat tired wheels on.

At home I do like riding my skinny tired road bikes a lot. But ride my gravel bike with 35's and even 50's as much, even on pavement.

70sSanO

I am sorry about the crashes and injuries.

You’ve been riding for 40 years and already know the drill. You have some nice steel bikes listed in your profile. I imagine steep angle short wheelbase performance machines representative of the era that have a max tire size of 23 or 25.

You already know the ride of those steel bikes is not as comfortable as you want or you would already have your answer. And apart from running disc brakes, you can probably upgrade them with whatever components you want and ride off on those skinny tires.

More comfort comes wider tires and with that comes compromise. I ride a bike that 99.9% of the people here will call garbage. I don’t really care. It is so much fun and fortunately we are blessed with good roads, so it is not a big deal for me. Bad roads might be a difference maker.

You just have to accept going for more comfort may not give you the performance you want.

John

jackb

I recently bought a 2022 Checkpoint SL5 with 40 mm tires. I have a 2018 Domane SL 5 Disc with 32 mm tires. The difference is amazing. While I continue to ride both bikes, it's clear to me that for comfort, there is no comparison. The Checkpoint feels much smoother. It's already becoming my bike of choice for most rides.

Camilo

On the same theme - my road bikes are carbon fiber, steel and titanium. When I put the titanium bike together, the wheels I had available among the spare parts were fairly wide Velocity A23 and the tires were some 28mm Gatorskins i had from a bike of my kid's I sold a few years ago. Anyway, the first time I rode that titanium bike I wasn't thinking about the tires and wheels and thought I was feeling the "magical" titanium ride, compared to my CF bike which has always been plenty comfortable even with 23mm tires on narrow rims. Then I realized that it was the tires. Since then, I've used the wheels/tires from the CF bike and, aside from handling (the ti bike is quicker geometry), the ti bike is no more comfortable than the CF. If I could fit the 28's on the CF bike I could complete the subjective comparison, but alas, they don't fit.

Just another personal anecdote in favor of tires being far more important than frame material, handlebars, stems, and seat posts. I won't say the same about saddles, because they are of utmost importance.

Germany_chris

I'm a simple guy...I ride steel bike because I like the way it looks

Jrasero

I mean ride whatever you want and prefer. I think there are merits to every frame material but my opinion is you are 77 years old and presumably retired and my gut says this might be one of your last bikes either way. I am not trying to be a downer, but why not get that super bike? If you bin a carbon frame at your age I am not worried about the financials but about the recovery. Hard to say what to suggest since you never mentioned a budget or what type of group set you have or want. I think for someone like you who has all the time of day but limited time left would benefit from doing a custom build. Either find a "cheap" carbon frameset or look into a Chinese one and just go to town man. This way you can enjoy the latest and greatest but not break the bank per se

Jrasero

He probably doesn't love the hollow and vibrations of aluminum specially on the modern hydroformed bikes. I will say the CAAD 13 with 30c tires can be pretty cush but for me aluminum is great for hybrids, MTB, some gravel, and uber stiff race bikes like the Allez.

Jrasero

I mean it's true aluminum doesn't dampen vibration but rather transmits it, but carbon defiantly can dampen vibration since it's multi layered, why do you think pretty much every road bike used a carbon fork?

cxwrench

30mm tires, not 30c. The 'C' goes with 700 and we take that for granted w/ road bikes. If someone has another size wheel they will describe it. The full, correct description is 700c x 30mm. Very few tire manufacturers seem to have a clue about this.
Carbon forks aren't put on bikes for their vibration damping (not dampening) characteristics, they're used because they're light and stiff. Multi layered? Not after it's cured, it might as well be one piece.

Jrasero

you know the grammar police? Your like the bike Nazi

terrymorse 

No, carbon-resin composites have almost no vibration absorbing capability.

rosefarts

Those steel bikes you just mentioned are just as budget breaking as any fancy material.

I’ve got three nice steel bikes from different era’s. I love ‘em.

If you’re buying new, definitely consider disc brakes and a carbon fork. That touch of modern on a steel frame pairs well.

Eric F 

You're.