Let's see your Steel builds!

That is a proper long stem! Extra points for gold headset too. Bravo!

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This is my Lightning P-38, which has a steel space frame design. I built it up end of 2019 from a frame set. In its current build it is 11.5kg. You can build under 10kg but reliability over long distance more my preference.

It has XT hydraulic brakes front and rear. 160mm rotors front and rear.

It has my old mtb bike gearing so 3 x 9, with 22-32-44 at front and 11-34 at back. Cranks and rear derailleur are XTR. I have Shimano Ďurec ace 9 speed bar end shifters set in friction mode both front and rear. I sometimes swap in the 10 speed rear wheel off my road bike. Friction means I don’t need to adjust anything.

It’s the UK , so I have mud guards.

Odd factoid. This bike with its optional fairing holds the world record for RAAM, completing the 3000 miles in 5 days 1 hour at average of 26 mph including stops. I don’t own the fairing but might treat myself one day.

I use it for audax and ultra distance cycling events. These length events (when they stretch many days) were taking too much of a toll on my body on my road bike. I was entered into a 2200km event in 2020:but the pandemic hit. I did manage a 400km ride on it last year. Hopefully the big ride events will return this year. I still have my road bike which is Titanium.

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130mm, to compensate for the more cross/early gravel (frame from 2014) oriented geometry of the frame…

nice - looks a weapon with the skinny tubes and deep wheels!

I just put some 42s on my steel Enigma above, and while not so dramatic as yours it does lok rather cool as well :sunglasses:

Stripped the bike down and hit some gravel. Also a “photo shoot”…here are some closeups of the nicest bike in my stable, but definitely not my fastest.

image image

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Its pretty simple, 6600 groupset, Sugino chainset, db cromo frameset from the late 90’s. Handles brilliantly, incredible for a 25 year old frame. Wheels are an advantage, weighing in around 1400g. Original aero Ultegra 600 post, 26.6, to fit the frame, which was tricky to source. Stem is a modern forged unit from Dia Compe. Weight all in is 9kg on the nose.

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I inherited my Grandfathers early 90s Trek 520. I decided I wanted to convert the bike into a gravel rig and had some parts from my Niner RLT steel. This is what I came up with, still not decided on the color of Trek decals I’m gonna go with. All of the fab work to convert to disk brakes, rear thru-axle, and cable rerouting was done by me, also made all of the tools to jig the bike up properly.



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What a cool thread!

This made me think of my older steel bikes I have hanging in my garage!

The green one is on single speed duty now and the red/white/blue one sold a year ago, they both were my race bikes when I was a JR. I still think they are some of the best paint work I have seen on bikes, John of Landshark did an amazing job!





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I picked up a Surly MS last year. My only other road bike is a TT bike and I wanted something more comfortable for longer road rides and for gravel. The Midnight Special quickly became my favorite bike and the most fun bike I’ve ever owned. It’s not a speed machine, but it’s super comfortable, more nimble than I expected (I’ve even done some light mountain biking with it), and just all around a joy to ride.

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While it’s not “my” bike, maybe this is interesting for some of you: https://www.thyssenkrupp-steel.com/en/innovations/developments/steelworks/steelworks.html

A modern bike built of steel. (by a steel producer in germany)

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For those too lazy to read the whole thing, basically the frame is made in two halves, pressed from steel sheet and welded along the centre line. Might be the future of bike building, might be the next Kirk Precision. Pretty nifty though.

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Yours is the first bike I’ve ever seen in the “wild” with the Specialized Flux Expert headlight. I have a pair of them I use for Rando / Audax riding (one in use, one as back-up/charging). Really wish they had a separate off switch to prevent inadvertent activation when in a bag. :slight_smile:

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I like it! But yeah, a separate on/off button would be great. Also, a mount for a 35mm bar would be nice.

My other light (way up on the front) is a Lezyne Macro Drive 1100XL. I would love to upgrade my light setup with some remote buttons for the lights way up front. Thinking about Light and Motion or Exposure lights right now.

My main gravel grinder

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‘91 MTB stripped down and rebuilt into a drop bar commuter/gravel grinder:

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25875Km on this machine:

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STEEL CARGO BIKE UPDATE: now up to ~6700 miles and ~530 hours on the rig. Figuring out how to transport now 4 kiddos. Right now, the solution is a trailer. But I should be building a BIG box this week.




IMG_6621

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My Hampsten on the Gavia

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My Fairlight Strael, absolutely love this bike! And my Brompton for the commute!


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