Some may have noticed on my pricing I have three types of steel frames listed. Currently I’m building an Extralite steel frame so I thought I’d take a moment to talk about the three types a little. My steel pricing includes Custom Blend, Extralite and then the stainless which is Reynolds 953 and Columbus XCr. I’ll start with the stainless and work my way back.

A lot of customers ask why the stainless is so expensive. The reason is that the base tubesets cost about the same as a titanium tubeset. Also I don’t offer them raw because there is too much finish work involved and the finish work produces a lot of harsh contamination I don’t want to deal with. that means I have to paint the frame which actually increases the cost over that of titanium. Actually the stainless should be more expensive than it is and chances are the price will go up before the end of the year. So who is the stainless for? In my opinion the stainless is for the person that wants the benefits of titanium but will only ride steel. The stainless is a fun material but if you are buying it for corrosion resistance, or light weight you’ll be better off with titanium.

Extralite steel includes two tubesets, Columbus Spirit and True Temper S3. I like them both equally and a persons preference is probably going to be based on the appearance of the tubes. The Columbus tubes have a lot more shaping than the S3 while the S3 is for a person looking for a  more traditional appearance. The Extalite is for a person wanting a very light steel frame. Typically the Extralite will be lighter than the stainless of equal size.

Custom Blend is what I build 90% of my steel frames with. Custom Blend is when I handpick each tube on the frame to match your desired weight to durability ratio and stiffness to comfort ratio. While the Extralite might appear to imply the Custom Blend is heavier in a lot of cases, especially for lighter riders a Custom Blend frame will actually be lighter than a Extralite frame.

I am currently in the middle of writing a page for my new site that will go into greater detail about selecting both material and tubes. Tube selection and frame tuning is an integral part of my order process and a lot of fun. I’m one of the few builders that builds with all material and tubes so I have an unbiased perspective on what benefits different material and tubes will produce. I Consider it a central part of my job to steer you to the material and tubes that will accomplish your priorities.

Below are pictures of Joe H’s Columbus Spirit Extralite frame in progress.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 5:32 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.