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Recently, a steel bike caught my eye. It was State’s 4130 Road bike with limited edition pink and white paint, matched with white saddle and bar tape and highlighted by silver component accents. I think it’s the best-looking $650 road bike I’ve ever seen.
The vibe is old school with gumwall tires, rim brakes, and a downtube shifter. I’d say it’s a great-looking road bike, except it has only a 1×8 drivetrain. Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be a downtube shifter boss on the left side, but that wouldn’t stop me: I’d add a downtube shifter adapter , a cheap shift lever , a cheap front derailleur , and a cheap double crank to build the sweetest cheap road bike in my town. state 4130 road Seeing the State sent me down a rabbit hole. I wanted to see what other sweet steel road bikes exist on today’s market. Not the custom stuff—there are tons of bespoke steel stuff out there—but production steel road frames sold as complete bicycles; because steel is forever. Video player poster image Of all the materials, steel stands alone for the passion and lore that surround the material. No frame material has fans like steel. And I’d make a semi-informed guess that more bicycle frames have been made from steel than any other single material. Steel has been used to make the cheapest bicycles and some of the most legendary racing bikes. My Mosaic. The only test bike I’ve loved so much that I bought […]
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