Steel Bikes Explained | Sponsored by Wabi Cycles 

Finally a good description of the differences between steel frames. A big beginner mistake I see people often making when first purchasing a bike is treating all steel as equal.

Wowwww. This channel is leveling up. Getting technical

In welding school at Sierra College Rocklin, and this video was very interesting and built on my knowledge of metallurgy. Thank you Zach.

Epic video! I'm an engineer & still learned something :D Can't wait for the next one

really liked this video, if you can do more of these type I'd be happy

Love my Reynolds 631 IRO Mark V! Very light for a steel bike and comfortable as can be.

I am a commuter and I ride in cold as well as hot weather and I like good spring suspended seats and solid as a rock steel frames that are extremely tuff and trustworthy.

Almost through building my frame from Spirit tubing. Good discussion. Thanks

Love your video, educational and easy to understand. Wish you did more video on your trip in Asia. Update on the community you interact with and stuff... how the Fixed community is dealing with the pandemic or the trend difference for their bikes and gears. Keep up the good work!

That was great! Wish Wabi made some geared gravel bikes now.

This kid is really smart. I like him for bikes,and Tim Mosso for watches, on Watchbox reviews.They both possess the really granular knowledge that makes real insight possible and the expository style to make it accessible. High marks.

A quick comment; I am not sure if I heard about this in the video, but here it is: bike frames usually don't use a single steel alloy, instead the manufacturer will mix different tubes to reach a price point; i.e. Reynolds 725 main triangle and geneeric 4130 seat and chain stays. PS: now that you are in Taiwan, perhaps you have some Tange tubing bikes on hand so you can give some insight about it?

Where does Reynolds 531 fall into the steel category as far as strength and characteristics?

Steel is real great video Zach

Great video, and I know this was 4y ago, but I've only just seen it and have some quibbles. In theory Reynolds 725, being stronger, means you can use thinner walls. But actually Reynolds will sell you the exact same tubes as 525 (without the heat treatment). The truth is regular chromoly is strong enough anyway to make into a .7/.5/.7 tube. The situation with 631 and its heat-treated counterpart 853 is similar, but they do have an additional range called "853 Pro-Team" which does have thinner walls than are available in 631. The other aspect is whether tubes are "drawn over mandrel" or "DOM" (originally made out of rolled up and welded sheet metal, before being drawn thinner and butted) or "cold drawn seamless" aka CDS (made out of a solid piece in several operations, and never had a weld). Columbus Cromor is DOM. Zona is CDS. I don't think Zona is heat-treated. 525 may be DOM but 725 is guaranteed to be CDS. Everything else from Columbus, even stainless XCr is CDS. The Reynolds stainless tubes are DOM again. Those stainless alloys are so ridiculously strong it's difficult to make them CDS. CDS is a bit stronger than DOM, but it still doesn't really matter-- you can get 525 in the same thin walls. Columbus differentiate their products more by only supplying Cromor with slightly thicker walls. Until you get to the stainless tubes there really isn't a great deal to choose between them. Any double butted chromoly, or anything from Columbus or Reynolds, can all be used to make a dope bike frame. They are all a step up from plain-gauge tubes or "high-tensile" steel. One more quibble. That seat tube you showed that was thin at the top is designed to be brazed into a seat lug. STs for TIG are usually "externally butted" (get a bit fatter on both the ID and the OD) because you do want a bit of extra thickness there to weld to. Despite my various objections this is still one of the best videos I've seen on the subject so keep up the good work :) I am a hobbyist framebuilder so am a bit obsessed (I usually use 631).

Great vid steel is real!!!

Great video and super easy to understand, thanks for the breakdown! id love to see more types of these videos!

Dude that was so informative. Thanks Zach.

Great video thank you! Btw what duals on the vid most of the time? Looks vintage but it’s definitely something modern

Really interesting, and such a knowledgeable young man.

Butting is not thickening the tube, it's the other way around. It thins it out, making it lighter. The middle of the tube is butted, thin, where nothing is welded to it.

nice dude! dropped a lot of knowledge in a short amount of time.

I ride a Fuji Connoisseur which is a Reynolds 725 frame.

The video was super informative. Thank you. I believe Chrome-- with an O as in oatmeal-- moly-- like the name Molly, but it has been a while so I might be out of style.

Thanks, nice breakdown.

Thanks for this mate

Anddddd now I want a wabi

Great video Zach

Tange tubing is my favourite,bit I'll be happy to ride bikes with any other branded tubing(on bikes with cheap and unbranded tubing,anyone would feel some form of inferiority).Also,I have just noticed the TRP RRL brake levers with gum hoods.Noice!

Great video! Very informative

incredible amount of info here... obviously too much to cover but nice broad strokes.... I'm interested in more info on surly and all city

Vs. Titanium? Other than cost, how would a steel frame compare to a Ti frame? Which steel is most like Ti in terms of weight/compliance/ride quality etc.?

Such a pitty the wabi company don't have any tall frames for taller people. No 62 or 63 available. Does anybody know whether these will be available in the future?

Been riding my Reynolds 853 Road bike for a while.............Rides like a Cadillac and corners like it's on rails.

Thoughts on flip flop hubs?

Great video ! TY.

Great video but Reynolds 631 is not a chromoly, its what you describe as a specialty alloy. Its actually the exact same alloy as Reynolds 853 which you say is a specialty, the difference between the 2 is that 853 is heat treated and 631 is not, making 853 much stronger.

4130 is an SAE code number, it is not the propportion of the alloys. the 41xx codes go from 4118 to 4160.

Tange prestige is what I ride rn, super light and fun

Thoughts on velocidad? (E.g crankset and wheelset)

Great and informative - Zack!! :-)

Love this video! Wonder if you could share tips how I can fix my brakes. When I pull on the brakes, it feels mushy and the bike takes a long time to slow down. Any tips? Thanks in advance

Steel is real..I use high-ten steel for my bike to work..👍👍🇵🇭

Shame you don't mention high-end martensitic stainless tubes like the Reynolds 9 series, KVA M series, or Columbus XCr

I'm curious, in your opinion, would a complete noob be able to tell difference in ride quality between the different steel types? My experience with different bikes has been very limited, so it's hard to tell what I'm missing out on.

I seen a cheap “fixie” bike before, wasn’t even that cheap tbh, 18kg, 39.6lbs It didn’t look heavy at all but holy shite

I have a early 70’s Nishiki frame that says Special 150 Tubing. Anyone know what that is? The internet doesn’t...

Gosh this is a wonderful video really clears a lot for my understandings of steel, but i can’t seem to understand this, is 1020 carbon steel the same as hi tensile and should I avoid it?

what to you think of the colossi mondial track frameset ?

What would you say is a good beginner bike easily available in the uk for £400-£500?

The same type of video for aluminium frames pls

It's Chrome Molly !!

Any thoughts on a Wabi factory tour being that coincidentally convenient truth that your currently on the same island?

Any info on kaisei 022 used on the bareknuckle?

Oof I fucked up and bought the Crew Co City bike which is high ten. I don't want to go through the trouble of returning it so I'm just going to upgrade as needed until I could build my credit because at the moment it's just out of my current income to afford chromoly. Kind of sucks.

Is it a real huuuuuge bulding behind Zach...? Give a link or information about thiiis, pleade

Trying to reconcile the marketing information with the metallurgical definitions leads to confusion of mind. If you want stronger and lighter weight the tubing manufacturers have you catered to. It's not a lie that it's stronger and lighter weight. Their definitions, though, appear to be a bit nonsensical if you look into it. The words don't always match up consistently with the materials science way of defining the concepts. It doesn't matter as long as it meets the buyers' expectations.

Why have fine steel, lugged frames become a fashion collectable instead of a wonderful bike and great companion? Produce them again already!

I bought a cromo Marin gravel bike with a carbon fork, the thing weighs a bloody tonne. I'm looking out for Columbus Spirit for my next steel ride.

COLUMBUS

Are raleigh bikes low quality?

Steel hasn’t been around for thousands of years. A couple of hundred years perhaps.

The first bikes - if you could call them that - were made of wood. They sucked; but they were bikes, sorta.

Like Holly

Molybdenum 😆

What do u think about celt 2k17 its a steel frame and also when are you going to the philippines. I want you to roast my bike

I ride aluminium bike frame

Strengthness to weight ratios... Lmao

私の先生はあなたの兄です

Bamboo has been around forever as well but that doesn't make it the ideal material choice for bicycles or jetplanes. Aluminum has progressed now to surpass steel tubing in every way and when used with carbon fiber.... there is no comparison. I have had Columbus SLX and Reynolds 531 tubes, forks and stays on numerous bikes over the years and can assure you that the cycling world has moved on in many ways including performance, weight and cost. Your views are dated and more dangerously sponsored.

Columbus or reynolds

Reynolds 953 is I Best

can buy me a dosnoventa bike please i beg u

“Material that has been around for 1000’s of years”? Lol

Hi Zach, I hope you’re eating enough. You don’t look very healthy.

If you like steel bikes go to walmart XD.

this guy literally knows nothing about steel. but ey