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My Steelman custom stage race has about
500 miles on it now – enough time, I think, to form an educated
opinion. I'll start with first impressions and move on to performance
on the road.
First impressions: The first thing I noticed
upon assembling my carefully packaged bike was the overall quality
of the welds and paint. The welds are barely noticeable and the
paint is skillfully applied. The shifting and brakes were adjusted
perfectly and someone must have pre-stretched the cables, because
I have yet to make an adjustment after a month of riding. Bottle
cage mounts and cables are another thing I noticed. The bottle
cages are perfectly placed for my reach. As well, none of the
cables rest on the tubing, meaning that the paint won't rub off
over time from cable abrasion. Even with properly cut cables,
this is problem on most every production bike I've seen. A minor
detail, but one that indicates Brent has put a bit of though
into frame building.
Fit: After a few minutes of saddle height
adjustment (Brent had already leveled the saddle), I took the
bike out for a 20 minute shake-down ride. I noticed Brent had
me sitting a bit longer in the cock-pit (as he had said he would),
but everything seemed to fit very well. No toe overlap, even
though I had indicated I don't mind toe overlap, was a nice feature
given my previous bike had about an inch of overlap. All things
considered I was very happy with my first impressions of the
fit. After a number of miles, it became clear that the fit was
absolutely perfect.
Performance: I ask Brent to design a comfortable,
well-mannered, as-light-as-makes-sense, road-racer built to my
weight (I'm 150lbs). My previous bike had an aggressive geometry
and was a superb crit racer, but given its geometry and aluminum
construction, it was very harsh, a bit squirrelly in the corners,
and especially touchy on steep descents. In other words it was
your average mass produced compact frame… The new bike weights
the same as the old one even though we're talking steel vs. Al.
And, that is the only parity between the two machines.
I can find nothing this bike does poorly!
It is the most comfortable bike I've owned – even when compared
to a previous carbon bike. The bike has great road feel and a
lively ride that I've only experienced in a steel bike. It descends
and corners on rails. Absolutely no unexpected behavior at all.
I initially thought that I might be giving up some cornering
performance, but after testing the bike on a known corner, I
am satisfied that I have lost nothing and actually have gained
some stability. For those that like data – my local crit
course has a slightly downhill corner that I can take at 32mph
max using the entire road. The Steelman easily takes the corner
at the same speed. Out of the saddle I get no BB flex, and again
experience the lively feedback of steel tubes selected for my
weight.
Summary: Great job Brent! Keep my measurements
on file, because this will not be the last bike you build for
me.
-Trey
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