Carbon remains king, but steel is real and aluminium affordable
The evidence of the London Bike Show is that carbon remains king in the eyes of the cycling industry. Rack upon rack of composite-framed steeds commanded the attention of the thousands of cyclists who visited the show, with scarcely a metal machine in sight.
Kinesis UK put the collection of aluminium and titanium steeds that we reported from the trade-only Core Bike Show before the public, Cyclefit granted pride of place to Matthew Sowter’s achingly beautiful Reynolds 953-chassised Saffron, while designer Sam Alison displayed a range of steel and aluminium-framed machines from his Singular brand, including a hydraulic disc-equipped, chromoly all-rounder with eccentric bottom bracket, configured as a single-speed. Genuinely interesting.
Many of the hundreds of visitors to the RCUK Test Track had come for the opportunity to ride a carbon bike for the first time. A bad thing? Not necessarily: carbon is, of course, light, can be made stiff, and is increasingly affordable. But the persistent belief among new cyclists that all carbon lay-ups are equal, that aluminium is yesterday’s material, and that only postmen ride steel bikes in the 21st century shows that the cycle industry has much to do in providing its customers with the information necessary to make an informed purchasing decision. The number of test track visitors genuinely surprised by the performance of the aluminium Canyon Ultimate AL and Rose Bikes Xeon RS-3000 was instructive.
