Are steel bikes still relevant in 2024?

Modern road bikes are being made out of ever more exotic materials, from carbon fibre and aluminium to even wood, as manufacturers seek weight savings and general experimentation. For some, this brings the relevance of steel bikes - which used to be the norm - into question. Does this traditional material still have a place in modern cycling?

As a lover of a retro bike, GCN's Alex Paton set out to find a definitive answer to this question.

1994 marked the last Tour de France to be won on a steel bike, powered by Miguel Induráin on his way to his fifth yellow jersey. Since then, it was first the turn of aluminium to take glory, before that was swiftly replaced by weight-saving carbon fibre by the end of the 2000s.

• Read more: How is carbon fibre made?

Steel had been the material of choice since the very first concept of a bike. It was relatively abundant and easy to produce, it was easy to work with and the material was well understood. It was also one of the cheapest frame-building materials on offer. All of these credentials made it the natural choice for over 100 years. All the benefits associated with steel are still true today, so even with aluminium and carbon taking the glory, steel still has some upsides of its own.

To find out more from someone who knows more about steel frame building than most, Alex caught up with Paul Burford from BTR Fabrications. Burford is an expert frame builder, specialising in steel frame production and putting him in the perfect position to defend the relevance of steel in the modern era of cycling.

In the interview, Alex finds out more about steel and learns what it is about it that makes it the choice for plenty of riders around the world to this day. Although carbon fibre does have a lot advantages, such as tailored qualities, incredible stiffness to weight and the ability to make free form shapes, it also has the downsides of high design and manufacturing cost, high waste production and less durability, especially to clamping forces.

The same can be said about titanium for different reasons - in fact, we've previously teamed up with titanium specialist Tom Sturdy to find out more about the benefits of this material and some of the associated disadvantages, you can check that out below.

• Read more: Why are titanium bikes so desirable?

For all but the most performance-oriented cyclists, steel as a material has a lot to offer in the modern age. As with everything else in cycling, steel has seen the benefit of technological advancements. Although it is never going to compete with the latest generation of carbon in regards to stiffness, nor is it going to have the corrosion resistance of titanium, it does have its own distinct feeling. Steel frames are naturally some of the most comfortable on the market with the material well known for its dampening qualities that take out the harshness of rougher roads.

If you want to find out more about the original bike material, make sure to watch the full video up above, and see what Alex uncovered. If you are in the market for a new bike and aren’t sure what sort of frame you want to go for, this could just make the case for why your next bike could be a steel one.

For all the latest buying advice make sure to head over to our dedicated page where we have you covered on everything from tyre choice to training.

Alex Paton

GCN Tech Presenter

Impressive sprinter - quite possibly the fastest member of the GCN team