Steel crazy after all these years

Last issue, steel bikes took a hammering. This issue, deputy editor James Spender leaps to their defence

I love a good steel bike as much as the next tedious man in his thirties,’ wrote web editor Matthew Loveridge on this very page last month. ‘But I don’t think steel deserves the near-mythical status it now enjoys… that’s inextricably linked to our collective fetish for all things retro… to our notions or artisanal integrity.’

Why, I nearly spat my naturally processed cold brew all over the Ercol coffee table. Me, tedious? Because I am 39 and I do love steel.

Let me count the ways

Bartali rode steel, Coppi rode steel, so did De Vlaeminck, Burton, Canins, Roche and Pantani. Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault and Indurain all won five Tours on steel bikes (despite what many people say, Indurain did ride a steel Banesto at the 1995 Tour; Fausto Pinarello showed me the bike). Steel is mythical in the way the Aston Martin DB5 is mythical, not because it is the best-performing car but because it starred in the greatest moments. So knowing this, when I look at a steel bike my collective fetish kicks in as I discuss the artisanal integrity of the brazing and the way the 97-yearold framebuilder came to steel bikes through making armaments in the Second World War. I start to weep as I say this, gazing at the steel bike in question; my heart literally aneurysms at the sight of the seat lug.