Every bike on this page is built on a steel or chromoly steel frame. Steel absorbs road vibration better than aluminum, flexes instead of cracking, and can be repaired by a competent framebuilder. The result is a smoother, quieter ride that gets better with age instead of worse.
City riding is a long series of small impacts: expansion joints, streetcar tracks, curb cuts, patched asphalt. A steel frame damps that buzz before it reaches your hands and your lower back. Aluminum is stiffer for the same tube diameter, which is why race bikes use it, but on a four mile commute over broken pavement that stiffness is what you feel at the end of the ride.
The Roebling and the Lorimer use lightweight double-butted 4130 chromoly steel. The Franklin 3, Franklin 8, Bedford 8, and Wythe use steel frames.
Three models in our lineup are aluminum instead: the Brighton 7, the Driggs 8i Disc, and the Willow 8i Disc. We would rather tell you that than claim the whole catalog is one material.
Not the way they were thirty years ago. Butted chromoly tubing is drawn thinner through the middle of each tube, where the strength is not needed, and left thicker at the welds. The Lorimer is 26 lb and the Roebling is 28 lb, light enough to carry up a third floor walk-up.
Not if the finish is intact and the bike is not stored in standing water. Our frames are finished to resist corrosion and the chains and hardware are rust-resistant. Wipe the bike down after a wet ride, keep the paint from getting chipped to bare metal, and the frame will outlast you.
Our steel bikes run $599.99 to $1,199.99. Every one ships free to one of 450+ partner bike shops, where a certified mechanic assembles it, trues the wheels, and test rides it before you pick it up. There is no box to open and no assembly fee.
Not sure which frame size you need? Enter your height once and we will show your size in every model we make. Across the lineup we fit riders 4'10" to 6'4". Still between sizes? Reach out and a real person will help.
