WHEELS OF STEEL
We find out if there’s more to steel than just long-lasting aesthetics by testing two £2k machines
We’re a fifth of the way into the 21st century, so why are we testing two road bikes made of steel, a material whose use in bikes dates back to the time of Queen Victoria? Well, steel can be built into comfortable, longlasting and repairable bikes that should outlast all of us.
Our test bikes are predominantly for the road, but modern tastes are making their presence felt with disc brakes, tubeless tyres and room for wider tyres. The American company All-City calls its Zig Zag an ‘allweather endurance road bike’ and it comes with Shimano 105, hydraulic brakes and tubeless tyres.
The Light Blue’s Darwin Two Way Street, meanwhile, is a steel frame/ steel fork affair with Shimano 105 hydraulic disc brakes that they describe as a road bike-cum-light tourer, or a ‘street sports machine’.
Time, then, to grace the roads to see if steel has a place in tri.
Punting, the Footlights, cricket at Fenners… all things Cambridge, where The Light Blue bikes were first produced in 1895. Fast forward to 2020 and they’re designed in the city by the founder’s grandson. Back in Victorian times, they would have been made with lugged steel rather than in this tidily TIG welded guise. As for the Darwin’s hydraulic brakes and 22 Shimano STI gears – 21 more than in 1895 – these would have been but an opium-induced dream, or perhaps a special delivery from HG Wells’s The Time Machine.
The Light Blue describes the Darwin as a ‘light, quick, steel street bike’ that can encompass commuting, tackling towpaths and even lightweight touring. The standard black version starts at £1,574.99 with Shimano 105 and TRP Spyre mechanical disc brakes, but we upgraded to a galvanised frame with a full Shimano 105 hydraulic disc groupset, taking the cost up to £2,054.99 (£1,904.99 for black). Shimano 105 – to nobody’s great surprise – worked as well as ever, the wide-ranging gears offering slick, efficient changes and the brakes delivering easy, minimal-effort stopping.
The frame material befits a brand with such an iconic British name, coming in the form of Reynolds chromoly 725 steel. This is essentially a spin-off of Reynolds 531, the material that, even today, has more Tour de France victories to its name than any other. It’s a heat-treated steel, which means it can be made with narrower wall diameters, and the tubes are butted – thicker at the ends where more strength is required. This ‘traditional’ frame material is paired here with a chromoly steel fork complete with lugged bottle-cage mounts and
mudguard fittings. Both the frame and fork have quick-release axles, rather than thru-axles, but this didn’t seem to have any negative effect on the bike’s braking.
DO THE EVOLUTION
The Light Blue ups the Darwin’s versatility further with sliding rear dropouts, which allow the bike to be run with derailleur, single speed and hub gear set-ups. It lets you tension the chain, and there’s a split in the right seatstay that allows you to fit long-lasting belts such as the Gates Carbon belt drive.
Both the frame and fork have room for 45mm tyres for gravel and off-road riding, or even chunky 35mm tyres with mudguards for year-round riding on poor roads. At just over 10kg, the Darwin (with a 2,100g frame and 1,050g fork) isn’t especially light compared to aero road racers, yet the comfort shines through on endurance riding. There’s effective braking, a wide range of gears and a much wider overall range provide both a higher top gear and lower bottom. The list goes on. It’s quick, it’s plush, it’s versatile. It’s a commuter, a light tourer for weekends away, or a yearround tri training bike. It’s steel, so it’ll last a lifetime. The one-to-one ratio bottom gear keeps you in the saddle on steeper climbs and it felt at home wherever we took it.
It’s probably best as a day-long rouleur, spinning you through country lanes at whatever speed you’re fit enough to achieve. The flared handlebar comes into its own on towpaths and the like, and its very deep drop means you can get down low if you want to crank it up.
The Passport saddle is a little too deeply padded for our taste, but it was actually better than we expected. It may not be quite a firstclass degree for this Light Blue, but its Darwin Two Way Street is an excellent all-round road machine with a wide-ranging appeal.
“The flared handlebar comes into its own on towpaths, but the very deep drop means you can get down low if you want to crank it up”