Who do you think rules the roost in the below catagories?
-
Road bikes
a) Titianium -
b) Aluminuim -
c) Carbon -
d) Steel - -
TT bikes
a) Titanium -
b) Aluminium -
c) Carbon -
d) Steel -
- D. Brent Steelman
Really the only ones I like are Guru and Yaqui. I’ve tried a lot of the others. They weren’t bad, they just weren’t overwhelming.
I really do like guru. We buy a ton of them. Good bikes. I’ve had… four of them myself.
So many good builders out there. I know I’ll change my mind on a bunch of these 5 minutes after posting, but here’s off the top of my head (and honestly, this list is much more based upon reading internet forums than actual riding experience):
-
Road bikes
a) Titianium - Moots
b) Aluminum - Mandaric
c) Carbon - Calfee
d) Steel - Steelman -
TT bikes
a) Titanium - Litespeed
b) Aluminium - Yaqui
c) Carbon - Cervelo
d) Steel - ???
And one vote for the Serotta Ottrott (ti and carbon) as a very cool road machine. When is someone going to steal this idea and make a TT bike?
Crap how the hell to answer this, anyone out there have experience with a lot of builders? Richard Sachs comes to mind for steel road bikes. I’m a big fan of Ves, hopefully by the end of the summer I’ll have two of his bikes.
But there are so many guys out there and I’ve seen so few bikes… 
Tom is probably about the best opinion here on the board since he gets to see so many of them first hand. I have had my share of bikes, but…
Guru is my favorite as well - I ride one and will be getting another for sure. I also have a Litespeed and they are unparalled in the Ti buisness - still haven’t decided if I will get a Titanium Guru or not and “jump ship”
-
Road bikes
a) Titianium - Serotta
b) Aluminuim - Pegoretti (not NA, but so what? Still the best)
c) Carbon - Parlee, Trek
d) Steel - Sachs -
TT bikes
a) Titanium - LS
b) Aluminium - Cervelo (at least I think they are NA … but again, so what)
c) Carbon - ???
d) Steel -
I’m certainly not qualified to judge this subset of builders, but, I’d be remiss not to state that working with Ves Mandaric of Yaqui was anything but a pleasure. And the end result was fantastic. I learned several things from our conversations that nobody else has told me, especially with regard to the best seat-tube angle for me. This information affects the way I set up any bike. I know not to try much different than what he suggested as my home base seat tube angle…consequently, I no longer search for a comfortable spot on the saddle because of getting some other fit particular out of whack trying to make something work that just won’t. I know where the bottom bracket must be in relation to my pelvis, and everything else (stack, reach) must be built around that position. I can get on a bike and set it up with the correct dimensions for me, take it for a quick spin on the road or on the rollers, and almost immediately know if the handling of the bike set up will be OK or not. Like someone said, you can manipulate almost any bike to fit almost any person, but, the handling won’t be correct. I uncrated a bike he built for me, gave it a short “let’s get acquainted” ride, then raced it the next day, including a chicane of orange cones on a downhill at 30+ mph in the aerobars…I’ve done this race several times, and this was the first time I was able to stay in the aerobars on this part of the course. Handling. Ves understood this, and took the time to get this right for me. I don’t know how many other frame builders do that. Thanks again, Ves.
You really need to give more info. Are you interested in only pure speed, durability art, etc.
For artistic steel, Columbine, Moon, Weigle
For a classis long haul bike Weigle
For ultralight Carbon Parlee or Calfee,
For TT Tiemeyer or Cervelo (but I still would like to have a swiss Cheetah)
Titanium Litespeed
For titanium art Litespeed made with polished 6Al/4V sent to Leni fried with a $4000 check and the invitation to go wild.
Styrrell