This is a regular ‘feature’ on the Internet BOB. So having prepared this on my Craft writing space, I thought I would share it here also.

Commuter/tourer. Main ride to work, also main machine for light or credit-card touring. 1994 Shogun Alpine GT, converted to 650B. Fork by Joe Cosgrove. Downtube logo says ‘Sholto’ in memory of a friend. Love this bike and ride it just about every work day.

Road bike. Frezoni made by Joe Cosgrove, a framebuilder who lives about 2 km from me in Brisbane Australia. Joe’s primarily known for doing the paintwork on Llewellyn bikes.

Cyclocross/gravel bike. 2011 Cannondale CAAD-X. Just a couple of years before cyclocross bikes switched to discs. I now run a 1x setup, and it has mini-V brakes rather than cantis.

Bikepacking bike. Based on a 2011 Specialized Carve aluminium frame. Currently has a Trifox carbon fork. Fantastic device for long steady days on a rail trail or a back road through the bush.

Mountain bike. 2016 Kona Precept. 27.5 wheels, dual suspension. Cos singletrack is the best fun.

Folding bike. Brompton. Cos every home needs a Brompton.

Fiona on a steel bike, me on an aluminium bike. Loaded up and trucking and having the time of our lives.

I read plenty of stuff about bikes, both online and in magazines. Have done so for decades.

And one thing that I read often (so often!) in discussions and comparisons of bikes is that there is a discernable difference between bikes based on the material the frame is made from.

And this mostly is expressed as a diss for aluminium as a frame material.

Australian Geographic has just released a ‘guide to bikepacking’, which says the following, inter alia: " Aluminium is light, and it is cheap, but you will cop a jarring ride".

Can I get some science to go with this unsubstantiated opinion?

Specifically some science that shows that in a system which includes pneumatic tyres with up to 10 mm of “give” that a rider can tell the difference between the so-called “ride quality” of a metal (steel, titanium or aluminium) or carbon fibre frame.

I currently own six bikes. There is a road bike (Frezoni custom steel), a cyclocross bike (Cannondale CAAD-X), a touring bike (Shogun Alpine GT), a hardtail mountain bike (Specialized Carve), a folding bike (Brompton), and a commuter e-bike (built it myself, but the frame is a old Cecil Walker steel touring frame).

Four of my bikes have steel frames, and two have aluminium frames. In the past I have also owned titanium and carbon fibre framed bikes.

Here are some things which make a difference to how a bike rides:

• Weight (of you and the bike together)
• Frame geometry and how the bike fits you
• Suspension
• Tyres.
• How you feel about life at the time.

Here are the things which have no discernable effect on how a bike rides:

• Colour
• Frame material.

My favourite and most memorable rides are multi-day touring rides, hopefully somewhere scenic and interesting. And from the list above, I will take either the hardtail mountain bike or the touring/commuting bike for those multi-day rides.

One is steel, the supposed gold standard for “ride quality”. The other is aluminium, which Australian Geographic thinks is “jarring”.

I take the hardtail aluminium mountain bike if I think the route will be rough or gnarly.

And the reason is simple: the mtb has bigger tyres. About 55-60 mm wide, compared with 48 mm wide for the biggest tyre which fits the touring bike.

That is all there is to it. The steel touring bike, which is my favourite machine, which I have ridden 14,000 km on in the last four years (since I started using Strava), isn’t the right bike for rougher roads. The bike with the big tyres is.

So why am I so hot under the collar about this issue?

I dislike poor advice, and advice which focusses on the wrong things.

There are plenty of aspects of bike design and construction which are important differentiators that you can look at when buying a bike, and I’ve listed some of them above. Price might also be a factor for most of us, also longevity.

Those authors who push the idea that aluminium has a harsh ride in comparison to steel or titanium might be actually be doing bike buyers a favour.

If an aluminium-framed bike is cheaper and lighter than a steel one (and surely much cheaper than carbon-fibre or titanium), then just buy it. The ride quality you experience will be based on how the total bike fits you, and how the tyres you select work on the road/trail surfaces you ride on.

What won’t be a factor in ride quality? The aluminium. Cos physics.

Don’t believe me? Reckon you can tell the difference between bikes purely on frame material? Email andrew.demack@gmail.com and let’s set up a test.

See also:

• Silca’s Josh Poertner conducted blind tests. He found: “t when riders didn’t know what they ‘should’ feel, they really struggled to find differences in stiffness, compliance and weight between frames or wheels”

• Rob English’s column on the Escape Collective, ‘the myth of vertical compliance’.

I like to do mildly adventurous bike tours. Sometimes when I post pix of what I’m up to, friends say “I wish I had known you were going to do that, I would have liked to come along.”

OK folks, here’s your chance.

The Barrimoon Tunnels section of the Boyne-Burnett Inland Rail Trail is going to open on Saturday 11 September, and I am planning to attend the opening celebration. My plan is to ride there, leaving from Wulkuraka station on the morning of Saturday 4 September.

In my head it’s called the Great Queensland Rail Trail adventure. Bob Webley has probably already done it, I’m certainly not claiming that this will be the first ride of this route.

But the plan is to ride sections of the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail, the Kingaroy to Kilkivan Rail Trail, and the Boyne Burnett Inland Rail Trail, connected by the most minor roads I can find on the way.

My version of this ride will be 9 days riding, with a combination of camping, and pubs/motels.

Here’s the rough idea: Wulkuraka / Toogoolawah / Blackbutt / Kingaroy / Proston / Gayndah / Eidsvold / Monto or Mungungo / Ubobo / Gladstone (fly home again).

4-12 September. It’s a little bit less than 700km. About 200km of rail trails, about 300km of sealed roads, about 200km of gravel road. This is a self-supported ride. I am providing you with nothing, other than a friendly smile and a hello each morning.

If that sounds like your sort of adventure, let me know.

Information

• Airtable planning database
• Day by day route maps on RideWithGPS

I’m going to an all-day workshop at Bokarina on the Sunshine Coast next week. I dislike driving to meeting at which I represent the interests of bike riders. So I am going to multi-mode it to the meeting. Only trouble is that it starts at 8.30am. Stay tuned for how I get there by bike and public transport!