Steel is real. Carbon breaks. So do bones.

There are a lot of topics in this world that are divisive in nature. Things that will produce factions that are pro this or anti that. And one of these topics are as asinine as - bicycle frames. Yes, cyclists are a dramatic bunch.

No divisiveness is more glaring than the proponents of steel and carbon frames. Steel aficionados will sing the praises of it being timeless, strong, it having a compliant ride feel, and just... cool. Champions of carbon fibre bikes love the fact that they are light, stiff, racier, possibly more aero, modern and well, decidedly NOT archaic as steel.

If you ask me, both kinds of materials have their places and applications. I used to be a race-ready, carbon-framed, lycra-clad weekend warrior for a brief time. Road cycling is great, the rush of speed is addictive. Being in the draft of a peloton at speeds you just cannot achieve when you ride alone is just stupid fun. And just dressing up for a bike ride is kind of an event in and of itself. I mean, in the context of road cycling, it's suddenly ok for adults to dress up like a lycra-clad Robocop with your manly bits and bumps clearly visible. So yes, I get it. I get why people would squeeze into their ridiculous jerseys that their guts can barely fit into and hop onto their $10k bikes to be that weekend superhero that they crave to be.

Well, what changed for me then? Why did I ditch my superhero roadie skins you ask? As quickly as I got into road cycling, after starting out with fixed gear (another story for another post), I got into mountain biking. And during this time, I mainly used my road bike as a commuter bike to go to work and back. During a commute to work one day, I got side-swiped by a bus. All I remember was suddenly, violently rolling on the tarmac screaming. I kind of came to, to this:

First thing I notice was my fork was broken-off. Notice the blood on my cycling cap which I was wearing under my helmet. And there was something very wrong with my right arm.

I noticed there was a bump on my shoulder. I thought it was a swelling, but then the x-ray clearly shows me that my bone was attempting to stick out. So yes, I definitely needed surgery.

You think you're metal? Nowhere near as I am bro.

Waiting for the bike (what's left of it) to grow a new fork. Didn't happen.

I said I '"kind of came to" because to this day, I'm not sure whether I actually lost consciousness or was merely dazed. Apparently I had fractured my right clavicle (broke my collarbone) which needed surgery. My pinky and eyebrow needed stitching (what an odd spot to stitch) and I obtained abrasions all over my body - the worst one being the one on the knee, cos those dudes are the hardest to heal. That was the extent of it, thankfully, because let's face it - it could have been far worse.

Long story short, seeing how my carbon fork on my carbon bike snapped off clean like that, kind of turned me off on carbon fibre bikes. I mean, who can blame me? And so I did a re-assesment of my cycling habits. Maybe I don't ride carbon bikes. Maybe speed isn't everything. Maybe I don't really ride in traffic. Maybe this, that and the other thing. I also have to mention that when I got into my accident, I was three months away from my wedding. Cycling certainly didn't leave a good impression on my wife. I got married on October 2017.

And so it was in mid 2019 when I started to see all these gorgeous steel bikes on Instagram. At the same time, I started to be aware of the gravel bike movement from channels on YouTube like pathlesspedaled. The channel in particular spout things like 'non-racing', 'the supple life' and 'party pace' and that it's ok to cycle with a flowy, button-down shirt and gave reviews of all these cool steel bikes. In short, it's like a cult. I thought - hey, maybe I can get into that. Sounds liberating and free. I don't have to be chained to Strava and chase that average speed and my heart rate's not likely to get jacked to high heavens like when mountain-biking. Having lost a chunk of my fitness due to the cycling hiatus from the accident, it made that decision easy.

So I decided to investigate further. And what that investigation resulted in, was me purchasing a steel all-road bicycle from Marin called Nicasio+. A bike that was given a glowing review from pathelesspedaled, as well as other sources on the internet. It's one of those bikes that really checked the "cheap & good" box, and I have been rocking this bad boy for two years now.

First "glam shots" of the Nicasio+.

What I can say about this bike is, it's not the flashiest, certainly not the lightest (far from it). But I liken it to that guy in school. That guy who wasn't the popular kid. Who stood back and let the other loud, obnoxious ones take the limelight. Definitely not an athletic jock and who was an OK student. But he had an air about him that was just calming. The guy who was dependable and didn't hesitate to help you out. Actually laughed at your lame jokes. The guy who could've easily be your best friend. But you just wanted to run with the cool crowd.

The bike just flips a switch in me. It makes me a different cyclist for sure and to just take what comes, whenever it comes. I am certainly not going 35km/hr with this thing (although I know some friends will scoff reading this). Who knows how long I'll have it, I mean after all, in the grand scheme of things, it's just a bicycle. But for now, steel is definitely real my friends.

Ride safe. Introversation - out.

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